About the Event
16th Conference of the International Society of Tryptophan Research (ISTRY)
The primary goal of the International Society for Tryptophan Research (ISTRY, founded in 1971) is to facilitate and foster the exchange of scientific knowledge, experiences and collaborations among scientists interested in the field of tryptophan metabolism and related pathways such as kynurenine. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid needed for normal growth and development, as well as for the production and maintenance of the human body’s proteins, muscles, enzymes, and neurotransmitters. Because of tryptophan serving as the physiological precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin it has an important role in many psychiatric conditions, in particular depression, anxiety and eating disorders as well as cognitive and emotional processes.
The linkage of tryptophan to mental health is of particular interest for this meeting given that the Jena- Halle-Magdeburg site CIRC (http://c-i-r-c.de) was selected as one of the six locations of the German Centre for Mental Health (Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit, DZPG).
In addition to the role of tryptophan in mental health, metabolism of tryptophan represents a major metabolic pathway that both promotes tumor cell intrinsic malignant properties as well as restricts anti- tumor immunity, thus having an emerging prospect as a drug development target for cancer immunotherapy. In addition, tryptophan has a role in pulmonary function, as well as in many other aspects of human metabolism. Tryptophan is essential for protein synthesis, and its metabolism gives rise to biologically active catabolites including serotonin and numerous metabolites in the kynurenine pathway. Therefore, tryptophan research is highly interdisciplinary and attracts researchers from many different fields including but not limited to clinicians, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, biologists, biochemists, pharmaceutical scientist, geneticists, physiologists, toxicologists and many others.
The ISTRY international meeting series has been launched in 1974. The upcoming ISTRY meeting in Jena will be the 16th ISTRY meeting. The 1st International Meeting of ISTRY was held at the University of Padova (Italy) from May 2nd to 4th 1974, and with a participation of 170 scientists from 20 countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, USA).
Providing an ideal platform ISTRY 2024 enables national and international scientists and researchers to interact with each other to exchange new knowledge and technologies in the field of tryptophan and related metabolites. A panel of nationally and internationally well-recognized speakers, both from Germany and abroad, will present and discuss the latest developments to the following topics regarding tryptophan and the kynurenine pathway and their role in:
Mental health, Aging, Neuroscience, Neurology, Cancer biology, Immune response, Biology, Microbiome, Nutrition, Exercise, Cognition, Memory, Allergy, Pregnancy, In vitro research, and other related areas.
An international scientific review panel will evaluate abstracts according to scientific content and suitability for the 16th ISTRY 2024 meeting (oral and poster presentations).
ISTRY aims to advance knowledge generation related to the biochemistry, nutrition, pathology, physiology, food science, regulation of tryptophan metabolism and chemistry of tryptophan and related substances. Due to the diversity of topics and disciplines represented in ISTRY that range from tryptophan metabolism to the neurochemistry of serotonin and kynurenine, aspects of tryptophan in pathology, toxicology, psychiatry and mental health, teratology, immunobiology, nutritional aspects of tryptophan, pigments, analytical chemistry, methodology and enzymology are amongst the topics covered by ISTRY researchers.
The ISTRY meeting allows a platform for scientific exchange and research collaboration for scientists among such fields. The last ISTRY meeting took place in 2018 in Hikone, Japan. Since then, the tryptophan research community has not met in person due to the Covid-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions. Therefore, this meeting will be the first in-person meeting for the tryptophan research community in more than 6 years.
Jena as the hosting site:
Aging is a research focus area of the Medical Faculty at Jena University, for example as shown by the Jena School of Aging Medicine (JSAM). JSAM focuses on major questions of ageing and age-related diseases. Moreover, in Jena the process of aging is considered from a developmental viewpoint. This developmental approach is inclusive of understanding development over from childhood over adolescence to adulthood and later older adulthood. Given the significant role of tryptophan and kynurenine in aging-related processes as well as in development on from early childhood and with Jena- Halle-Magdeburg being one of the 6 locations of the German Centre for Mental Health (www.c-i-r-c.de), Jena University is an ideal site to host the ISTRY 2024 meeting.
Organising committee: Konrad Aden (Kiel/DE),Christiane Opitz (Heidelberg/DE),Kathrin Thedieck (Innsbruck/AT), Martin Walter (Jena/DE), Florian D. Zepf (Jena/DE)
Scientific Advisory / Program Committee: Dietmar Fuchs (Innsbruck/AT), Johanna Gostner (Innsbruck/AT), Ines Heiland (Tromsø/NOR), Christiane Opitz (Heidelberg/DE), Stefano Comai (Milan/IT), Kathrin Thedieck (Innsbruck/AT)
Expected attendees:
From Germany 150
From abroad 100
Total 250