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The 22nd Annual Meeting, Barcelona, Spain, 2006

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona from July 15th-19th 2006. The meeting was very successful not only because of the high number of attendants, 224 participants from 29 different countries, but also because of the high quality of the presentations and the stimulating discussions. Particularly pleasing was the number of students (61). There were a total of 84 oral presentations, some of them in parallel sessions, 123 posters and 3 special lectures.

After a well-attended welcome party on Saturday evening, the meeting started on Sunday morning with an impressive plenary lecture by John G. Hildebrand, one of the two recipients of the ISCE Silver Medal Award for 2006, on the fascinating topic of explorations of moth-host interactions through the brain. Immediately afterwards, the first symposium “Biochemistry and molecular biology of olfactory reception”, chaired by Walter S. Leal, brought us the latest developments on the molecular mechanisms involved in sex pheromone perception. In the afternoon, we all enjoyed an exciting lecture by Jerrold Meinwald, introduced by Wittko Francke, on the chemical basis of biotic interactions. Practical approaches of pheromones and attractants for pest control was the symposium topic on Monday morning, chaired by Tom C. Baker. The symposium was followed by the ISCE General Assembly. In the afternoon, the participants and their accompanying persons enjoyed a tour visiting the most famous sights of the city, particularly those designed by the famous Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí,, such as Parc Güell and the Holy Family Church, in addition to a visit to the Montjuic Mountain to enjoy a splendid view of the city.

On Tuesday, two symposia on “Biosynthesis and pheromone production”, chaired by Wendell L. Roelofs, and “Causes and consequences of variation in Lepidoptera sex pheromones”, chaired by Ring T. Cardé, brought us back to science in a stimulating way. In the middle of both symposia, Jocelyn Millar chaired the Student Awards presentations that ran through a variety of subjects from the molecular basis of olfactory rhythms to a functional shift from allomones to sex pheromones. In the evening, we all enjoyed an exciting concert at the church of Sta. Maria del Mar, a building of extraordinary beauty and one of the finest examples of the gothic style of architecture. Following the concert, a delightful banquet preceded an enjoyable Social Lecture by Walter Leal. The pleasant evening continued with a Jerry Meinwald flute concert, a preview, by Wilhelm Boland, of the 23rd ISCE meeting to be held in Jena 2007, and a lottery of a brand new Spanish guitar. In spite of the late return to the hotels, few participants missed the first lectures of the last symposium “Plant-herbivore interactions”, to the delight of the chair Thomas Hartmann,. After the symposium, Coby Schal presented Cam Oehlschlager as the recipient of the second ISCE Medal Award, and Cam impressed us with several examples of what mass trapping can do for managing insect pests in tropical crops. The meeting ended with the wish for all to meet in Jena next year.

Finally, I am most grateful to the sponsors that have made the meeting possible with their support: Ministry of Education and Science, Generalitat de Catalunya, CSIC, Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona, Springer, Syntech, Bedoukian, Trécé and Kenogard, S.A. I also thank the chairmen of the symposia, particularly W. Leal and Th. Hartmann for their continuous interest and help before and during the meeting, the invited speakers, the outgoing president J. Millar, Allard Cossé and Stephen Foster. But overall I am particularly indebted to my colleagues of the organising committee that have made a splendid job in making the Barcelona meeting very successful.

Angel Guerrero
ISCE 2006, Meeting Host