Since its creation, 20 years ago, Greentech has been on a constant quest of discovery...
To quench its thirst for knowledge, Greentech develops exchanges with various scientists in different disciplines and approaches.
So in 2008, to expand its understanding of physiology and more particularly of the skin, Greentech created a congress specialising in cutaneous biology: SPIM, the Skin Physiology International Meeting. This congress takes place every two years and aims to be, first and foremost, a place of connections and interactions between diverse disciplines and approaches, in both an innovative and convivial open context, without dogmatic positioning.
The 3rd SPIM, convened in November 2012, ran over two days and brought together more than 20 international high level speakers. This year, the 3rd SPIM was particularly focused on recent scientific breakthroughs in the fields of microflora, immunity, ageing, epidermal dynamics and cellular physiology.
For example, Dr Andor Pivarcsi dealt with role of microRNAs in skin immunity, Prof Andrew Dillin with humoral control of mitochondrial form and function to promote longevity, and Prof Yasuo Kitajima with regulation and impairments of dynamic desmosome and corneodesmosome remodelling, while Dr Geraldine Guasch spoke about TGFβ signalling in epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation and cellular transformation.
Moreover, at the end of the congress the Greentech Awards were granted to two young researchers in recognition of their outstanding achievements:
• A €15,000 prize won by Manale El Kharbili, the Greentech / SPIM Junior scientist 2012. Manale was chosen from among nine junior scientists selected and invited by the scientific committee for oral presentation of their original works and results. Her works deal with tetraspanin 8, which promotes melanoma invasion by regulating integrin-mediated cell-matrix anchorage through the MEK/ERK pathway.
• A €4,000 prize received by Léa Moulin: the Greentech / SPIM Best poster 2012. Léa was selected by all participants, choosing from posters presented by researchers (junior or not) during the congress. Her research was about LOXL1, a gene that is hypermethylated in aged dermal fibroblasts by a DNA methyl transferase dependent complex.
Each session allows all participants to update their knowledge in skin biology. In addition, during SPIM they can listen to, and exchange, information about innovative results, data and novel biological mechanisms. This congress welcomes everybody: public, private laboratories from France or foreign countries. This year almost ten nationalities joined.
Now, the scientific committee is beginning to prepare the 4th SPIM, which will take place in November 2014.
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