SPIM industry event hosts successful 5th edition

Skin Physiology International Meeting (SPIM) held its 5th edition last month in France, a two day event that looked at the ongoing advances being seen in skin research.

The event takes place every two years and is held in the town of Vichy. It welcomes scientists and researchers to meet and network, and discuss the latest in physiology, biology, biochemistry and dermatology from an international perspective.

This year’s delegates included 150 scientists of 20 nationalities from four continents, organisers state, and covered a programme of 21 conferences. Hot topics included the microbiome, autophagy, the scalp, skin structure and matrix.

The event is hosted by the Greentech company Foundation, and organisers say it aims to advance skin sciences across the world.

Award winners

SPIM also features an awards celebration, the Greentech Awards, which honour young researchers for high quality work in the field of skin physiology.

This year, the category of Best Junior Scientist 2016 was won by Laura Cau, a PhD student working at UDEAR and the CNRS in Toulouse, France.

Her research covers filaggrin, an epidermal differentiation marker, and is titled: ‘The role of peptidylarginine deiminases in the regulation of filaggrin proteolysis’. Cau receives a EUR 15,000 bursary to progress her research.

Cau was joined on the winners’ podium  by Emer Duffy, who was recognised as winner of the Best Poster category. She wins a bursary worth EUR 4,000, which will support her work focussed on volatile skin molecules, titled: ‘Proving skin physiology through the analysis of volatile metabolites towards non-invasive dermatological screen and diagnostics’.

Recognising art

Event organisers note that the SPIM meeting also spotlights contemporary art by exhibiting the works of internationally renowned artists.

This year, space was given to Robert Combas, a French artist at the forefront of the Figuration Libre movement.