Redox Biology Symposium at IUPS Meeting in Rio

By Giovanni E. Mann, King's College London, UK

The 38^th International Union of Physiological Sciences World Congress ‘Rhythms of Life’ was held in the Rio Centro Conference Centre in Rio de Janeiro from 1-5 August 2017. The world’s top scientists, including the Nobel laureates Ada Yonath and Roger Kornberg, and about 1500 delegates from over 64 countries attended the congress. The cutting-edge scientific program was distributed among 27 plenary/keynote lectures, 60 symposia and more than 800 posters. 

SfRBM kindly sponsored an outreach symposium at this international Physiology conference. Our symposium was entitled ‘Role of Redox Stress and Epigenetics in Aging’ with the following talks: Giovanni E. Mann (Gestational diabetes-induced redox and epigenetic stress: consequences for cardiovascular dysfunction in offspring’), Renu Kowluru (‘Epigenetic regulation of diabetic retinopathy in aging’), Jose Viña (‘Molecular mechanisms underlying health benefits of exercise in human aging’) and Holly van Remmen (‘Dysregulation of mitochondrial redox signaling and consequences for skeletal muscle aging’).  The symposium was well attended and discussion was lively (see photos 1 and 2).

Notably, the congress was attended by a large number of early career investigators, providing a unique opportunity for many young scientists based in Brazil and other South American countries.  Poster sessions were scheduled between 12:00 – 14:30 each day and, as highlighted in the accompanying photo (see photo 3), young scientists even had the opportunity to discuss their research with the Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg. 

Highlights of the congress included outstanding lectures given by the Nobel laureates Ada Yonath (‘Resistance to antibiotics, the microbiome, environmental issues and thoughts about the future’) and Roger Kornberg (Wallace Fenn Lecture ‘Molecular basis of eukaryotic gene transcription). In particularly appreciated the wide of appeal of the plenary/prize lectures given by Denis Noble (‘Dance to the rhythm of life: physiology returns center stage’), Tom Kirkwood (Paton Prize Lecture ‘Why and how are we living longer’), David Eisner (Annual Review Prize Lecture ‘Ups and downs of calcium in the heart’) and Helen Raybould (Bayliss Starling Prize Lecture ‘Bugs, guts and brains: how the gut microbiota shapes your body and mind’).

Delegates listening to high-quality science at this congress were also able to find time to explore the beautiful and inspiring cultural sites in Rio de Janeiro.   

On behalf of SfRBM, I would like to thank Benidito Machado (Co-Chair International Scientific Programme Committee), Walter Boron and the IUPS Executive Council and International Scientific Programme Committee for coordinating an exciting 38^th IUPS in Rio de Janeiro.  Physiologists and researchers worldwide are invited to attend the 39^th IUPS Congress ‘Marvels of Life - Integration and Translation’ which will be held in Beijing, China, October 15-19, 2021 (see http://www.caps-china.org/iups2021/).