May 2014

Topics:

• ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS 2014 Meeting in Boston
• ECTRIMS Focused Workshops
• ECTRIMS Summer Schools
• ECTRIMS Fellowships 2014
• Comorbidities in MS Project
• ECTRIMS support of other societies/events
• Meeting dates

Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the spring 2014 newsletter of ECTRIMS.

ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS 2014 Meeting in Boston

Once every 6 years, ACTRIMS hosts and organises a joint Congress of ACTRIMS and ECTRIMS. Such congresses were previously held in 2002 in Baltimore and 2008 in Montreal. This year’s joint congress will be held in Boston from 10 to 13 September. As always, excellent scientific and teaching programmes are in store, the former developed by a Scientific Programme Committee chaired by Jeff Cohen and the latter by a Teaching Course Committee chaired by Jerry Wolinsky. For more information about the congress go to the following link:

http://www.msboston2014.org/

ECTRIMS Focused Workshops

A publication arising from the 2013 workshop on “Pregnancy, Gender and Hormonal Aspects of MS” has been published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal and is available through open access in the following link:

http://msj.sagepub.com/content/20/5/527.full.pdf+html

The 2014 focused workshop was on “New technologies in MS” and took place on 6-7 March 2014 in Lisbon/Portugal. As the cost and complexity of providing health care for people with MS is steadily increasing, new technologies – many of which are web-based – provide opportunities for documentation, communication and intervention that collectively have great potential to improve the quality, equity, effectiveness, and economic value of the care that is delivered. In a series of presentations and discussions current scientific knowledge and clinical practice in this area were discussed.

The programme of the ECTRIMS Focused Workshop 2014 is available here.

The programme for a focused workshop in 2015 is currently being planned on ‘Immunology of Multiple Sclerosis – from a human point of view’.

ECTRIMS Summer Schools

In 2013, ECTRIMS initiated an annual Summer School to equip young physicians specialising on MS with up-to-date knowledge and expertise in pharmacovigilance and monitoring drug effectiveness in MS. Each school has a specific scientific theme and involves limited numbers of participants in European locations designed to facilitate discussion and interaction.

The 2^nd ECTRIMS Summer School will take place from 25-27 June 2014 in Tallinn, Estonia. The course will focus on ‘Genetics in MS’ and will offer a programme of workshops and mentored groups, include the participation of well-known experts from around the world, and will ensure in-depth coverage of the field. Participants with no previous knowledge in the field of genetics or who are at an early stage of their training will be invited to attend an introductory workshop on genetics research which will take place before the official start of the Summer School. The workshop will also cover the topics ‘How to read a genetics paper’ and ‘How to write a genetics paper’. Young scientists will also actively work in mentor groups and get concrete guidance on reading/producing genetics papers.

The programme of the ECTRIMS Summer School 2014 is available here. Please note, however, that the application deadline for this year’s Summer School has already passed.

For 2015 a Summer School on ‘From basic science of remyelination to therapeutic strategy’ is being planned.

ECTRIMS Fellowship 2014

ECTRIMS offers a comprehensive range of fellowship programmes for different target groups.
In 2014 six new fellowships were awarded:

ECTRIMS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Exchange Programme

Dr. Armelle Klopstein (France): 2-year fellowship at the Theodor Kocher Institute, Bern, Switzerland, under mentorship of Prof. Britta Engelhard. Project: Molecular mechanisms and cellular pathways involved in the migration of CD8+ T cell subsets across the BBB in vitro and in vivo

Dr. Fanny Chalmin (France): 1-year fellowship at the University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, under the mentorship of Dr. Caroline Pot. Project: Interleukin-27 drives TH17-like cell generation in the absence of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)1

ECTRIMS Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Training Fellowship Programme

Dr. Youssef Sidhom (Tunesia): 1-year clinical training fellowship at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France, under the mentorship of Dr. Bertrand Fontaine.

ECTRIMS Multiple Sclerosis Nurse Training Fellowship Programme

Mrs. Peppina Maria Piera Canu (Italy): 6-months fellowship at the Centre de Esclerosi Multiple de Catalunya, CEM-cat, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, under the mentorship of Mrs. Rosalia Horno.

This new fellowship programme specifically aimed at MS nurses was awarded for the first time in 2014.

ECTRIMS-MAGNIMS Fellowship Programme in MRI in Multiple Sclerosis

Dr. Mariano Cabezas Grebol (Spain): 1-year fellowship at the Fundacio Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Institut de Recerca, Barcelona, Spain, under the mentorship of Dr. Alex Rovira. Project: Automatic detection and analysis of new lesions in serial MRI of MS patients

Dr. Yaou Liu (China): 1 year fellowship at the MS Center Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands, under the mentorship of Prof. Frederic Barkhof. Project: Validation of deep gray matter atrophy measurement in Multiple Sclerosis for multi-center studies: a MUSCAT project

Information on all ECTRIMS fellowship programmes is available at https://www.ectrims.eu/ectrims-fellowship-programmes/.

Comorbidities in MS Project

The International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) jointly supported by the US National MS Society and ECTRIMS has launched a project on MS Comorbidities. The purpose of this project is to understand research priorities and impact on MS outcomes of comorbid health conditions and health-related behaviours. This project is being lead by Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie at the University of Manitoba and a steering committee of experts from the US and Europe. More information will be provided about the project as it becomes available.

ECTRIMS support of other societies/events

ECTRIMS has endorsed the following events:

3^rd Annual Conference of the International Multiple Sclerosis Cognition Society (IMSCOGS), 13-14 June 2014 – Barcelona, Spain

The 3^rd annual conference of the IMSCOGS will be held in Barcelona, Spain, on 13 and 14 June 2014. The 2014 IMSCOGS conference is organized by Prof. Xavier Montalban of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat) leading the Organizing and Scientific Committee., and supported by RIMS, ECTRIMS and SCN (Societat Catalana de Neurologia).

The main objective of the Society is to gather researchers and clinicians around the world who are engaged in the care of MS patients, with a specific focus on cognition and closely related symptoms such as fatigue, depression and anxiety. The conference will provide up-to-date knowledge about cognitive issues affecting MS patients’ quality of life. This conference is mainly addressed to neuropsychologists and related healthcare professionals such as therapists, neurologists and nurses, from around the world, creating a critical mass for further research efforts evidence based consensus. An application has been made for CME accreditation of this event. For more information, registration and abstract submission regarding the IMSCOGS 3^rd Annual Conference, please visit the official website at http://www.cem-cat.org/imscogs2014.

EXCEMED (Excellence in Medical Education, previously Serono Symposia International Foundation) Symposia MS Academy, 9 September 2014 – Boston, USA
The goal of this 1 day meeting just before the joint ACTRIMS/ECTRIMS Congress in Boston is to update participants about MS pathogenesis and diagnostic criteria and to provide a comprehensive overview of current and future disease-modifying therapies. Further information on this course is available here.

EXCEMED 16^th MS Nurse International Workshop, 9 September 2014 – Boston, USA
The 16^th MS nurse international workshop will be held the day before the opening of ACTRIMS/ECTRIMS Congress in Boston in September. Further information is available here.

EUReMS (European Register for Multiple Sclerosis) Project
ECTRIMS will support the EUReMS project with an amount of 12’000 EUR in 2014.
The EUReMS project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Public Health Programme from July 2011 until June 2014 to establish a platform for sustainable MS data collection in Europe. Further information is available at http://www.eurems.eu/.

Meeting dates

EFNS-ENS Joint Congress of European Neurology 2014, Istanbul, Turkey, 31 May – 3 June 2014. Information on this event is available here.

3^rd Annual Conference of the International Multiple Sclerosis Cognition Society (IMSCOGS), Barcelona, Spain, 13-14 June 2014. Information on this event is available here.

ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS 2014, Boston, USA, 10-13 September 2014

Save the date for the 2014 Joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Meeting which will be held from 10 to 13 September 2014 at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston. Visit the congress website for further information on this joint meeting: www.msboston2014.org.

ISNI 2014: 12^th International Congress of Neuroimmunology, Mainz, Germany, 9-13 November 2014. Information on this event is available here.

ECTRIMS 2015, Barcelona, Spain, 7-10 October 2015

ECTRIMS 2016, London, UK, 14-17 September 2016

ECTRIMS 2017, Paris

ECTRIMS Executive Committee

M. Trojano, Bari/IT, President
X. Montalban, Barcelona/ES, Vice-President
D. Miller, London/UK, Secretary & Newsletter Editor
P. Soelberg Sørensen, Copenhagen/DK, Treasurer
B. Hemmer, Munich/DE
C. Lubetzki, Paris/FR
T. Olsson, Stockholm/SE

Contact
secretariat@ectrims.eu