Hanno lunga tradizione. Hanno consentito il formarsi di collaborazioni scientifiche e, spesso, di durature amicizie. Sono i meetings dei gruppi di interesse dell'ABCD, le nostre Gordon Conferences in miniatura. Questo breve articolo intende promuovere una discussione sulla possibilità e forse la necessità di aggiornare le tematiche e rivedere, dopo molti anni, il formato di queste riunioni.

Con il numero "zero" della rinnovata edizione della nostra Newsletter mensile ho il piacere di presentarvi alcune novità rilevanti per ABCD, tra cui: 1. Il nostro web site, completamente rinnovato; 2. Un programma di eventi scientifici di rilievo per il 2015 e, 3. La possibilità per i nostri junior scientists di sottoscrivere la co-membership a ABCD e alla American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB)

About a year ago a short survey was carried out to achieve a better understanding of our member community: its job affiliations, scientific interests, geographical location, teaching and media communication activities.

E-democracy designates the set of institutional practices enabled by new information and communication technologies (henceforth ICTs). Such practices are supposed to help further the core values of democracy and have been suggested as a potential remedy to some of the shortcomings of current Western democracies. Specifically, so it is hypothesised, such ICT solutions could make up for the growing disaffection with political participation and the widespread discontent with contemporary political practices. The extent to which, so far, this has actually been the case, is still a matter of debate.

Personalized medicine is commonly described as moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach, towards healthcare services that are tailored to the needs and characteristics of individuals. Its focus on profiling, prevention, early detection, and tailored treatments is considered as a good way to rise to the political, social and scientific challenges characterising contemporary healthcare.