Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the Joint National Ph.D. Meeting, organised by the ABCD and SIBBM. This year, it will be held at the Centro Congressi SGR in Rimini from 11 to 13 October.

This year's Programme includes, in addition to the usual oral communications and thematic poster sessions, two Keynote Lectures.

The first will be delivered by Andrea Ballabio (TIGEM, Naples) and the second by Gianni Cesareni (University of Rome Tor Vergata).

As has become a hallmark of these meetings, students play a fundamental role both on the meeting organisation and its scientific content. This year's current panel (Giulia Antoniali, Udine; Giulia Bon, Rome; Eric Dassi, Trento; Riccardo Rizzo, Naples; Tommaso Selmi, Modena; Giusy Tornillo, Turin) will select oral communications from the submitted abstracts and will also chair the different sessions.

Registrations and abstract submissions are accepted exclusively through the meeting's website and will be possible until 14 September. As usual, members of the ABCD or SIBBM (as well as people working in their labs) benefit from reduced registration fees. Remember to be an early bird to benefit from discounted prices! Details about the different registration fees can be found on the meeting's website.

We will be able to award travel grants, covering most of the registration fee, to a good number of participants. To be eligible, the following conditions must be met:

• be a member of the SIBBM, a junior member of ABCD (ABCD junior membership is free and applications can be made through the ABCD web site), or a young co-worker of a member of either Society;
• be less than 35 years old at the start of the meeting.

You may apply for a grant during the registration procedure. The number of travel grants will depend on the number of requests.

Finally, please remember that prizes for the best poster and best oral communication will be also awarded.

We hope that you and your students will join us in large numbers to ensure a productive exchange of ideas and a lively interaction among the participants.

We look forward to seeing you in Rimini!

The ABCD-SIBBM Organising Committee