ICRS 2007

ICRS 6t MEETING

The 6th annual meeting of the ICRS, held in September this year in Caesarea was a very successful event with more that 250 participants. The general topic of the conference was “Advances in drug delivery – new carriers, devices and therapies”. The scientific program was comprised of two keynote speeches and 26 invited lectures in 6 sessions, presenting anti-cancer therapies, nanotechnology in pharmaceutical design and diagnostics, CNS targeting, delivery of poorly absorbed drugs and drug delivery devices, as well as IP and regulatory issues. There were 97 participants from the industry, 56 from the academic staff and 92 graduate students who received subsidized registration. Two students were selected by the Organizing Committee to present their research results as a lecture during the meeting. A rich and full poster session (71 presentations) exposed exciting and innovative research in the field of drug delivery to the conference attendees.

The conference was opened by Prof. Elka Touitou, the President of ICRS, who spoke about CRS, its mission and activities and detailed the statistics and activities of the local ICRS chapter. CRS is the leading multidisciplinary society dedicated to the science and technology of controlled release and delivery of drugs and biomaterials. Prof. Touitou emphasized the ICRS functions and its contributions to CRS activities. She welcomed the participants, acknowledged the efforts of the organizing committee and thanked the CRS and the other 15 sponsors of the meeting.

The first keynote presentation was given by Prof. Elias Fattal from the University of Paris-XI on “Biodegradable particles for the intraocular delivery of nucleic acids” and the second day’s keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Ron Tomer, VP Unipharm on “How can “Inventions” destroy innovation”. Two additional guest lecturers were Prof. Tamara Minko from the Ernest Marion School of Pharmacy in Rutgers, NJ and Dr. Zvi Ladin from Boston MedTech Advisors.

The first day of the conference culminated in a Gala Dinner in the picturesque Hazer haBeer garden. At this pleasurable event the participants enjoyed a countrified romantic atmosphere, tasteful cuisine and fun-filled dancing. During the Gala Dinner, the previous ICRS meeting’s awards for the most outstanding student presentations were presented to five students by Prof. Roza Azhari, ICRS President Elect. These awards encourage student participation at the international CRS meetings.

This year, a new ICRS Award for Achievements in Drug Delivery was established and Prof. Michael Friedman from the School of Pharmacy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was selected as the first recipient to be honored for his outstanding contributions in the field of oral drug delivery. The ICRS executive committee also presented a plaque of appreciation to Prof. Elka Touitou president of ICRS 2003-2007, in recognition of her leadership and important contributions to the ICRS.

A prize committee, comprised of 5 members from Industry and Academia, selected the winners in the traditional ICRS student poster competition: Tomer Bronshtein (Technion), Oded Ovadia (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Margarita Shumilov (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Avi Schroeder (Ben-Gurion University) and Ehud Segal (Tel-Aviv University).

Israel is one of the countries with the most dynamic and creative research in the field of drug delivery and nanomedicine. This ICRS meeting enabled scientists from academia and industry to meet and exchange ideas, thus encouraging and promoting ongoing and new research in the field of drug delivery.

Conference photos

Abstracts | Program