The symposium of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) was launched by the welcoming address of HAS President József Pálinkás on January 19 in Szeged. This conference was the opening event in a series of programs to be organised during the memorial year honouring former HAS President and world-renowned brain researcher János Szentágothai.

Organised by the research groups of HAS' Biological Research Centre in Szeged, the three-day long IBRO 2012 conference began on January 19, 2012. Hungarian and international brain researchers had also gathered to commemorate the legacy of János Szentágothai. A former President of HAS, this ingenious scientist and outstanding educator was a true renaissance man: in addition to brain science he deeply immersed himself in the arts, music and poetry. "...the main goal and aspiration of my life was no more than to remain a good brain researcher, a well-cultured man at the end of 20th century, to maintain my integrity in the given historical situation, and most of all to remain a Christian", Professor Szentágothai confessed in his autobiography entitled Around the Brain as Ulysses.

    As the main patron of the conference, József Pálinkás said this in his opening address: UNESCO dedicated 2012 as a Memorial Year of József Szentágothai. During this centennial year we applaud his outstanding talent, and while drawing on the achievements of the past century we can also peer into the future of brain research. The scientific career of Professor Szentágothai still serves as an example for today's researchers. He was very encouraging in everything he did: his students adored him. His scientific workshop produced a never-ending series of excellent results attained by his talented young researchers. His strength moved both science and public life forward, so József Pálinkás recalled his memories of the great professor. His personality as an educator was a determining factor in the career of future researchers, his achievement is the foundation on which today's highly acclaimed Hungarian brain research is built.

    Recalling the 70th birthday of Professor Szentágothai, the Minister of National Resources Miklós Réthelyi, also a former student and co-author of the great scientist, delivered a written greeting to the participants of the conference. The daughter of János Szentágothai, Klára Szentágothai also appeared at the opening event.

 

    On the first day of the conference, participants gave lectures on such topics as the traditions of brain research and the promising results of young researchers. Chairing the first plenary session was Member of HAS and Brain-prize winner Péter Somogyi, a former student of Professor Szentágothai's.  Several lecturers, among them such internationally recognised scientists as the director of Max-Planck Society's Institute for Brain Research Professor Wolf Singer, presented the results of their research originally inspired by Szentágothai. 

    Seven talented young scientists also presented their internationally recognised research activities during an afternoon symposium. Among the winners of the Momentum Program initiated by the President of HAS, three neurologists, namely Judit Makara, Csaba Fekete and János Szabadics also delivered their own lectures. Although these young researchers of HAS' Institute of Experimental Medicine never met Szentágothai in person, this giant of Hungarian neuroscience is still a role model to them. "He laid the foundation for a world-renowned school of thought that I can be a part of through his former students", said Judit Makara who studies the role of dendrites in neural networks and memory. Various neuropeptides and receptors regulating food consumption is in the focus of Csaba Fekete's research. "Unfortunately I am too young to have known Professor Szentágothai in person, but during my research I can see his intellectual legacy wherever I turn. The foundation of my field, neuroendocrinology, was also laid by him and his students", the young researcher said. 

    Chaired by head of the Institute of Physiology at the University of Szeged Gábor Jancsó, another symposium was dedicated to the mechanisms of pain sensation and the pain relieving property of capsaicin during the three-day long conference. Professor of the Biophysical Institute of the Max-Planck Society Ernst Bamberg presented his most significant findings, worthy of a Nobel-prize according to many. The German neurologist has been studying a special protein which could become the main component in future medicines aiming to cure a certain type of blindness called retinitis pigmentosa.

     Participants discussed both the negative and positive effects of everyday stress on the closing day of the conference.