Dear Colleagues,

The incidence of civilization diseases including asthma, atopic disease, allergies, inflammatory bowel diseases and psoriasis has multiplied during the past decades. These diseases share the pathophysiology of chronic inflammation, which occurs at the physiological barriers of the human organism. Epidemiological data suggests that a polygenic susceptibility, interacting with the environmental influence of the changing life-conditions of industrialized countries, precipitates into actual disease. Therefore, the understanding of the genetic etiology is of great importance for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in these important disorders.

The German National Genome Research Network (NGFN) promotes a clinical focus on environmental/civilization disorders. This focus group is coordinated by U. Wahn (Berlin), E. Wichmann (Munich) and S. Schreiber (Kiel). In the symposium, we will discuss the state-of-the-art of research in these diseases with an internationally renowned faculty. The organizers of the 11 sessions are presented in this preliminary program. The topics will span such diverse fields of research as technology to functional genomics.
Since discussions with young scientists will be a main focus of the symposium, there will be a poster exhibition. Travel stipends will be awarded to the 50 best contributions.

We look forward to welcoming you to Kiel for an exciting scientific discussion.