Preface
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, and the Czechoslovak Microscopy Society, it is our pleasure to welcome you in Prague at the 8th Multinational Congress on Microscopy (8MCM). This 8MCM is a continuation in a series of seven successful and well established international congresses, organized by six regional societies for microscopy:
- Austrian Society for Electron Microscopy
- Croatian Microscopy Society
- Czechoslovak Microscopy Society
- Hungarian Society for Microscopy
- Italian Society of Microscopical Sciences
- Slovene Society for Microscopy
The Congress takes place every second year. While the first five congresses were termed Multinational Congress on Electron Microscopy (MCEM), the name of the congress was changed in 2003 to the Multinational Congress on Microscopy (MCM) in order to stress the wider scope of the congress, and to include all varieties of microscopy. The 8MCM comprises scientific sessions consisting of plenary lectures, invited lectures, selected oral presentations and poster presentations, as well as trade exhibition and social events. The participation of PhD students and young scientists was facilitated by providing a discounted registration fee and a number of fellowships (in collaboration with microscopy-related companies, CSMS and EMS). The congresses have been always organized in a very close collaboration with the European Microscopy Society (EMS), and the 8MCM is held as an EMS extension. The visible effect is the wide international participation of microscopists.
The general aims of the 8MCM are:
- to allow the scientists to present their recent scientific results obtained using microscopy methods
- to discuss latest theoretical and instrumental advances of various microscopy techniques
- to foster advanced knowledge on materials and biological samples preparation
- to widen personal contacts for future scientific cooperation and networking
- to provide a platform for presentation of newest technologies by microscopy-related companies
This volume contains abstracts of all presentations at the 8MCM. With more than 300 participants from many countries, this promises that the 8MCM will be a great microscopy venue providing especially the young microscopist generation with a lot of useful information. This is also a good opportunity to thank to all people involved in the preparation of the Congress: especially the members of the local and international scientific boards, the Institute of Molecular Genetics, EMS and all companies acting as exhibitors and/or sponsors. Without their great support, it woud be impossible to organize such a meeting.
We wish you very productive and pleasant stay in Prague.
For the organizers,
Pavel Hozak
