On behalf of the Scientific Committee, it is my pleasure to invite you to the 1st International Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Symposium 2004 on Stress, Behaviour and Immune Response, which will be held in Greifswald, Germany from November 11 to 13, 2004.

While the origins of the concept that emotional status and mental processes are linked to physical health or disease can be tracked back to antiquity, the scientific basis of our understanding of the underlying mechanisms was largely set up in the late part of the 20th century.
The understanding of the neurochemical, immunological, endocrinological, neurobiological and psychological implications of the cross-talk between the systems offers exciting approaches to the management of various pathological conditions, in which the regulation between these systems is disturbed. Nevertheless, psychoneuroimmunology has tended to be marginalized as a subject of limited scientific merit up to now.

The 1st Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Symposium will focus on mind-body-interrelationships which influence the host’s ability to combat bacterial infections.
Our current hypothesis regarding the activity of the immune system in systemic infection includes both uncontrolled hyperinflammatory responses as well as unresponsiveness due to an anti-inflammatory bias. The type of response is determined by many factors, including the patients coexisting conditions. Among them the body-mind-interactions are not yet understood.
Researchers and clinicians as well as psychologists from different scientific backgrounds who are interested in the field and are open to interdisciplinary challenge are kindly invited to participate. It is my hope and desire that the symposium will succeed in providing the participants with many new ideas and inspiration for their future work.

Looking forward to meet you here,

Christine Schütt