As we said in the previous newsletters, ECTS Congress is the place to be. This year, we will have a possibility to actually be physically present and enjoy on-site congress. Based on indicators we have now, less than a month prior to congress, it will be well visited with impressive number of attendees from all over the world and imposing support from sponsors. Very challenging time that we live in brought us unexpected obstacles but with great teamwork we are managing to give our best and prepare great congress experience with all the advantages that being immersed in an international scientific meeting of this kind.
One of the best visited sessions in ECTS Congress is always the ASBMR/ECTS debate. This year subject of the debate will be ‘do bisphosphonates lower cardiovascular risk’. We expect great battle of minds as Professor Serge Ferrari will represent the ECTS and in favor of the motion “this house believes that bisphosphonates lower cardiovascular risk’ and Professor Ian Reid will argue against the motion representing the ASBMR.
As the annual clinical debate has always been very successful, the SPC decided that for the first time in ECTS’ history a basic science debate should be organised as well. Although few debatable topics seemed to exist among basic scientists when inquiring among the SPC members, some could be identified. This year’s topic will evolve around the statement that the use of 3D cell models should be used instead of conditional knockout models. With every new scientific question that any of us has, one should come up with the most relevant model(s) to provide the necessary answers. Liam Grover will put forward his motion to promote the use of human 3D cell models and bring up the 3R’s in case of using animal models. On the other side of the table and against the motion is Florent Elefteriou, who will discuss the benefits of using conditional knockout mice. We have no doubt that the debate will be lively and full of arguments from either side, but we also hope that this will stimulate researchers in their future studies to make justifiable choices when choosing a model.