5th International Conference on Magnetic Resonance Microscopy

German Cancer Research Center,   Heidelberg,  Sept. 5 - 9, 1999

Final Program

General Information

The oral and poster sessions of the conference will be held at the Communication Center, next to the main entrance of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), located on Kirschner Strasse (across from the Chirurgie) in the University area on the north side of the Neckar river in Neuenheim.

The final program was put together by Robert Botto, Axel Haase, and William E. Hull, with the valuable assistance of the following additional abstract reviewers:

The conference begins with a one-day Educational Session on Sunday, as described below, for which ca. 90 participants are registered. Then follows a 3.5 day scientific meeting comprising 12 sessions of Oral presentations and 5 Poster sessions. A total of 32 invited plenary lectures form the basis around which the meeting is constructed. From 125 submitted Abstracts a total of 36 were selected for oral presentation. We could have easily selected more but the time frame of the meeting forced us to limit the number of orals.

This year, for the first time, we introduced a Young Investigators Competition, whereby doctoral students and postdocs who were primarily responsible for their projects could submit a three-page Abstract for a more detailed judgement of their work. A total of ten competitors joined in the fun, and we selected six of these ( 4 postdocs and 2 predocs) to present their work as a 15-min Oral. As a special bonus their conference fees have been waived.

All Abstracts that reached us were in fact accepted for presentation, either as an Oral or as a Poster. This year we were also able to obtain financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for a total of 14 scientists from eastern Europe and the Russian Federation. Thus, we were able to cover the fees and part of the travel and hotel costs for 9 members of the Russian Federation, three colleagues from Poland, and one each from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On the following pages you will find the detailed Program and time schedule for the meeting. All oral presentations and all poster contributions are listed here with corresponding code numbers for the Abstracts which are presented in the second part of this booklet. The Oral sessions were constructed on the basis of the basic topic categories Biology, Materials, Methods, Instrumentation, etc., whereby we have tried to bring closely related topics together in a logical way. Unfortunately, due to constraints on participation dates for several lecturers, it was not possible to achieve the ideal arrangement of topics. For example, it was planned to have Materials 1, Materials 2, and Diffusion & Flow as three major categories. However, departure dates forced us to mix members of the latter two categories together.

The Posters have also been organized according to main topic (see List following the Program) and further arranged to place related subjects close to together. The Program is organized with alternating oral and poster sessions in a way which we hope will stimulate Poster viewing and provide welcome relief from the strenuous Oral sessions. The Coffee Breaks coincide with the Poster Sessions and take place in the Foyer of the Communication Center.

Registration Desk

The desk in the Foyer of the Communication Center will be manned beginning Sunday morning at 9:00 h and through the conference. Here you will receive the conference materials and tote bag and hopefully be able to get useful information and help for any problems.

Oral Presentations

For Lectures the following projection facilities are available:

a) 35 mm slides (dual projectors with zoom lens)
b) overhead transparencies (parallel to slides or dual if needed)
c) video tape (VHS, S-VHS, PAL, NTSC)
d) computer graphics projection direct from the available laptop PC running under Windows 98 with Office 98 (including PowerPoint) and Acrobat 3.0, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express. Data input is via diskette or CD-ROM; if necessary an external ZIP drive can be attached; or you may bring your own Laptop; on-line Internet connection also possible.

If you wish to use the beamer facility please contact the Projectionist early on to familiarize yourself with the system and perform the required data transfers.

Poster Presentations

There are 87 Posters in the program. The maximum mounting space available for each Poster is 106 cm wide, 163 cm high. Posters should be mounted as soon as possible on the numbered Poster Boards, at the latest on Sunday evening during the reception. The number assigned to your Poster is given in the Abstract Book. Double-sided tape and push-pins will be provided for mounting. Posters should be viewable throughout the entire conference but must be removed on Thursday afternoon after the last Session. At the moment we have not made specific poster session assignments for presenters to stand by their work. Each session is defined as "odd" or "even" numbered posters, and you should plan to spend some of the time in the appropriate sessions defending your work before a hopefully not too violent public.

Lunches

The one-hour lunch break begins at 13:15 - 13:30 and inexpensive meals can be obtained in the DKFZ-Cafeteria located adjacent to the Conference site. The Personel have been notified that we will be coming at the indicated time and sufficient "extra" portions of the offered menus should be available.

Public Transportation

The DKFZ is unfortunately 1 - 2.5 km distant from most hotels, but the hotels we have chosen are generally quite close to Bus and Tram (Streetcar) connections (Haltestelle). (A map is in preparation). For example, for Hotels in the Friedrich Ebert Anlage in the City Center, the Bus #33 (direction Sportzentrum) goes right by the door of these hotels and has a stop just in front of the DKFZ. The Tram Line #1 makes an east-west loop from Dossenheim through Bismarck Platz to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and then over the bridge to Neuenheim. The first stop on the north side of the bridge is called Jahn Strasse and is the closest stop for the DKFZ (ca. 300 m walk). The Tram #4 runs north-south and can also be used between the Hauptbahnhof and Jahn Str. Tickets for a single ride cost cost about DM 2.80, I believe, can be bought from the driver and do not require exact change. Tickets are cheaper as a block of 5 and there is also a 24-h ticket, a week ticket and other such alternatives.

Walking or driving, you must cross to the north side of the Neckar river (Neuenheim) via the Ernst Walz Bridge which connects the Mittermaier Str. from the Hauptbahnhof with the Berliner Str. in Neuenheim. Just after crossing the bridge, heading north, go left (west) at the first traffic light into the Jahn Str. (Haltestelle for Trams #1 and #4); the Max-Planck Institute is the red brick building on your left. The road then turns right and then again left into the Kirschner Str. via a Barrier Gate. This is the entrance to the Clinic area with very restricted parking and should only be used for deliveries.  Instead of turning left toward the barrier you may continue on parallel to the Berliner Str.; here you will find various parking areas. Pedestrians should walk past the Barrier about 200 m, going past the "Klinik" Stop for Bus #33; the DKFZ is the large building on the right; look for the fountain and "swimming pool" in front of the main entrance; just to the left of this is the Communication Center with lots of glass. That's where you will find us.

Weather

Right now the weather is very pleasant: 25 - 30°C during the day, ca. 15°C at night. Let's hope it stays that way.

Keeping in touch

Telephone messages for participants can be given by calling:
+49-6221-42-0  (central operator)
+49-6221-42-4571  (Secretariat)

Faxes can be sent and received c/o Dr. Hull at +49-6221-424554;  Emails c/o Dr. Hull at w.hull@dkfz-heidelberg.de.

Internet (Telnet) Access to your own computer system will also be possible.

The one-day program provides five lectures by respected experts in the field of MR, which provide an overview of the basic aspects of MR imaging, now including EPR. The information and background needed to understand a variety of modern techniques and applications, many of which will be the subject of other presentations at the Scientific Sessions, will also be presented.

Participants in this Session will receive additional documentation (so-called handouts or course notes) provided by the lecturer. One-page summaries of each lecture can be found in the Abstracts section of the Website.

The Educational Session takes place in the main lecture theater of the Communication Center of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The detailed Program is listed below. Participants will be provided free of charge with a light lunch delivered by a catering service since the DKFZ Cafeteria is closed on weekends.

Following the lectures there will be an informal Reception in the Foyer with warm and cold buffet, giving participants a chance to relax and mingle with friends and colleagues, to setup their poster presentations, and to get in the mood for the hard work coming up in the days ahead.

5^th ICMRM Educational Session Chairman: Robert E. Botto

Plenary Lectures (L) are 25 min; Contributed Orals (O) are 15 min;
Presenter is in bold face; the right column gives the Abstract number.