Prior to the first Molecular Recognition meeting the original idea of the conference series had a period of maturation for a number of years. Following long hours of discussions and recognizing the importance of the interdisciplinary communications a group of scientists decided to organize a round-table discussion about the hot topics in molecular recognition in Pécs. The first meeting was held between 21 and 25 July 1993. Béla Somogyi was the president and Tibor Lakatos was the secretary of the organising committee. Working together with fellow colleagues József Belágyi, Péter Németh and Balázs Sümegi a meeting of more than 50 participants was organized. The conference took place in the Pécs Academy House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
During the opening ceremony of this first Molecular Recognition meeting Professor Somogyi addressed the audience by the following words: “I believe our meeting will be a successful beginning of a series of conferences about molecular recognition and related topics here in this city and a good lot of young scientists will meet the seniors of the field to exchange their ideas.” This basic concept of the conferences remained the same during the following years, and we believe it should remain the same of the subsequent meetings as well.
The first conference turned out to be a very successful meeting and prompted the participants to suggest the idea of a real series of events. According to the decision of the participants of the Round Table Conference on Molecular Recognition held in 1993 a second conference was organized in 1996 between 18 and 21 August with more than 50 international participants. The II. International Conference on Molecular Recognition was joined to the 12th International Biophysics Congress (held in Amsterdam between 11 and 16 August 1996). The topics of this second conference were grouped into five sessions: Immunology; Macromolecules; Multienzyme systems; Chemical recognition and Miscellaneous. As all the other meetings of the series the conference was held in Pécs. This time the venue was the Hotel Meditteran.
Although the founding participants of the conference decided to have Molecular Recognition meeting every three years, the third conference was postponed to 2000. This conference took place in the Hotel Kikelet on the beautiful hills surrounding the city between 12 and 16 August. Following the traditions of the first two conferences the scope of this third event remained to provide an overview of a wide range of subjects, which in most of the cases were interdisciplinary. The subjects were grouped in sections of Cytoskeleton and Contractility, Blood Coagulation, Immunology, Protein Dynamics, Dynamism of Cell Architecture. Similar to the meetings in 1993 and in 2000 the president of the conference was Professor Béla Somogyi.
Unfortunately, it was the last Molecular Recognition Conference Professor Somogyi organized due to his unexpected death in May 2006. The IV. International Conferences on Molecular Recognition in 2007 was dedicated to the memory of the great scientist and good friend; it was a tribute to Professor Somogyi. This time the scientific committee was chaired by Professor József Tigyi, while the chairman of the organizing committee was Miklós Nyitrai. More than 90 participants attended the conference from eleven countries, involving many young scientists. Apart from more than 50 poster presentations 35 scientific papers were delivered during the sessions by the participants. The topics of the meeting were grouped in the following sessions: Cytoskeletal Proteins; Biological Membranes; Thermal Analysis of Protein Inter-actions; Nanobiology; Protein Dynamics and Conformations.
Based on the positive feedbacks we received over the years from the participants of the Molecular Recognition conferences the organization of the next conference has already started. This meeting is scheduled to be held between 13 and 18 August 2010. A special flavour is expected to spice up the V. Conference, as Pécs will hold the prestigious European Capital of Culture title that year with many meetings, concerts and other related events. We hope to have the pleasure to host you in Pécs in 2010!
