The aim of the international meeting  Mechanism(s) of Exocytosis 2008  is to bring together top scientists in the field to discuss the current status of exocytosis and to define future goals.    

Exocytosis, a universal process of eukaryotic cells, consisting of the fusion between the vesicle and the plasma membrane is an important topic in cell biology, physiology, biophysics, biochemistry and many other disciplines. The understanding of this rather complex process is essential for the understanding of normal function of unicellular and multicellular organisms from animal to plant kingdoms and in pathological conditions as well. During the last three decades a rapid increase in the number of research papers addressing this topic have been published. Since the term exocytosis was first mentioned in the PubMed list of journals, almost 14000 papers were published, reaching an apparently saturating number of about 800 exocytosis papers published every year (Figure).
The development of our understanding of exocytosis spans the initial evidences that “something is being released” from cells to the description of extensive physiological, biophysical, molecular and genetic properties of the process. We now have a long list of key proteins involved in exocytosis in a number of cell types, but we still have to strive to find a consensus about a mechanism or mechanisms that describe the interplay of key players in functional terms.

Number of participants: about 70, 25 invited speakers, up to 60 poster presentations.