EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON BACTERIAL PROTEIN TOXINS

Conference History

ETOX stands for European Workshop on Bacterial Protein Toxins and refers to a series of workshops held every other year in different European countries. The idea of organizing high-standard scientific workshops in Europe specifically devoted to all aspects of the research on bacterial protein toxins was evoked at the end of the 1970s by a number of scientists working in this field.

This project resulted in the creation of a Steering Committee composed of John P. Arbuthnott (Trinity College, Dublin), Joseph E. Alouf (Pasteur Institute, Paris), Franz J.Fehrenbach (Robert Koch Institute, Berlin), John H. Freer (University of Glasgow), the late Janus Jeljaszewicz (National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw), Roland Möllby (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm) and Torkel Wadström (University of Uppsala) during the conference organized by the International Society of Toxicology (1981). Few months later, during the European meeting of this Society in Marseille (France) the Committee decided to organise a workshop to be held in June 1983.

The first ETOX was organized by Joseph Alouf in the small town of Seillac, in France. The meeting brought together 135 leading scientists and young researchers from many European countries as well as from United States, Japan and other countries. At the end of the Workshop which was quite successful on the basis of both organization and the high standard of the scientific communications, the participants felt that the time was ripe to gather at regular basis in the form of a limited-size meetings (ca. 170 participants) to facilitate informal interactions between the participants.

Since then ETOX workshops are held every other year in different European small towns so that all delegates will stay together to allow fruitful discussions particularly after dinner («beer» clubs).

The proceedings of each workshop have been published in a series of volumes entitled «Bacterial Protein Toxins» (Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, New York) and lately in Int. J. Med. Microbiol.

ETOX Mettings

ETOX 1 Seillac, France 26 - 30 June 1983
Chairperson: Joseph Alouf (Institut Pasteur, Paris)

ETOX 2 Wepion, Belgium 30 June - 4 July 1985
Chairperson: Paul Falmagne (Université de Mons)

ETOX 3 Uberlingen, Germany 28 June - 3 July 1987
Chairperson: Franz J. Fehrenbach (R. Koch Institut, Berlin)

ETOX 4 Urbino, Italy 3 - 6 July 1989
Chairperson: Rino Rappuoli (Sclavo Research Centre, Siena)

ETOX 5 Veldohoven, The Netherlands 30 - 5 July 1991
Chairperson: Bernard Witholt (Groningen Biotechnology Centre)

ETOX 6 Stirling Scotland, United Kingdom 27 June - 2 July 1993
Chairperson: John H. Freer (University of Glasgow)

ETOX 7 Hindsgavl Middelfart, Denmark 2 - 6 July 1995
Chairperson: Peer Lyng Frandsen (Danish Veterinary Laboratory)

ETOX 8 Kloster Banz, Germany 29 June - 4 July 1997
Chairperson: Jörg Hacker (University of Würzburg)

ETOX 9 Sainte-Maxime, France 27 June - 2 July 1999
Chairperson: Camille Locht (Institut Pasteur, Lille)

ETOX 10 Bohonm, Belgium 24 - 29 June 2001
Chairperson: Véronique Cabiaux (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

ETOX 11 Praha - Celakovice, Czech Republic 28 June - 2 July 2003
Chairperson: Peter Sebo (Czech Academy of Sciences,
Institute of Microbiology, Prague)

ETOX 12 Canterbury, United Kingdom 25 - 29 June 2005
Chairperson: Timothy Hirst (University of Leeds)

ETOX 13 San Martino al Cimino, Italy 23 - 28 June 2007
Chairperson: Marisa Teresa De Magistris (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome – Italy)

ETOX 14 ValVVF Obernai, France 27 June - 02 July 2009
Chairperson: Gilles Prevost (University of Strasbourg)

ETOX 15 Oslo, Norway 18 - 22 June 2011
Chairperson: Annet-Brit Kolstø (University of Oslo)

ETOX 16 Freiburg, Germany 22 - 26 June 2013
Chariperson: Klaus Aktories (Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg)

ETOX 17, Braga, Portugal 20 -24 June 2015
Chairperson: Nuno Santos (University of Porto)

ETOX 18 Paris, France 26 - 30 June 2017
Chairperson: Michel-Robert Popoff (Institut Pasteur, Paris)

ETOX 19 Davos, Switzerland 22 - 26 June 2019
Chairpersons: Christoph Dehio, Marek Basler (BIOZENTRUM Basel, University of Basel)

ETOX 20 Dortmund (online workshop), Germany 28 June - 01 July 2021
Chairperson: Stefan Raunser (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund)

ETOX 21 Crieff, Scotland 25 June - 29 June 2023
Chairpersons: Daniel Humphreys (University of Sheffield), Sarah Coulthurst (University of Dundee)

ETOX 22 Oñati, Spain 29 June - 3 July 2025
Chairpersons: David Albesa (University of the Basque Country), Patricia Bernal (Universidad de Sevilla)