ESBRA: PASSPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON ALCOHOLISM IN EUROPE

Roger Nordmann

Founder President of ESBRA, Centre Universitaire des Saints-Pères, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, F 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France

Received 20 September 1999; in revised form 12 October 1999

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION: CONCEPTION AND CONSTITUTION OF ESBRA

When founded in 1980, the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA) co-existed with the American Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) and the Japanese Medical Society of Alcohol Studies (JMSAS). To strengthen European alcohol research and cooperation between European scientists involved in alcohol research, it appeared desirable to build up a counterpart to the North American and Japanese societies which would cover all of Europe.

On the initiative of J.-P. von Wartburg, at that time President of ISBRA, a Steering Committee for the foundation of a European Alcohol Research Society was set up during the 1982 ISBRA Congress in Munich, Germany. R. Nordmann was asked to, and accepted the chair of this Committee, which, among other activities, sent all European ISBRA members as well as other European scientists involved in alcohol research a questionnaire, Organizational Survey for the Foundation of a European Alcohol Research Society.

A large majority of those to whom this questionnaire was addressed expressed their strong interest in the foundation of such a society. The Steering Committee therefore established tentative by-laws, which were sent to their European colleagues and approved by a vote which took place during the ISBRA Congress in Helsinki in 1986. The name chosen for the new Society was the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA) and its by-laws were deposited in Brussels and the Society was registered on 12 March 1987 as a scientific non-profit-making association by the Belgian Ministry of Justice under the authority of King Baudouin.

MANAGEMENT OF THE SOCIETY

General assembly
The Annual General Assembly, during which the activities and budget of ESBRA are discussed and submitted to the membership for approval, meets alternately during the ESBRA Congresses (organized during uneven years) and the ISBRA Congresses (organized during even years).

Officers of ESBRA
The Society is managed by a Board of Directors elected by the membership from a list of candidates which takes into account an even geographical distribution. The Directors are unpaid. The individuals who have been, or are presently, members of the Board of Directors are listed in Table 1Go, from which it can be seen that, currently, in addition to the Founder President, there are 10 members of the Board from the following 10 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.


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Table 1. Past and present members of the Board of Directors of ESBRA
 

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

ESBRA has three main scientific activities: (1) the Biennial ESBRA Congresses, (2) the (usually) Biennial ESBRA Award Meetings, (3) Symposia organized under the auspices of ESBRA.

Biennial ESBRA congresses
Since the inception of ESBRA, a total of seven ESBRA Congresses have been organized and held. These Congresses are listed in Table 2Go.


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Table 2. List of ESBRA Congresses held since the inception of the Society
 
From the First to the Seventh Congress, there has been a consistent and gradual increase in the number of participants, particularly in younger colleagues, as well as a significant increase in the proportion of participants involved in clinical research compared to those devoted to preclinical research.

To facilitate the participation of young European scientists of pre-doctoral status wishing to present scientific communications at ESBRA Congresses, grants were established and awarded through a selection procedure by an ESBRA Nominations Committee. A special effort has been made to support travel and subsistence expenses for young scientists from eastern European Countries.

ESBRA award meetings
To recognize significant contributions to biomedical research on alcoholism by European scientists, preferably under the age of 35, the ESBRA Award was established and made after the selection of candidates by an ESBRA Nominations Committee. The ESBRA Awards have been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Groupe Lipha S. A. (Lyon, France). The Awards are delivered at meetings organized usually during the years alternating with those of the main ESBRA Congresses, organized by members of ESBRA and during which Host Symposia take place on specialized subjects selected by the hosts. A list of the ESBRA Award winners, their countries of origin and also of organizers of the Award Meetings and their venues is given in Table 3Go.


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Table 3. Winners of the ESBRA (ESBRA–Nordmann)* Awards and organizers of the Award Meetings
 
The following are brief details of the titles of the winning presentations and of the Host Symposia. The winner of the first ESBRA Award, made in 1990, was the late Dr R. G. Lister (working at that time at NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USA). The title of his presentation was ‘Effects of Alcohol on Implicit and Explicit Memory’. The Award Meeting, held in Valencia, Spain, was organized by Dr Consuelo Guerri in conjunction with an International Workshop on Alcohol and Fetal Development.

In 1992 Dr Anders Helander of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, was the winner of the ESBRA Award for his work on ‘Aldehyde dehydrogenase in blood: distribution, characteristics and possible use as a marker of alcohol misuse’. He received the ESBRA Award during the first Joint East–West ESBRA Meeting in Warsaw, Poland, organized by Professor W. Kostowski, whose Host Symposium was entitled Neurobiology and pharmacotherapy of alcoholism. Dr Helander, however, made a presentation at this Meeting entitled ‘Interaction of acute alcohol consumption with the peripheral metabolism of serotonin’.

The winner of the 1994 ESBRA Award was Dr Lena Gustavsson of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Lund University, Sweden, the title of the presentation was ‘Phosphatidylethanol Formation: Specific Effects of Ethanol Mediated via Phospholipase D’. The Award was made in Cardiff, Wales, UK during a Meeting organized by Dr Abdulla A.-B. Badawy, whose Host Symposium was entitled ‘Biological Markers of Predisposition to Alcoholism’.

Dr Giancarlo Colombo, of the Bernard B. Brodie Department of Neuroscience, University of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, was the winner of the 1996 ESBRA Award. The title of his presentation was ‘Ethanol Drinking Behaviour in Sardinian Alcohol-preferring Rats’. The host of the Award Meeting was Professor Otto M. Lesch, University of Vienna, Austria, whose Host Symposium was entitled Interaction of Alcohol and Drugs.

In 1997, the ESBRA Award was made during the ESBRA Congress organized by Professor Stefan Borg in Stockholm, Sweden. The winner of this Award was Dr B. Nalpas (INSERM U 370, Faculté de Médecine Necker, Paris, France), whose presentation was entitled ‘Relationship Between Excessive Alcohol Drinking and Viral Infection’.

Another award generously sponsored by Pharmacia and Upjohn was made during the 1997 ESBRA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, the winner of this was Dr K. Jokelainen, of the Research Unit of Alcohol Diseases of the University of Helsinki, Finland. The title of Dr Jokelainen's presentation was ‘Ethanol Metabolism by Gastrointestinal Bacteria'.

The most recent ESBRA–Nordmann Award was won in 1998 by Dr Oden van der Stelt of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Amsterdam's Academic Medical Centre. The winner delivered his presentation Visual P3 as Potential Vulnerability Marker of Alcoholism during a Meeting organized by Dr Peter Geerlings of the Jellinek Institute in Amsterdam, whose Host Symposium was Craving in Alcoholism.

It is clear from the above accounts that the ESBRA Awards have covered a large variety of fundamental and clinical research areas; a fact which coincides and accords with the wishes expressed since the foundation of the Society.

Symposia organized under the auspices of ESBRA
So far, two such symposia have been organized under the auspices of ESBRA. The first, The Metabolism of Alcohol and its Clinical Consequences, was organized by Dr Tomas Zima at the Charles University of Prague, the Czech Republic during the period 28–30 March 1996. The second symposium, the East–West Symposium on Biomedical Research on Alcohol-Related Diseases was organized by Dr Sergey Zimatkin of the Grodno State Medical Institute, Belarus on 7–8 October 1998.

It is clear from the above scientific activities of ESBRA that most European countries have been variously represented among the organizers of the seven Congresses, the five Award Meetings and the two Symposia, as well as the seven winners of the ESBRA Awards.

PUBLICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONCERNING THE SOCIETY

The proceedings of the first ESBRA Congress organized in Paris on 18–19 September 1987 were published as a book entitled Alcohol Toxicity and Free Radical Mechanisms edited by R. Nordmann, C. Ribière, and H. Rouach (371 pp., Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1988), this also appeared in the series Advances in the Biosciences (Volume 71, 1988).

The Abstracts of all subsequent ESBRA Congresses as well as ESBRA News have been and continue to be published in Alcohol and Alcoholism which is the official journal of ESBRA jointly with the British Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA). Readers of the journal will also note that both ESBRA and MCA are represented by a Chief Editor each, Professor K. F. Tipton and Dr A. A.-B. Badawy, respectively.

Colleagues wishing to join ESBRA will find the necessary information either by consulting the ESBRA News page in Alcohol and Alcoholism or the ESBRA web site (http://www.imm.ki.se/moltox/esbra/esbra.htm) initiated by Dr Kai Lindros.

CONCLUSIONS

It appears that the development of ESBRA from its foundation in 1987 to the start of the third millennium has been satisfactory. One may recall that the creation of the Society was quite a challenge at a period where a firm split existed between fundamental and clinical research. Furthermore, research on alcoholism was very poorly supported in European countries, with the notable exception of the Scandinavian ones. As chairman of the Steering Committee for the Foundation of ESBRA and Founder President of the Society, I should like to express my personal and warmest thanks to all the colleagues who have contributed to ESBRA’s harmonious development, especially to those who have not spared their effort either as a member of the Board of Directors or by organizing an ESBRA congress or a symposium connected with the delivery of an ESBRA Award. After the successful presidency of Philippe De Witte, I am convinced that the new President, Christer Alling, will ensure the further extension and development of ESBRA. His task may be facilitated by the new links which are developing inside the various European countries. It may also benefit from the progressive recognition by European citizens that alcohol misuse is a major health problem and that both preclinical and clinical research can contribute to the prevention of alcohol-induced damage.