The scientific committee for the Congress has produced a superb programme. ‘Bench to bedside’ is a major theme, emphasising the translation of advances made in the basic sciences to the clinical arena. There will be three plenary lectures by speakers of international repute such as Peter Ratcliffe, Dontscho Kerjaschki and Pierre Corvol,   and 27 symposia, with subjects covering most aspects of clinical and experimental nephrology, dialysis and transplantation from stem cell biology to vascular medicine in the renal patient. There will also be a ‘last-minute’ symposium to report late-breaking research findings, an update session on European and international guidelines, an ERA-EDTA Registry session and a clinico-pathological conference, with cases to be discussed by leading international clinicians and pathologists.

In addition, there will be 15 mini lectures, 8 literature update sessions, 6 ‘hands-on’ courses, 3 CME (continuing medical education) courses, free communications sessions and extensive poster displays.
Industry-sponsored symposia will be held at lunchtimes, in the evenings and before the start of the Congress. Overall, we believe that the scientific content of the Congress will be of a very high standard, with much to interest both the practising clinician and the laboratory scientist.

Further details of ERA-EDTA Glasgow 2006, included the scientific programme, can be obtained from the Congress website at www.eraedta2006.org. This also gives background information about Glasgow, details of accommodation and transport, and links to other useful websites.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm invitation to ERA-EDTA Glasgow 2006 to our colleagues and friends throughout the world.