TIAFT Young Scientists first workshop "Oral fluid in toxicology" 6-7 april, Gent, Belgium PROCEEDINGS

On April 6-7, about 50 young scientists of TIAFT met in Gent, Belgium.
This was the first meeting of the YS committee, that was created in 1996 during the Interlaken conference. In attendence were scientists from all over the world; most came from Western Europe, but some were from the United States, Poland or Chile. Thanks to Nele Samyn, Karine Clauwert and Alain Verstraete, who were the hosts, the meeting was a real success, giving us the opportunity to meet, discuss and exchange information and ideas, leading to a stimulating experience.

The meeting started on Friday afternoon in the medieval remains of an old monastery with 5 general lectures, as following :
- Nele Samyn (Belgium) : Influence of collection methods on saliva drug concentrations : practical experience and literature review
- Rebecca Jufer (USA) : Controlled experimental studies - part 1
- Simona Pichini (Italy) : Controlled experimental studies - part 2
- Alain Verstraete (Belgium) : Overview of screening equipment and application of cut-off values
- Karine Clauwert (Belgium) : Developments in confirmatory techniques

In order to enhance the attractiveness of the meeting, the organisers planned an enjoyable social program, offering cultural and culinary features of Gent. Three different dinner places and a night walk through the city created a nice environment for informal interaction.

Saturday was devoted to free papers, of which the abstracts are listed below.
Finally, Alain Verstraete presented the experience of the european ROSITA project and the meeting was concluded by Sam Niedbala (USA) with the presentation of the future of oral fluid in workplace drug testing.

The closing ceremony was on a boat, with a final taste of local alcohol, just to enhance the good contacts and promote frienship.

Two unforgetable days, that demonstrate the need for some informal discussions between the new generation, the people that will make the forensic toxicology of tomorrow.

Pascal Kintz, Chairman of the YSC