The 3rd International Probiotic Conference took place from 4th to 7th June, 2008, in the beautiful area of the High Tatras, Slovakia. The conference was organised by Alojz Bomba from the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia. 150 people from all over the world participated in this conference. The key topics were new knowledge in probiotic research, probiotics in nutrition, prevention and therapy of diseases and technology and safety of probiotics. The conference was mainly focused on probiotics for humans, but there were several interesting presentations about probiotics for animal nutrition, too.
Besides renowned invited speakers like Arthour Ouwehand from Danisco, Finland, or Maria Saarela from VTT, Finland, young scientists were given the chance to present the results of their scientific research. Among these, Viviana Klose and Sabine Henikl, both working on a project that is funded by BIOMIN, presented their work on the development of a probiotic feed additive for pork production. The best presentation of a young scientist was elected by a scientific committee and was awarded with € 1000. A young scientist from Nepal, who spoke about anti-mutagenic properties of probiotics won the award.
The conference was well organised and the organising committee was very keen on providing an interesting and diversified scientific and social programme. The participants were entertained with an exotic show at the gala evening with African drummers, “Riverdancers” or beat box performers. During the trip to the open-air museum of Liptov’s village the participants had the opportunity to learn a traditional Slovakian folk dance. The informal flair of the social programme made it very easy to get into conversation with other scientists. The next IPC will be held in 2012, again in Slovakia. |
