We all witness dramatic changes in the way pharmaceutical research is conducted. There have been and continue to be technological revolutions in essentially all disciplines involved in pharmaceutical research. Miniaturization, parallelization, and automation have dramatic impacts on how modern biofunctional research is conducted, and the availability of the complete human genome sequence together with several other important mammalian genomes offers both great opportunities and challenges.

Biochemists and biologists of diverse scientific backgrounds are in the midst of these developments. Their strive to elucidate complex biological processes and disease mechanisms down to the molecular level, identifying novel genes as potential targets for therapeutic intervention, their capacity to develop novel bioanalytical methodologies and tools for insightful experiments and testing represent key elements for successful pharmaceutical research. Recent technological and methodological advances enable bioscientists to become more creative and effective than ever. Thus, pharmaceutical research provides a most stimulating, challenging, and rewarding environment for excellent bioscientists.

It is Roche's intention to identify the most promising young bioscientists and to encourage them to seriously consider a scientific career in such a leading pharmaceutical company as Roche. However, this Symposium is not a recruitment event. Instead it is intended to bring together at Roche Basel young successful postgraduate researchers in the biosciences, particularly in the neurosciences and vascular and metabolic disease areas, to share frontier science with them, and to illustrate to them the importance and the relevance of their continued training for conducting pharmaceutical research at a company like Roche. It is essential that talented young bioscience graduates, prior to entering pharmaceutical research, undertake and complete a substantial postdoctoral research work, preferably abroad and in complementary fields. Carefully planned and successfully conducted postdoctoral research studies during two or more years are regarded as a mandatory preparation for the high intellectual and technical demands of modern pharmaceutical research.

The participants at this Symposium will be exposed to the fascinating world of pharmaceutical research, experience its highly multidisciplinary nature, and observe the interplay of modern technologies as implemented at Roche. They will have excellent opportunities to meet with other outstanding young bioscientists from different countries and to share first-class science with them. At the same time they will also be able to interact informally with many members of Roche pharmaceutical research at all levels and to discuss the opportunities of a future professional career in the pharmaceutical industry.

To ensure optimal interaction and exposure to the exciting scientific environment at Roche, participation in the Symposium will be limited by invitation to only about twenty postgraduate scientists. However, this is not intended to remain a singular event, and similar Symposia will be announced at some later time.