Sir

As organizers of the fifth annual Euroconference on Apoptosis, held in Bingen/Rhine last autumn, we were surprised to read the article misrepresenting the quality and the costs of this Euroconference (Nature 392, 211; 1998). If the article was meant to be advertising for a forthcoming conference organized by young postdocs on research in apoptosis, it may have taken a wrong twist.

The Euroconferences on Apoptosis, organized by the European Cell Death Organization, are part of a series of meetings supported by the European Union. The size of the conferences is restricted to around 120 participants. The costs of last year's meeting were within the range of similar conferences (such as the Gordon Conference or Keystone Symposia). However, 50% of the non-invited participants, including PhD students and young postdocs, received funding from the European Union.

Participants were selected based on submitted abstracts. Additional support for the invited speakers came from Germany's research council, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The three-day meeting had 17 invited speakers and 18 oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts. Two poster sessions were held. All invited speakers and most of the selected speakers came from leading laboratories in the field and the data presented were mostly unpublished and/or conceptually important.

According to the questionnaire filled in by participants, the atmosphere at the meeting was congenial and the response enthusiastic. No critique related to the article in Nature was brought to the attention of the organizers. We feel that this clarification is important to ensure that the meeting series is not jeopardized. We do, however, appreciate and support the initiative of young postdocs to facilitate exchange at the planned First European Workshop on Cell Death.