The Christmas meeting of the NMRDG was held on 16 December 1998 at Imperial College, London in the newly opened Biomedical Sciences Division Building, named after Sir Alexander Fleming. The meeting theme was new frontiers in biomedical magnetic resonance. The morning session was chaired by Dr Jeff Troke (Imperial College, London, UK) and the first speaker was Dr Jimmy Bell, (Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, UK) who described recent in vivo NMR spectroscopic studies of fat distribution and metabolic effects in individuals with genetic differences. This was followed by Dr Elaine Holmes (Imperial College, London, UK) who described work on the development and application of chemometric methods to NMR spectra of biofluids as a way of producing rapid assessment of potential drug toxicity problems. The final lecture in the morning was from Professor David Gadian (Institute of Child Health, London, UK) who described a range of spectroscopic and imaging studies of a number of neurological conditions, concentrating on investigations where the NMR results can be correlated with cognitive development.
After a traditional Christmas lunch and election of new committee members, the scientific part of the meeting continued under the chairmanship of Professor John Lindon (Imperial College, London, UK). The first speaker was Professor Jeremy Nicholson (Imperial College, London, UK) who gave a comprehensive overview of the development of high resolution magic angle spinning (MAS) 1H NMR spectroscopy of tissues and showed how it is being applied at to problems in drug toxicity and in human disease diagnosis. This was followed by Professor Laurie Hall (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK) who showed how magnetic resonance imaging techniques can be married to theoretical calculations based on computational flow dynamics to study the behaviour of fluids moving within complex vessels and pipes. He also described the development of novel methods for investigating the composition and anatomy of cartilage in arthritis. The final talk was given by Professor John Griffiths (St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK) who gave an overview of modern in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging methods. He discussed new techniques and applications, and described recent moves by the German authorities to address the safety precautions which might be needed if high field magnets become more widespread in MR imaging and spectroscopy. He concluded by looking forward appropriately at new developments which take us into the next millennium.
The meeting subject proved be popular with a large and appreciative audience. As is the usual case, in the year of the biennial International Meeting on NMR Spectroscopy, there will be no Spring 1999 meeting. The 14th International meeting will take place from 27 June – 2 July in Edinburgh.
John Lindon
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London