Groupe Polyphenols

Dear members of Groupe Polyphénols

Dear colleagues and friends,

Having received the honor and the privilege of accessing at the presidency of our society Groupe Polyphénols last July in Florence, I would like to start these few words by deeply thanking my predecessor and friend, Stéphane Quideau, for the remarkable dynamism and dedication that he has expressed during the last four years for the benefits of the activities of our society. Stéphane has much improved the worldwide recognition of Groupe Polyphénols and been the initiator of many changes and new developments, that I wish to pursue, hopefully still with his help and advice.

Building upon the work of the previous president ,Vicenzo Lattanzio, Stephane has continued the book series “Recent Advances in Polyphenol Research”, published by the Wiley editions. In each volume of this series are published every two years chapters written by plenary lecturers at the International Conference on Polyphenols (ICP) and by invited contributors. The first three volumes have now been released. The fourth volume, co-edited by Annalisa Romani, chairperson of the XXVIth ICP in Florence, Italy, is in its final editing stages, and the fifth volume, that will be co-edited by Kumi Yoshida, chairperson of the XXVIIth ICP, held in Nagoya, Japan, is already in preparation.

The last edition of the ICP in Florence, Italy, in July of 2012, has been a great success and I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Annalisa Romani and her team for their excellent work. A particular new achievement associated to this meeting is the publication of the main oral and poster communications in special issues of peer reviewed journals (Phytochemical analysis, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Nutrition and Aging), owing to the efforts and dedication of a few Groupe Polyphénols present and former board members, who act as guest editors of these special issues.

It is also a great pleasure to announce you the next and XXVIIth edition of the ICP that will take place from September 2^nd to 6^th, 2014, at Nagoya University. It is a wonderful opportunity for the Groupe Polyphénols to have its first meeting ever in Asia, and I anticipate that Kumi Yoshida and her team are preparing some special treats for us at the occasion of this event. Do not miss it! We are looking forward to seeing you at ICP2014 in Nagoya.

The Groupe Polyphénols web site (http://www.groupepolyphenols.com/) has also much improved over the last years. You will find on this site various sections, including conference announcements and job offers, and another one which I encourage you to visit and update (by sending me the relevant data) on important publications you have read and that our community should be aware of.

One of my most important objectives as president will be to further improve the worldwide recognition of our society, notably by strengthening our network and connections with other societies and organizations dealing with some specific or more specialized aspects of polyphenol research. Thus, the Groupe Polyphénols will sponsor the next International Workshop on Anthocyanins (IWA), scheduled in Porto, Portugal, in September of 2013, like the previous one, held in Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), in 2011. Moreover, for the first time in the history of these two events, ICP 2014 will be organized jointly with the “Tannin conference”.

Groupe Polyphénols will continue to constitute this unique and extraordinary forum within which all aspects of polyphenol research, from the most basic and fundamental disciplinary topics to their most diverse applications, are covered, and I do strongly hope that an increasing number of academic as well as industrial “polyphenolists” will see the added value of this interdisciplinarity they can benefit from by joining our society.

I already know that I can count on the dedicated efforts of the current (and of many previous) members of our administration board to help me in achieving the various tasks that we together decided to tackle for the best of our society. To meet these challenges, we will imperatively also need your input and active contributions as members, for you are first and foremost the “raison d’être” of Groupe Polyphénols.

Last but not least, I would like to present you my warmest wishes for year 2013!

Véronique Cheynier

President of Groupe Polyphénols