Erfurt is a town of about 200 000 inhabitants and located in the middle of Germany. The first mention of Erfurt can be dated back to the year 742 when the English monk Bonifatius, who became a Christian missionary in Germany, founded the diocese “Erphesfurt”. In the fourteenth and fifteenth century, Erfurt was one of the largest and – with respect to economics, culture and sciences – most important town in the Roman-German Empire. Consequently, a university was founded and officially opened in 1392. The best period of time for the Erfurt University was the fifteenth and sixteenth century, and Martin Luther was probably one of the most prominent students there. Unfortunately, the University in Erfurt closed down in 1816.
After World War II and the division of Germany into four zones, Erfurt was located in the Russian zone, which in 1949 became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In 1954, the Medical Academy of Erfurt was founded with the purpose of teaching and training medical students and later also students of dentistry. In 1961, Fritz Markwardt (the “father” of hirudin) was called to the chair in Pharmacology and Toxicology and Erfurt acquired an international reputation for research in thrombosis and hemostasis. In 1974, the Institute of Pathological Biochemistry was founded, headed by Klaus Thielmann and later by Uwe Till. The scientific focus of this institute was also thrombosis and hemostasis, particularly the contribution of platelets. Peter Spangenberg and Wolfgang Lösche jointed the institute in 1975 and 1978, respectively.
In 1979, Klaus Thielmann met Stan Heptinstall in Vienna at an International Atherosclerosis Conference and Klaus persuaded Stan to visit Erfurt to discuss ideas about their common interest in platelets. In those days travel to a country behind the “Iron Curtain” was an adventurous journey, but Stan confirmed his intention to come to Erfurt. Stan visited Erfurt in 1981 for the first time. We had long discussions on our common interest in platelets and this led to a scientific cooperation between the platelet groups in Erfurt and Nottingham that lasted for many years. In the beginning we studied the sulfhydryl-disulfide status of platelets and the effects of agents that modified this, first diamide and then parthenolide that was the main component of extracts of feverfew responsible for the effects of such extracts on platelet function. We also studied the effects of hyperglycemia on platelet function. Then, we focused on the platelet cytoskeleton, particularly on actin. We were able to measure actin polymerization during platelet activation. Later on we were interested in platelet–leukocyte interactions and we performed many studies using flow cytometry to measure this interaction. We also studied the platelet activation that occurred and also microvesicle formation. Now that we all are retired, we look back to a very encouraging and successful cooperation with more than 40 common papers, the organization of 12 Erfurt Conferences on Platelets, 25 years of collaboration on the editorial board of the journal Platelets and 20 years of shared teaching activities in Nottingham and in Jena.
In 1983, the Institute of Pathological Biochemistry organized a FEBS-Advanced Course “On the role of lipids in Blood Platelet Activation”. The course consisted of two parts, the first part contained lectures from invited speakers as well as some short oral communications; the second part was a laboratory training course with demonstration of a number of techniques to isolate platelets from whole blood and to study their activation. About 80 scientists attended the first and about 25 the second part of the course. We had participants – as we hoped – from the east of Europe (former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, GDR) as well as from west of Europe (UK, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Austria, and West Germany). According to the statements of the participants the course was very successful and many of them asked us to organize another meeting on platelets.
The next meeting was in 1986 and we called it the 2nd Erfurt Workshop on Platelets with a focus on mechanisms of platelet activation. Together with Stan the program was set on the basis of submitted abstracts. About 30 scientists who had already attended the FEBS Advanced Course came back to the 2nd Workshop, but there were also other platelet enthusiasts from Europe and even from the USA (). The major problem for the organizers was in financing the meeting. We wanted to keep the fee, the costs for the venue and the accommodation as low as possible. We also wanted to attract people from countries in which platelet scientists had difficulties in participating. The Erfurt Medical Academy provided some free accommodation, which we could offer to participants and Stan was very helpful in organizing a grant from the Wellcome Trust, which we could use to support participants from east European countries.
Figure 1. Stan Heptinstall and Karsten Schrör at the 2nd Erfurt Workshop on Platelets 1986.
At the 3rd Erfurt Workshop on Platelets in the summer of 1989, Rado Nosal (Slovakia) suggested that we form a European Platelet Group (EPG). The idea was an informal association of scientists from whole Europe. The idea was to bring the participants of the Erfurt meeting closer together and to encourage grant-giving bodies to support the meetings. Stan was probably to most enthusiastic supporter of the idea. In fact, the EPG was founded with a board of 10 scientists representing various European countries. Stan was the representative of UK and Wolfgang was elected as the Secretary of the EPG. It was also decided that the name of the Erfurt Workshop on Platelets should be changed to the Erfurt Conference on Platelets and that the next Conference should be organized for 1992. The EPG board should give the local organizers as much as possible support in creating funding and setting the program.
At that time, in the summer of 1989, no-one had any idea about the coming political changes that were to occur in the autumn of that year with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the division of Europe into two different political sides. These political changes markedly affected the Erfurt Conferences. Another event that had a high impact on the Erfurt Conferences was the fact that Stan became Editor-in-Chief of the new journal Platelets that started in 1990. Already in the second issue of Platelets the abstracts of the third Erfurt Workshop of Platelets were published and all the abstracts of the subsequent Erfurt Conferences on Platelets were published in this journal.
The fourth Erfurt Conference on Platelets took place in 1992. Erfurt was now the capital of Thuringia, one of the 16 Federal States of Germany. At this meeting the EPG decided to organize the conference every two years and about 90 scientists came to Erfurt and discussed the recent results of their basic and clinical research. Traveling to Erfurt was now far easier than before and there were participants from the whole of Europe, from Northern America, from Asia, Africa and even Australia. It was also much easier to find financial support from pharmaceutical companies and public grant-giving bodies. The money was very often used to support participants from east European countries, but also to invite speakers to the Conferences.
The fifth Erfurt Conference on Platelets was held in 1994 again, once again under difficult conditions. This was because the Erfurt Medical Academy was closed down as a place for teaching students. Peter had moved to the University of Applied Sciences in Jena and Wolfgang was the head of a platelet group at the newly formed Centre for Vascular Biology and Medicine that belonged to the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena. Despite the new situation the conference was again very successful, and this was only possible by the tremendous support given by Stan and other members of the EPG board. This conference was in a new venue: the Augustiner-Kloster where Martin Luther once lived as a monk. This historical place in the medieval part of Erfurt was not only the venue for the oral communications and the posters that were displayed in the contemplative surrounding of the gothic cloister (), but also provided accommodation for most of the participants. The Augustiner-Kloster was the place for all further Erfurt Conferences on Platelets held in 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2004.
Figure 2. The Augustiner-Kloster, the place for the Erfurt Conferences on Platelets since 1994.
For the 6th Erfurt Conference on Platelets in 1996 Karsten Schrör (Germany) jointed the organizing committee. Since the Erfurt Conferences on Platelets always took place in the summer, occasionally there were interferences with non-scientific events, such as the Football World Championship. This happened during the 7th Erfurt Conference on Platelets in 1998, but the organizers were able to find arrangements for evening sessions where we were able to watch the most important matches ().
Figure 3. Participants of the 6th Erfurt Conference on Platelets watch on TV the match between England and Argentina during the Football World Championship 1998. Stan Heptinstall and Paul Harrison were pleased by the goal of the English team, but ….
At the 8th Erfurt Conference on Platelets in 2000 we discussed the idea of having the meeting alternatively in Erfurt and in another place in Europe. Stan was keen to organize a Nottingham Platelet Conference that took place in 2002 and that incorporated the 5th UK Meeting on Platelets as well as the 9th Erfurt Conference on Platelets. About 170 scientists from 16 European countries, the USA and Japan attended this marvelous meeting. Peter, Karsten, and Wolfgang supported Stan and his local organizing committee.
In 2004, the 10th Platelet Conference returned to Erfurt. One highlight of this Conference was a lecture given by Gustav Born (UK) entitled “Platelets et al. The fun continues”. The Erfurt Conferences on Platelets were not only known as a forum for platelet enthusiasts with interesting programs and very recent data of research, but also known for their pleasant social gatherings. In the evenings, many participants spent their time together in beer gardens in the town or in banquets, not only to discuss scientific problems, but also personal matters. People from east and west exchanged ideas, discovered many things in common and considered the conference participants as a “platelet family”. This was one of the reasons why many platelet scientists participated several times at Erfurt Conferences on Platelets. Some participants contributed musical performances. In 2004, we had an organ recital by Johan Heemskerk (The Netherlands) in the St. Crucis Church of Erfurt and during the banquet of this conference Bill Dean (USA) played hot jazz rhythms on the piano, whereas Gemma, the 10 years old daughter of Lian Zhao, a co-worker of Stan, played Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, also on the piano, without the aid of any sheet music.
In 2006, Bogdan Walkowiak and his colleagues from Poland organized, in collaboration with Wolfgang, Peter and Stan, the Lodz Platelet Conference incorporating the 11th Erfurt Conference of Platelets. The meeting was as successful as all the previous meetings, with about 90 participants from 12 European countries, USA and Nigeria. Again there was some interference with the Football World Championship but, as in Erfurt, our Polish friends had arranged possibilities to watch the matches during the conference.
In 2010 Stan and his co-workers, with the support of Wolfgang and Peter, organized another marvelous platelet meeting in Nottingham incorporating the 12th Erfurt Conference on Platelets. This also was very successful conference with about 200 participants. This was the final conference of a series that spanned more than 25 years.
The idea of organizing a platelet meeting in Erfurt goes back to the era of the cold war, to the time of a politically divided world. In those days it was very difficult for scientists from east Europe to participate in meetings in west Europe. The Erfurt meetings were a forum for exchanging research data but also personal ideas and the meetings were able to bring together scientists from whole of Europe and even further afield. The organizers are very grateful to all the participants who came to Erfurt and contributed in an east Europe town to overcome all these problems.
Our special gratitude goes to Stan Heptinstall, who supported our conferences as a scientist, as a co-organizer, as the Editor-in-Chief of Platelets and as a very good friend.
Thank you very much Stan.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflict of interest.