The Enteric Nervous System

Nearly 30 years ago, a number of scientists working on the Enteric
Nervous System (ENS) gathered at Flinders University, in Adelaide,
Australia to discuss the advances and future of their research. It was a
friendly and stimulating meeting, attended by most of the major
players, in what was to become the discipline of
‘Neurogastroenterology'.

In 2014, the main Australasian
Neuroscience Society meeting was held in Adelaide, Australia, providing
the perfect opportunity to recreate a follow-up ENS meeting. As such,
the ‘ENS II 2014 meeting’ aimed to identify how far the field of enteric
neuroscience had developed, where the future was heading, and what
technological advances had been made to address current and future
unresolved questions. 30 speakers from around the world were invited to
give talks and revisit the original expectations, the advances made
since, and the future directions of ENS research. These discussions
included three generations of investigators from 7 different countries.
 
This
publication represents the majority of proceedings from the ‘The
Enteric Nervous System II 2014’ conference, which was held on February
1st - 2nd 2014 at the National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide. This
meeting was an Official satellite meeting of the 34th Annual Meeting of
Australasian Neuroscience Society, which was also held in Adelaide.
 
The
20 contributions contained within this submission are from
international researchers in the field of the ENS, who reviewed the
advances made since the first meeting in the early 1980s and summarizes
the present and future perspectives of neuro-gastroenterology. Some
colleagues could not attend but did send greetings and their messages
are included in these proceedings.