Johan Auwerx received his M.D. in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Molecular Endocrinology in 1989 at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. He is a certified clinical specialist in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition and is currently professor at the Medical Faculty of the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg.

After his medical studies in Grenoble Olivier Cohen specialised in pathology and in medical genetics before being appointed Professor in medical computing. For 15 years he managed a research team within the CNRS, and then created HC Forum to valorise these innovations.

Postdoctoral training 1993-1997 at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Karolinska Institute Stockholm. Since 1998, at the Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science.

Tony Holland trained in medicine at the University of London, UK, and later trained in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, London. As a clinician he specialises in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric and behavioural problems of people with intellectual disability. He leads a research group that has undertaken many published studies on Prader Willi Syndrome investigating the nature of and reasons for the eating disorder and other behavioural, psychiatric, and physical problems associated with the syndrome.

Bernhard is Professor and Chair of Human Genetics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. After graduating from the Technical University of Westberlin in 1982 he performed postdoctorial studies in biochemistry and molecular human genetics. From 1984 and 1986 he was an EMBO fellow with Professor R. Williamson at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School London.

Full Professor of the Institute for Molecular Biology, Dept. of Functional Genomics, University of Innsbruck, Austria.

I am a paediatrician specialized in paediatric endocrinology and neurology. I am MD and PhD with special interest in PWS. I am working as a consultant in paediatric endocrinology and in general paediatrics at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. I take part in a comprehensive team concerning PWS dealing with both clinic and research.

Francoise Muscatelli ( IBDML, CNRS, Marseille, France) My group is interested in the identification of genes, involved in a neuropathology, the Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). This is a complex disease involving at least two genes from a large imprinted region where only paternal alleles are expressed. PWS is an interesting pathology to investigate genetic factors involved in brain dysfunction. Previously, we characterized two candidate genes, Necdin and Magel2, members of the MAGE gene family. Necdin deficient mice present characteristics reminiscent of PWS symptoms and Magel2 deficient mice are under inv estigation. Now, using genetically modified mouse models we investigate the physiological and pathophysiological role of both genes as well as their molecular and cellular function.. About IBDML website: http://ibdml.univ-mrs.fr

Annick Vogels obtained her Medical Degree at the Catholic University of Leuven. She had had her training for child psychiatry at the University Hospital of Leuven and at the Royal Hospital for sick children in Bristol. She is part of the multidisciplinary clinic for persons with genetic syndromes and/or mental retardation. She is a child psychiatrist at the Department for Human Genetics at the University Hospital of Leuven where she is specialised in children and adults with a genetic disorder and psychiatric problems.

Dick Swaab earned his medical and doctoral degrees at the University of Amsterdam, where he became involved in brain research during his third year of medical school. From1978 untill 2005 he has served as director of the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, and since 1979 as Professor of Neurobiology at the medical faculty of his alma mater.