The VI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistry was held between October 26 and 28, 2007 in the NH Columbia Hotel of Montevideo City with the central topic � The Laboratory in the cycle life� with the following authorities: Prof. Dr. Mar�a Cristina Ures, as Organizing Committee President and Prof. Dr. Stella Raymondo as Scientific Committee President.

Opening Ceremony in the Old Municipal Building : President of ABU; Dra Carmen Mussetti, President of the Organizative Committee, Dra Cristina Ures; Minister of Public Health: Dra Mar�a Julia Mu�oz; President of IFCC, Prof Jocelyn Hicks and the Dean of Faculty of Chemistry, University of Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay.

The Congress had three principal objectives:

1-    To encourage all the colleagues to participate.
2-    To promote oral presentation of scientific research works in our area.
3-    To stimulate the interchange of ideas and discussion about the career in Clinical Biochemistry after 7 years of being created.

During her opening speech, the Congress President thanked the important collaboration of the Mother Societies IFCC, COLABIOCLI and the Asociacion de Qu�mica y Farmacia (AQyF). She emphasized the presence of highly recognized lecturers such as Prof. Dr. Jocelyn Hicks, IFCC President and Dr Mauro Costa Mattioli, IFCC Visiting Lecturer.

The popularization of the Uruguayan native flora, achieved by decorating the Congress sheets and posters with the selected flower, was a singular aspect of our Congress. This year, the chosen flower was �pitanga� (Eugenia pasiflora) of which Prof. Dr Zulema Coppes presented its excellent description.

Five plenary lectures were given. Professor Jocelyn Hicks gave the Opening Ceremony Plenary lecture that dealt with adolescence, and Doctor Mauro Costa Mattioli presented the closing conference on Brain Biochemistry. The remaining dissertations were proffered by highly noted national and regional speakers among whom Professor Dr. Graciela Queiruga and Professor Gaspar Catal�, both from Uruguay, and Doctor Juan Pablo Grammatico from Argentine.

Fourteen workshops were also held, each with the participation of at least one foreign lecturer and that of IFCC representatives in their respective domains of expertise such as Pediatrics (Professor Hicks from US) and Alzheimer Disease (Costa Mattioli from Canada).

Roche Diagnostics sponsored a working lunch of the �Comit� de Estandarizaci�n y Control de Calidad (CECC)�, which harmonises the National EQAS, before the beginning of the National Creatinine Standardization Project, directed toward the participant laboratories. This activity was held with the presence or Professor Daniel Mazziotta (LARESBIC, Argentine), Professor Laura Sol� (Honorary Committee of Renal Health) and Professor Stella Raymondo (President of CECC)

Numerous educational pre-congress activities were held:

1- Evaluation of the course �Management of Clinical Laboratory (Part I)�, lectured by Professor Montserrat Blanes (Paraguay) on behalf of the Permanent Education Program of the Faculty of Chemistry. This course began in July 2007, being the first experience in distance teaching in Clinical Biochemistry in our country. This course had numerous national attendees with the participation of colleagues from Chile, Mexico and Spain.

2- Professor Montserrat Blanes gave two conferences on Chemistry of Electrolyte and Thyroid Profile.

3- Dr. Costa Mattioli, sponsored by the Visiting Lecture Program of IFCC, described the academic activities the IFCC Visiting Lecture Program. Originally fro Uruguay, he pursued his post-graduate studies in France, before being recruited by the Department of Biochemistry of Mc Gil University in Montreal, Canada. Doctor Mattioli is internationally recognized for his valuable contributions to the treatment of Alzheimer disease by discovering a brain protein that works as a memory switch. These achievements prompted his invitation to our Uruguayan Congress. He gave lectures at the Department of Chemistry, at the Faculty of Sciences as well as at an Educational Centre in Tala, his hometown. The House of Representatives honoured him for his successful investigations.

Research in clinical biochemistry occupied an important place in our Congress, as witnessed by the 29 summaries submitted of which 14 were orally presented. It must be underlined that Professor Q.F. Jos� Arechavaleta was awarded the National Prize of Clinical Biochemistry in recognition of his research achievements.

National Award of Clinical Biochemistry, Prof. Q.F. Jos� Arechavaleta granted by ABU through the President of the Scientific Committee, Prof. Dra. Stella Raymondo to the winner, Prof. Dra. Patricia Esperon

The Ministry of Health (MSP) and the Faculty of Chemistry were among the major supporters of this National event, and Minister Doctor Mar�a Julia Mu�oz (MSP) and the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, Professor Eduardo Manta, participated actively to the Opening Ceremonies. The Opening Welcoming Party that took place at the Old Municipal Building, a beautiful architectural jewel of our Old Montevideo City, was one of the highlights of our Congress.

The closing dinner was the occasion to share moments of happiness and to show the typical fraternity between our Latin American cultures. The dinner, and the national tango singers and dancers were segments of our culture that we were proud of sharing with our foreign visitors.

In summary, this National Meeting provided our professionals a rich experience that reached our initial goals that were:

-Updating in our knowledge with a high scientific level

-Professional and cultural interchange between colleagues

-Discussion areas of scientific work

-Reencountering between friends

We are now planning the VII Uruguayan Clinical Biochemistry Congress that will be held in September 2009. We are confident that we will again fill our expectations in terms of registration, with a high percentage of young biochemists, and in terms of gaining new knowledge that will improve our service to the patients.