Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 14th European Cystic Fibrosis Conference entirely dedicated to Basic Science. The 2017 conference will take place in Portugal, and we are delighted that Prof.Ineke Braakman (NL) has accepted to be the conference chairperson, supported by Prof. Marcus Mall (DE) and Prof. Tzyh-Chang Hwang (US).

The ECFS is committed to providing a platform to support the work of scientists in CF, and we are proud that this conference is now well established as a key annual event in our programme. The format of the conference will be a series of symposia with invited European and international guest speakers, and presentations selected from the submitted abstracts.

The understanding of the biology of CF is fundamental. We see the development of new therapies coming through as a result of the hard work in this area. During this conference you will hear about recent unpublished results and engage in discussions of data and ideas in an informal and interactive environment. A key characteristic of the conference is the attendance of PhD students and post-docs, who contribute enormously to the success of this annual event with their enthusiastic discussion. So if you are a young researcher we strongly encourage you to join us, and to submit your current research. You will have excellent opportunities to discuss your data, interact and discuss science in a great atmosphere with the best of European and International experts in this field.