This satellite meeting of the International Society of Neurochemistry was attended by over 100 investigators and was organized by Jörg Schulz and Pierluigi Nicotera (Neurodegeneration Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Universitat Tubingen). The symposium brought together leaders from various aspects of the field of cell death with the goal of understanding how neurons die in degenerative conditions. Rapid growth in this area has led to greater biological, pathological and therapeutic understanding of diseases considered to be intractable.