NeuroGASTRO 2025 – Record Participation and Cutting-Edge Research in London
With over 700 attendees from 58 countries, NeuroGASTRO 2025 marked the largest edition of the meeting to date. Held at Queen Mary University of London, UK, from 4–6 September 2025, the conference brought together experts from basic, translational and clinical research in Neurogastroenterology and Motility, as well as from related disciplines such as the microbiome and immunology. ESNM President Frank Zerbib, ESNM Treasurer Prof. Dr. med. Daniel Pohl, Conference President Qasim Aziz, and Scientific Committee Chair Gerard Clarke welcomed participants and highlighted the exceptional international representation. In his opening remarks, Daniel Pohl emphasized the impressive number, diversity and scientific quality of abstract submissions, reflecting the vitality of research in the field.
Key opinion leaders presented the state-of-the-art developments in the field of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. It was particularly inspiring to see the quality and breadth of topics presented by young scientists, via both oral and poster presentations. The associated Postgraduate Course provided participants with a comprehensive practice-oriented update on advances in the Clinical Measurement and Management of GI Motility and Function. A practical highlight was the Hands-on Course on Manometry Training, which provided participants with focused instruction and interactive sessions on high-resolution esophageal and anorectal manometry, led by Mark Scott, Daniel Sifrim, Etsuro Yazaki, and Jan-Willem van der Wal.
The outstanding programme stood under the motto of “Advancing understanding and management in Neurogastroenterology and Motility” and included challenging and rewarding discussions across a broad range of topics. This iteration included a strong focus on Women’s Health including endometriosis in the context of how the gut microbiome could also offer hope for managing conditions outside the gut. A notable feature of the conference included joint symposia with other societies holding common interests, including the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) and colleagues from Gut Microbiota for Health.
Celebrating Excellence: Keynotes, Awards, and the Future of Neurogastroenterology
The meeting included three inspiring plenary lectures, and Sarah Berry, PhD, from King’s College London, delivered the opening keynote talk on the concept of personalized nutrition through the lens of the microbiome. Javier Santos from Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona provided an update on the DISCOvERIE project and Nathalie Vergnolle from the Digestive Health Research Institute in Toulouse, France highlighted that old dogs can learn new tricks in her excellent discussion of proteases in gut physiology, pathophysiology and treatment. A special moment in the opening ceremony was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Fernando Azpiroz (Spain).
The meeting once again served to highlight ESNM as the number one European representative of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, with clear take home message being how well the affiliated societies worked successfully together to deliver such a high-quality meeting. Special acknowledgement must go to a very engaged scientific committee and to the local organisers, Qasim Aziz and Mark Scott, who excelled in the role of hosts and were excellent ambassadors for the British Society of Neurogastroenterology. With lively discussions, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and record international participation, NeuroGASTRO 2025 reaffirmed its position as a leading forum for advancing the science and clinical understanding of the gut–brain connections. I’m sure we are all eager to join the next chapter of this now well-established European event, which will be hosted by Jan Tack in 2027 in Leuven, Belgium. See you there!
(Gerard Clarke, Chair Scientific Committee NeuroGASTRO 2025)
