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        The International Meeting on Paracoccidioidomycosis is back to São Paulo state, where the first event was held in 1980. The history of the events takes us to Botucatu (SP, Brazil, 1980, 1983), Medellín (Colombia, 1986), Caracas (Venezuela, 1989), Buenos Aires (Argentina, 1992), Montevideo (Uruguay, 1996), Campos do Jordão (SP, Brazil, 1999), Pirenópolis (GO, Brazil, 2002), and Lindóia (SP, Brazil, 2005). The 2008 Meeting celebrated the 100th anniversary of the description of the disease by Adolpho Lutz and was beautifully organized in Medellín, Colombia. I take this chance to honor all Presidents of the former Meetings and thank them for the support they provided in the organization of the eleventh edition - PCM 2011.
        PCM 2011 is taking place in the city of Taubaté, chosen by the famous actor A. Mazzaropi to build a movie studio inside a country hotel. The studio is now the Amácio Mazzaropi Convention Center, where the community studying Paracoccidioidomycosis will discuss the most recent advances related to the disease and its fungal agent. Art and science easily come together: artists have many common characteristics with scientists. In PCM 2011, a large proportion of the works presented either in oral or posters sessions centers on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Paracoccidioides, followed by Immunology, Clinics and Therapy, Cellular Biology, Epidemiology, and Diagnosis. We are also learning from other fungal agents not only through conferences covering updated research in Candida albicans and Histoplasma capsulatum, but through poster presentations as well.
        PCM 2011 would not be possible without the financial support from Brazilian Governmental Agencies, specifically FAPESP, CNPq/Finep, and CAPES. We are also grateful to have benefited from the successful 2005 Meeting presided by Professor Vera Lucia Calich. Invited speakers and session coordinators have been really collaborative and gentle. I had a pleasant time interacting with these researchers who will contribute to the high standard of the event. In parallel, our poster evaluators will have a difficult time to select the best works for awards, as judged from the high quality of the abstracts submitted by students and post docs. We all acknowledge the advances of basic research in the area of mycoses caused by dimorphic fungi, here focusing on the multibudding "cousin" Paracoccidioides. Experimental evidence indicates that our fungal model is in fact a complex of Paracoccidioides phlylogenetic groups. A new era starts enlightened by the complete genomic information of P. brasiliensis and P. lutzii! The challenges of the new reality on clinical and basic research will be pointed out in the opening conference by the remarkable scientist, Dr. Gioconda San Blas.
        In the name of the Organizing Committee I welcome the participants of PCM 2011 and hope everyone will enjoy the Meeting in every possible way!

Rosana Puccia
President of PCM 2011

   
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