Editorial Neurodevelopmental basis of health and disease The 14th meeting of the International Neurotoxicology Association Biological events in early life are key determinants of health status in adult and aging stages. The evidence for this is compelling in neurotoxicology (Grandjean and Landrigan, 2006). The com- plexity of the developing nervous system creates multiple targets for the adverse structural, functional and behavioral effects of toxic chemicals: from overt neuroteratogenia to subtle influences on the functional decline occur during aging. Minamata disease is the best known example of dramatic alterations in nervous system structure and function as a result of chemical exposure during development. However, the impact of low dose exposure of several other toxic compounds on endpoints such as adolescent emotional growth, cognitive function, sensory deficits or risk of suffering neurodegenerative diseases (Grandjean and Landrigan, 2006; Cannon and Greenamyre, 2011; Bellinger, 2013) is a field of knowledge that still contains more questions than answers. The effects of toxicants on later life become more and more important as life expectancy increases. In addition to understanding the effects and underlying mechanisms, we want to predict the adverse effects on the developing nervous and sensory systems. This constitutes a major challenge for neurotoxicity testing. Facing these questions, the International Neurotoxicology Association (INA) selected the theme ‘‘Neurodevelopmental Basis of Health and Disease’’ for its 14th Meeting, held in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, June 2013. Detailed information on the meeting, including lists of symposia, members of the organizing and scientific committees, awardees, sponsors, and exhibitors are included elsewhere in this Special Issue (De Groot et al., 2014). Beyond the conference theme, the opening ceremony of the meeting, conducted by Dr. Jordi Llorens (President of INA) and Dr. Didima de Groot (Chair of the Local Organizing Committee), focused on INA history, which was recently reviewed (Anger and Boyes, 2012; Costa, 2013). The first INA Meeting took place in Lunteren, The Netherlands, in 1987, so the present meeting represented the 25th INA anniversary and it was back in The Netherlands. Throughout these years, INA has grown and served its main goals: to foster interest in neurotoxicology, and to attract and retain new young scientists. Although new and younger members have joined INA, we lost many of the founders and early members. At INA 14, a particular tribute was devoted to Dr. Toshio Narahashi, who recently passed away, to Dr. David Ray, who died in 2010, and to Dr. Jacob Hooisma, who led the organization of the first INA meeting and to whom the opening lecture of INA Meetings is named. To remember Jacob, his widow Teunie and his TNO colleagues from the early days of neurotoxicology, Hans Muijser, Wim Stevens, Bert Bierman, and Beverley Kulig, were welcomed as honorary guests at the opening ceremony and lecture. Dr. Narahashi (1927–2013) will be remembered as a outstanding scientist among INA members, the one who opened a new era in the study of cell physiology with his key discovery of the blockade of sodium channels by tetrodotoxin in 1964, and who always remained an active INA member (see his obituary by Cranmer, 2013). David Ray greatly contributed to INA, as one of its first members, editor of its newsletter, President 2007–2009, organizer of INA-7 in 1999, and tireless promoter of INA (Burr, 2011; Costa, 2013). To honor him, we named the Student Travel Award after him, which covers all the travel expenses for one student presenting his/her work at the meeting on the basis of scientific merit. Dr. Niek Snoeij (Director TNO Healthy Living, The Netherlands) introduced Dr. Peter Spencer (Oregon Health & Science University, USA) as this year’s Hooisma lecturer. His lecture, entitled ‘Neurotoxin Discovery and Disease prevention’, perfectly fit both the scientific theme and historical aim of the session. As one of the founding members of INA and a still excellent and active neurotoxicologist, Dr. Spencer reviewed both the old days when, along with Jacob and many others, he worked on the n-hexane axonopathy, and his recent studies on the possible role of early methylazoxymethanol exposure on neurodegeneration that occurs decades after exposure (Kisby et al., 2013). The meeting welcomed all areas of neurotoxicology, but the scientific program placed a particular emphasis on its main theme. The Scientific Committee, whose members are listed elsewhere in this issue, selected a dense and highly exciting program of 9 symposia from the numerous proposals received. These included in vitro and in vivo developmental neurotoxicology, neurodegen- eration and neuroprotection issues. The lectures were given by established and emerging leaders in neurotoxicology and covered many classes of toxicants, including air pollutants, pesticides, metals and model neurotoxins. The program also featured two student symposia: fulfilling one of INA’s aims to recruit and motivate young investigators to pursue careers in neurotoxicology. The students were selected from a larger list of applicants for partial reimbursement of their travel expenses. One of them, Anne Krug (University of Konstanz, Germany), received the David Ray Student Travel Award. It is worth noting that the jury of the award had a very difficult task, as all student presentations were excellent. The additional poster sessions and ‘‘hot topic sympo- sium’’ ensured that the meeting featured many topics that reflect NeuroToxicology 43 (2014) 1–2 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect NeuroToxicology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2014.03.014 0161-813X/ß 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.