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2002 Joint Program Committee Report
Experimental Biology 2002
EB 2002 was held in New Orleans, LA, April 20 through 24, 2002. All
scientific and poster sessions were well-attended and overall enthusiasm for
the meeting continues to grow. The success of the meeting is generally
thought to be due to the changes that were made to the structure and
programming of the meeting several years ago. This includes: 1) the creation
of Section Program Committees (the Chair serving as a member of the Joint
Program Committee) to solicit and select symposia and featured topics in
their section’s area of interest; 2) increasing the number of symposia
sessions by scheduling three- two hour time slots for oral sessions each day
of the meeting; 3) the addition of featured topics to solicit abstracts for
oral presentations around coordinated, timely topics; 4) scheduling a 2.5
hour unopposed poster session each day; and 5) providing carpeting and
signage to the poster exhibit hall. EB 2002 also featured two unopposed
Techniques and Technology in Physiology Tutorial/Workshops on Saturday and
four “Cross-Sectional” Symposia.
There were seven sponsoring societies at this year’s meeting: The
American Physiological Society (APS), American Society for Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology (ASBMB), American Society for Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), American Society for Investigative
Pathology (ASIP), American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS), American
Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the American Association of
Anatomists (AAA). In addition, APS hosted six guest societies: The
Microcirculatory Society, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American
Federation for Medical Research, the Society for Experimental Biology and
Medicine, the Association of Latin American Physiological Societies and the
Spanish Physiological Society. The meeting attendance was excellent. Out of
a total of 6,977 volunteered abstracts submitted, 2,444 (35%) were
programmed by APS. There were 12,062 registered scientists, 2,022
exhibitors, as well as 452 “other” registrants, for a total attendance of
14,536 persons. Although attendance at the meeting continues to improve, it
remains a major concern for EB meetings, not only because it reflects the
degree of interest by scientists, but also because exhibitors, who are the
major source of revenue from these meetings, are encouraged by good
attendance.
EB 2002 was the third year that the meeting was not organized around
scientific themes. Themes were eliminated with the understanding that some
other process is developed to coordinate “inter-Society” programming. The
APS program committee has discussed some ways to address the need for
coordinating the program across societies. However, the APS program
committee felt that two critical changes have to occur before integrated
programming can be realized. First, the meeting structure would have to be
standardized so that scientific and poster sessions should occur with common
timing and second, abstracts must be in a searchable database. Efforts are
continuing to develop cooperative programs among societies. EB 2003 will
see a cooperative program between the APS and ASBMB on the NHLBI Programs in
Genomic Applications. Each society will program one symposium, each
describing four PGA centers. The APS portion will be entitled “NHLBI
Programs in Genomic Applications: Information for Physiologists.”
The development of EB 2002 continued to implement the recommendations of
APS Council to allow for the sections to have more responsibility for
developing the scientific program. These recommendations have empowered the
membership to create meetings within the EB meeting and highlight the best
and hottest science. Curt Sigmund, the new chair of the committee has
requested all committee members to be “proactive” and to invite scientists
doing cutting edge science to develop symposia and featured topics. Each
section has a Section Program Committee (SPC) responsible for developing a
designated number of Symposia and “Featured Topics.” The Chairs of the SPCs,
together with six at-large members comprise a Joint Program Committee
charged with the overall quality of the APS program, seeding cross-cutting
interdisciplinary “Cross-Sectional Symposia,” seeding oral sessions
(Featured Topics), clustering and coordination of abstracts for the poster
sessions. These changes give members of the Society an opportunity to work
within their sections to develop ideas for the program, but some sections
are still assessing ways of reaching out to the members to solicit ideas for
meetings and conferences. Most sections are making use of their sectional
listservers to reach out to their members and we encourage members to
contact their section representative if they have not been receiving Email
notices requesting ideas. EB 2002 also made use of the “Late-Breaking
Abstract” submission in February to maximize inclusion of the late-breaking
science at the EB meeting. Feedback on the ability to submit abstracts in
February continues to be generally good as represented by the 577
late-breaking abstract submissions.
EB 2002 marked the seventh Physiology In Focus program. Organized by John
Hall, the program topic “Translating the Genome: Physiology and
Pathophysiology of Obesity” included four half-day symposia scheduled
throughout the meeting. The symposia presented state-of-the-art research on
“Gene Environment Interactions in Obesity,” “Neurobiology of Obesity,”
“Endocrine and Metabolic Consequences of Obesity,” and “Obesity and
Cardiovascular Regulation.” Attendance was outstanding, in many cases
filling the meeting room, and the quality of the sessions was outstanding.
Plans have been made to ensure that Physiology In Focus will be a highlight
at EB 2003, both scientifically and in pre-meeting publicity. The topic for
EB 2003 will be Oxidative Stress.
EB 2002 was the third year to introduce two new formats into the program:
Techniques and Technology in Physiology Tutorial/Workshops and
“Cross-Sectional” Symposia. The intention of the tutorial/workshops is to
present current cutting-edge technologies in two half-day sessions
addressing “What can be done with the technology” and “How do you use the
technology.” EB 2002 featured two workshops: “Understanding Organ Function
Through Real-Time Fluorescence Microscopy” organized by J. Bhattacharya and
B. Pitt, and “Bioinformatics for the Physiologist” organized by Peter
Tonellato. The latter workshop was coupled to a symposium entitled
“Bioinformatics in Physiological Genomics” which was held on Sunday morning.
Both Bioinformatics programs were standing room only. In addition, there
were four “Cross-Sectional” Symposia developed to cut across sections: “The
Sensory Functions of the DEG/ENaC Superfamily of Ion Channels,” “Cell-Cell
Cross Talk in the Generation of Inflammation,” “Vascular Consequences of
Oxidant Stress” and “Translational Research in Pre-eclampsia and
Pregnancy-Induced Hyper-tension.” Five cross-sectional symposia will be
presented at EB 2003.
Efforts to integrate the APS missions regarding the promotion of the EB
meeting and the APS journals by soliciting journal sponsorship of selected
oral sessions on the basis of scientific content appropriate for the journal
were also pursued. This idea has met with enthusiasm from the Joint Program
Committee and will be explored in greater depth with the Publications
Committee to foster means of strengthening both the meeting and the
journals. In particular, workshops and cross-sectional symposia were
targeted areas to consider for publication. In addition, journal sponsorship
of stand-alone APS Conferences was discussed and was met with enthusiasm.
Experimental Biology 2003
EB 2003 will be sponsored by six societies: APS, ASBMB, ASPET, ASIP, ASNS,
and the AAA. In addition, APS will host four guest societies: the American
Federation for Medical Research (AFMR), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES),
The Microcirculatory Society (MS) and, the Society for Experimental Biology
and Medicine (SEBM).
The Joint Program Committee (JPC) met in December to schedule abstracts
for the EB 2002 meeting and develop preliminary plans for EB 2003.
Preliminary plans were distributed to the Section Program Committees
responsible for soliciting proposals. The JPC met on April 20 to review the
symposia proposed by the sections to ensure minimum overlap or duplication
and to suggest areas of potential coordination. The Committee also reviewed
the symposia sponsored by the various guest societies of APS. The committee
is to be commended on their efforts to develop outstanding cross sectional
symposia. Eleven symposia were reviewed and five were selected for
presentation. APS Council approved funding a fifth slot at its meeting on
April 24. All but one of them were eventually picked up by one of the
sections for sponsorship. It is this proactive activity that will keep the
APS portion of EB fresh and exciting. On June 13, the JPC met again to
schedule the symposia and featured topics by date and time.
The APS continues to be aware of the importance of including women and
members of underrepresented minorities as well as junior scientists on the
panels of invited speakers. By and large, the sessions scheduled this year
showed this awareness. In addition, through the efforts of the Liaison With
Industry Committee, the JPC understands the importance of including
researchers from industry as speakers on symposia and featured topics. The
Section Program Committees will be advised to remind applicants of these
matters in considering participants for future proposals.
The 2003 Physiology In Focus program will include four sessions and is
entitled “Physiological Implications of Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress” by
Barbara Horwitz. Sessions will focus on: “General Overview and
Physiological Relevance,” “Emerging Concepts in Oxidative and Nitrosative
Signaling,” “Oxidative Stress: Cardiovascular Consequences,” and “Oxidative
Stress: Pulmonary Consequences.” Planned along with these are approximately
13 symposia and featured topics in the general area of oxidative stress
making this a “mini-theme” or the meeting-within-the-meeting. In addition, a
workshop/tutorial “Methods to Detect Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress,”
organized by Matt Grisham and Joe Granger is planned for the Friday
preceding the meeting.
In addition to the tutorial/workshop above, another is being planned:
“Frontiers of Intravital Microscopy: Crossroads of Physiology and
Pathology,” organized by Michael Goligorsky. As indicated above, five Cross
Societal/Sectional Symposia are also planned: “Neuron-Glial Interactions in
Nervous System Function,” “AT-1 and AT-2 Receptors: antagonists in Cellular
Action?,” “Lineage Specific Programming of Stem Cells into Tissues,”
“Mitochondria Regulation of Cell Function,” and “Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated
Receptors (PPARs).” The Translational Physiology Interest Group will
sponsor its first symposia entitled “Physiology in Medicine: Renal and
Cardiovascular Physiology.” In addition there will be 12 Section
Distinguished Lectureships, the Bowditch, Cannon and Randall Lectureships.
Paul Kubes will present the 2003 Bowditch Lecture. Shu Chien will present
the 2003 Cannon Lecture. (The 2003 Walter C. Randall lecture has yet to be
determined.)
APS Conferences
By and large, this program, which was initiated in 1991, has been very
successful and is continuing to improve. The Society is striving for a goal
in which the vast majority of scientists will consider APS Conferences a
premier meeting to attend. APS Council would like to increase the number of
APS Conferences from two to four per year. The additional two conferences
are to be organized on Physiological Genomics and Physiology and Medicine:
Translational Research. The first of the APS conferences on Physiological
Genomics was held earlier this year. The APS Program Committee is actively
soliciting ideas for future APS conferences in these two areas and other
timely topics.
Scheduled APS Conferences include:
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2002 APS Intersociety Conference, August 24-28, “The Power
of Comparative Physiology: Evolution, Integration and Applied,” organized
by James Hicks.
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2003 APS Physiological Genomics Conference, October 1-4,
“Understanding Renal and Cardiovascular Function through Physiological
Function,” organized by David Pollock, Jennifer Pollock, Elizabeth Nabel,
Clinton Webb, and Josephine Briggs.
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2003 APS Translational Research Conference, date to be
determined, “Immunological and Pathophysiological Mechanisms in
Inflammatory Bowel Disease,” date and location to be determined, organized
by Matthew Grisham and Fabio Cominelli.
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2003 APS Conference, “Adrenal Steroid Hormone and Control of
Extracellular Fluids: from Genetics to Physiology,” date and location to
be determined, organized by Daniela Rotin and Douglas Eaton.
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2004 APS Intersociety Meeting, “Integrative Biology of
Exercise,” date and location to be determined, organized by Ronald Terjung,
Chair.
Curt D. Sigmund, Chair
Council Actions
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