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2007 Liaison With Industry Committee Report
The Liaison with Industry Committee (LWIC) met at the EB 2007 meeting in
Washington, DC. The Committee is composed of representatives from most of
the active Society Sections, nominated to serve by their sections. The
current Committee membership is composed of Alison Strack, Neural Control
and Autonomic Regulation; Ken Olson, Comparative and Evolutionary
Physiology; Jeffrey Zachwieja, Environmental and Exercise Physiology; Craig
Plato, Renal; Christine Schnackenburg, Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis;
Michael Finley, Central Nervous System; Joshua Anthony, Endocrinology and
Metabolism; Shaila Basavappa, Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology; Cheryl
Watson, Teaching of Physiology; Adrienne Zion, Cardiovascular; Chahrzad
Montrose, Cell and Molecular Physiology; and Doug Eaton, APS Councilor.
Symposium 2007
At EB 2007, the Committee sponsored a symposium titled, “Stem Cells in
Physiology and Drug Discovery,” chaired by Chahrzad Montrose-Rafizadeh and
Brigid Hogan. Speakers were Timothy Allsopp, John McNeish, Aaron Chuang,
and Betty Yan; topics covered included: stem cells and new medicines,
pharmacology applications for stem cells in drug discovery, manipulating
stem cells physiology for neurodegenerative disease therapy, as well as
protein C pathway in human endothelial progenitor cells isolated from cord
blood. This is the seventh symposium sponsored by the Committee and it was
very well attended
Translational Symposium 2007
At EB 2007, the Committee also put forward a translational symposium
titled, “Drug Discovery Efforts for Pain Indications: Ion Channels and GPCRs,”
chaired by Michael Finley and William Martin. Speakers were Chris Felder,
Brigid Priest, Christopher Flores, and Ed McCleskey; topics covered
included: therapeutic opportunities in endocannabinoid transport inhibition,
peripheral nerve sodium channel blockers as analgesics, TRPM8 as a novel
pain target, as well as ASIC and ischemic pain. This was the first
translational symposium organized by the Committee and was very well
received.
Education on Science and Career in Industry has been put forward
by the Committee by creating two slide decks for the LWIC website. These
slide decks will serve as teaching and mentoring tools for young
investigators interested in learning about science in industry and exploring
career opportunities in industry.
The 7th Annual Physiologists in Industry Mixer was held
on April 29th. The attendance was good due to careful scheduling,
as well as proactive advertisements by the APS office via “All APS News” and
via the Industry ListServ. Promotional documents were distributed at the
mixer, which was beneficial for recruiting potential new members. In
addition, the slide deck created by the Committee was projected in the room
which allowed discussions and mentoring of new scientists on Drug Discovery
and Science in industry. The LWIC Committee would like to continue to
distribute these handouts at the next year’s mixer and include information
on APS Websites, APS benefits, education and career programs, APS
committees’ nomination forms, as well as educational materials used by
industry scientists.
Novel Disease Model Award
The award typically recognizes one graduate student and one postdoctoral
fellow submitting the best abstract describing a novel disease model. Two
students and three postdocs applied (a total of five abstracts were
received, a clear decrease from 18 from last year). The top two abstracts
included both a student and a postdoc and awards in both categories were
given.
Symposium 2008
The LWIC wishes to continue its annual tradition of sponsoring high
quality workshops/symposia relevant to industry and academic scientists and
has proposed a symposium on “Recent Advances in the
Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System for the Investigation and Treatment of
Hypertension” for EB 2008.
Chahrzad Montrose-Rafizadeh, Chair
Liaison with Industry Committee
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Council
approved the necessary funding for an LWIC mixer at the EB meetings on
an annual basis.
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Council
approved the proposal to contact selected pharmaceutical companies for
contributions to support the Novel Disease Model Award.
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