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:

• 2002 APS Intersociety Conference, August 24-28, "The Power of Comparative Physiology: Evolution, Integration and Applied," organized by James Hicks.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• Council accepted the report of the Joint Program Committee.