Experimental Biology 2009
The 2009 EB Meeting was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 18-22 under the meeting-wide theme of “Today’s Research: Tomorrow’s Health”. All scientific and poster sessions were well-attended and overall enthusiasm for the meeting remains high. The primary participating societies were: APS, ASPET (pharmacology), ASN (nutrition), ASBMB (biochemistry), ASIP (pathology), and AAA (anatomy). AAI (immunology) will no longer be affiliated with EB for the foreseeable future. APS hosted five guest societies: The Microcirculatory Society (MCS), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the American Federation for Medical Research (AFMR), the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM), and the Association of Latin American Physiological Societies (ALACF).
The APS portion of EB 2009 featured two unopposed Techniques and Technology in Physiology Workshops on Saturday entitled “Chronic Instrumentation in Conscious Small Animals” and “Multi- Photon Imaging of Renal Regulatory Mechanisms in vivo”.
APS also sponsored four “Cross-Sectional” Symposia entitled “Novel Insights into Nitric Oxide Signaling”, “ENaC/ASIC Proteins as Cardiovascular Sensors”, “Breaking the Diffraction Barrier in Imaging of Molecules in Living Cells”, and “Adrenal Corticosteroid Effects in the Central Nervous System on the Long-Term Control of Blood Pressure”.
Out of a total of 5,021 volunteered abstracts submitted, 2,136 (42%) were programmed by APS; an increase of 9% from EB 2008 when seven societies met. 524 abstracts were submitted by the late-breaking deadline in February 2009. Of that, 138 (26%) were submitted to APS for programming. Meeting attendance was below budget. The total meeting attendance was 10,742 which represents the lowest attendance on record for a six-society EB meeting. APS programmed 318 sessions in total: 183 poster sessions, 61 symposia, 46 featured topics, 17 lectures, 5 workshops, and 1 refresher course, 2 mini-symposia, and two awards sessions.
The Physiology InFocus program entitled “Integrative and Systems Physiology: An Approach to Understanding Organ Systems an Disease” was organized by Irving H. Zucker and included four symposia scheduled throughout the meeting. These were entitled “A Systems Approach to Disease Mechanisms”, “Cardiac Ion Transport and Arrhythmias”, “An Integrative and Systems Analysis of Membrane Transport”, and “Omics: The Changing Face of Integrative Physiology”. The lectures included the 12 Section Distinguished Lectureships, the MCS Landis Award Lecture, the WEH Section Young Investigator Award lecture, the Physiology in Perspective—The Walter B. Cannon Memorial Award Lecture, presented by Frank Abboud; The Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lecture, presented by Ann Schreihofer; and The Walter C. Randall Lecture in Biomedical Ethics, presented by Peter Schwartz which was delivered via a live webinar.
Experimental Biology 2010
The JPC met at EB 2009 on Saturday, April 18 to begin organizing EB 2010 that will be held Saturday April 24 through Wednesday April 28 in Anaheim, California. This EB also will be a six-society meeting in the absence of AAI.
Total number of paid scientific registrants has been projected to be 9,931. The JPC met on June 9, 2009 in Bethesda to finalize and schedule by day and time the platform sessions. The Call for Abstracts and online abstract submission site will be available by September 2009. The abstract deadline will be November 4, 2009. EB 2010 will again provide for a late breaking abstract deadline, anticipated sometime in February 2010. The JPC received 16 Cross-Sectional symposium proposals of which four were approved: “Humoral Factors in Renal Injury and Hypertension”, “Novel Redox Signaling in Ion Channel Regulations and Pathophysiology”, “Regulation of Neuronal Cell Volume: From Activation to Inhibition to Degeneration”, and “Endoplasmic Reticulum stress at the crossroad between fatty liver, leptin resistance, obesity and diabetes”. In addition, two Techniques and Technology workshops will be scheduled on the first day of EB 2010: “Computational Modeling and Simulation as a Tool for Studying Physiological Processes” and “Microfluidics and Nanophotonics”. These workshops were designed to complement the Physiology InFocus series organized by APS President Gary Sieck.
The Physiology InFocus program entitled Physiology and Biomedical Engineering: Partners in Translational Research will feature a series of four symposia: “Airway Smooth Muscle: Where Does It Come From, How Does It Work, What Does It Do?”, “Physiology at the Crossroads of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine”, “Preparing Students for Physiological Complexity – Emphasizing Quantitative Skills”, and “One Hundred Years of Starling: His Contributions to Physiology”. The meeting will also feature sessions organized by the APS Publications Department, Careers in Physiology Committee, Public Affairs Committee, Women in Physiology Committee, Education Committee, Liaison with Industry Committee, and Trainee Advisory Committee.