Chapter News
Iowa Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
Nebraska Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
Ohio Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
Iowa Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
The eighth annual meeting of the Iowa Physiological
Society (IPS) was held on Monday, June, 2, 2003 at the Medical Education Center
at Des Moines University in Des Moines, IA. Approximately 20 registrants
participated in this one-day meeting and these individuals included faculty,
research assistants, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and one
undergraduate student. Gerald DiBona, past President of APS, was also in
attendance. The morning session consisted of oral presentations by each of the
ten poster presenters. Although the topics covered by each poster varied
considerably, most were directly or indirectly related to cardiovascular
physiology.
The poster presentations were followed by a buffet lunch and
a brief Planning Committee Meeting. Issues that were discussed included whether
the annual IPS meeting should be held in conjunction with the Annual Iowa
Academy of Sciences meeting, whether next year’s annual IPS meeting should be
held in Iowa City at the University of Iowa to attract a larger audience,
whether the Nebraska Physiological Society should be invited to meet jointly
with IPS on a yearly or bi-year basis, and whether physiologists from South
Dakota and Missouri should be encouraged to attend and participate in the annual
IPS meeting. These issues will be further discussed by the IPS Board and
decisions will be announced to the membership. Nominations were also sought for
IPS President-Elect and it was decided to keep the nomination period open until
an appropriate individual was nominated and approved.
The major presentation in the afternoon session was a seminar
entitled: “Reactive Oxygen Species in the Autonomic Nervous System: Novel
Mediators of Cardiovascular Regulation and Dysregulation.” This research
seminar was presented by Mark Chapleau, Associate Professor, Department
of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Iowa
City, IA. After Chapleau answered specific questions, participants continued to
view the individual posters that were displayed throughout the large conference
room.
Thomas J. Schmidt
Past President
Iowa Physiological Society
Nebraska Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
The sixth annual meeting of the Nebraska Physiological
Society (NPS) was held on Friday, May 23, in the Animal Science Building on the
East Campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL). A total of 82
individuals registered for the meeting, and 35 research posters were presented.
The meeting began at 9:00 am with a welcome and introductory remarks from
Shyamal K. Roy, NPS President and Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at
the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), and John Davis,
Director of the Olson Center for Women’s Health, Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, UNMC. Randall S. Prather, Distinguished Professor of
Reproductive Biotechnology at the University of Missouri at Columbia, was the
APS Lecturer. The title of Prather’s talk was “Specific Genetic Modification to
Swine: Application to Medicine and Agriculture.” His talk highlighted advances
in transgenic technologies and their potential application to xeno
transplantation.
Four student presentations followed the APS lecturer. These
student presentations were selected based on the quality of the abstracts
submitted with the posters. While all of the student presentations were
excellent, the $250 award was presented to postdoctoral student Peixin Yang
of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC, for his work “Mechanisms
of TGFß-induced DNA synthesis in hamster preantral granulosa cells.” Other
students selected to give oral presentations were postdoctoral student Peilin
Wei, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC, for his work “Role of
store-operated calcium channels in the mesangial proliferation during the early
hyperfiltration stage of type 2 diabetes”; predoctoral student Yu Wang,
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC, for her work “Differential
baroreflex responses to nNOS gene transfer into NTS and RVLM in rats with
chronic heart failure”; and graduate student Yi-Ming Zhang, Department of
Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC, for her work “Down regulation of FSHR mRNA
levels in the hamster ovary: Effect of FSH.”
After the student presentations, Michael J. Davis,
Professor of Medical Physiology at Texas A&M University College of Medicine,
gave a presentation about web-based teaching at medical schools. Davis
demonstrated the capabilities of web-based tools in areas such as the posting of
announcements, class notes, and grades, discussion rooms, practice exams, and
computer-simulated laboratory activities. The morning session concluded with an
update on the state of the American Physiological Society presented by Irving
H. Zucker, past president of NPS and Professor and Chair of the Department
of Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC. Zucker highlighted the success of APS
journals, the continuing project to get all back issues of APS journals online,
and work done by the American Association of Medical Colleges.
The NPS business meeting followed lunch. Janet E. Steele,
NPS Secretary-Treasurer and Associate Professor of Biology at the University of
Nebraska at Kearney (UNK), presented the current financial status of the NPS.
She noted that sponsor contributions were increased over last year and thanked
this year’s sponsors for their support. Sponsors included the APS, the
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UNMC; the Dean’s Office of the College
of Medicine, UNMC; the Dean’s Office of the School of Medicine, Creighton
University; the Olson Center for Women’s Health, UNMC; Nebraska Health Systems;
M.J. Research, Inc.; North Central Instruments; D.A.I. Scientific Equipment; and
Fischer Scientific. Steele then updated the members on the status of the
Nebraska Local Outreach Team (LOT), which is a branch of the APS Frontiers in
Physiology program. The LOT has three hands-on workshops for middle and high
school science teachers scheduled, June 2 and June 9 at UNK and then October 23
as a part of the annual meeting of the Nebraska Association of Teachers of
Science in Fremont. NPS President Roy then discussed the possibility of future
meetings with the Iowa Physiological Society and called for members to submit
their ballots for the election of the next President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer,
and Councillor. Roy thanked the membership for their support during his
presidency and introduced NPS President-Elect Dale Bergren, Professor of
Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University School of Medicine. New officers for
the coming year include Andrea S. Cupp, Assistant Professor of Animal
Science, UNL, President-Elect; Harold D. Schultz, Professor of Physiology
and Biophysics, UNMC, Secretary-Treasurer; and Brett R. White, Assistant
Professor of Animal Science, UNL, Councillor.
Following the business meeting participants visited the
sponsors’ displays and viewed the research posters. Departments and institutions
represented in the poster session included the Department of Physiology and
Biophysics, UNMC; the Olson Center for Women’s Health, Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, UNMC; the USDA Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, NE; the
Department of Animal Science, UNL; the Department of Biochemistry, UNL; Boys
Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE; and the Department of Pharmacology,
Creighton University, Omaha, NE. The meeting concluded at 4:00 pm.
Janet Steele
Secretary/Treasurer
Nebrasaka Physiological Society
Ohio Physiological Society Holds Annual Meeting
The 17th annual meeting of the Ohio Physiological Society
(OPS) was held November 15, 2002 at the Ralph Regula Conference Center at the
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM), Rootstown, OH. The
theme of the meeting was “Cardiopulmonary Physiology—ß-adrenoceptors—Development
and Disease.” The initial announcement of the meeting was done via Email.
Subsequently, a brochure describing the meeting and application forms were sent
by mail.
A total of 100 registered participants (including the invited
speaker, researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students) attended the
meeting. The attendees came from many institutions around the state of Ohio;
NEOUCOM, Wright State University, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
University, University of Akron, Akron General Medical Center, Ohio University
College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve
University, University of Dayton, Cleveland Clinic, and Kent State University.
In addition, the meeting was attended by undergraduate students and faculty from
Walsh University, Hiram College, and Westminster College.
The meeting was opened by a special welcome address by
NEOUCOM’s new President and Dean Lois M. Nora. The OPS president, Hans G.
Folkesson, Associate Professor of Physiology at NEOUCOM, then welcomed the
audience and introduced the APS Featured Speaker and Keynote Speaker David H.
Ingbar, from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Ingbar presented
a fascinating lecture and summary on the regulation of alveolar fluid
absorption. The remaining presentations were focused on the role of ß-adrenoceptors
in regulating alveolar fluid absorption and cardiovascular functions. The
presentations were designed to appeal to the large undergraduate and graduate
student presence in the audience.
Following lunch in the Conference Center, a poster session
with many lively discussions was held in the atrium. Concomitant with the poster
session, there was a vendor display of scientific equipment and laboratory
supply solutions organized by VWR Biomarke Program and Beckman Coulter. During
the poster session, the School of Biomedical Sciences at Kent State University
and NEOUCOM provided information to the undergraduate students about graduate
studies at the School of Biomedical Sciences.
A business meeting was held at the end of the meeting in
which the locations of the next two meeting were announced, Case Western Reserve
University (2003) and University of Cincinnati (2004). The President-elect is
Nanduri R. Prabhakar, Case Western Reserve University. The creation of the
Peter K. Lauf Ohio Physiological Society Student Award was also announced at the
business meeting. The award will be given to a promising physiology graduate
student to enhance his/her education by permitting the student to attend a major
national/international physiology meeting, such as the Experimental Biology
meeting.
The 17th annual meeting of the OPS would not have been possible without the
generous support from the NEOUCOM Division of Basic Medical Science and
Department of Physiology, the Graduate Program School of Biomedical Sciences,
Kent State University, VWR Biomarke Program, Beckman Coulter, and the APS.
Hans G. Folkesson
President
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