ISAC RFP - Open Source Contributions to ISAC Public Flow Cytometry Data Repository

ISAC intends to create a public flow cytometry data repository, with the goal of facilitating verification of analysis of flow cytometry data in published reports, aiding the further development of flow cytometry data analysis software, and enabling the integration of flow cytometry data with other biological databases. ISAC plans to provide open access to the contents of the repository and to the database software (including source code) it will run. To this end, ISAC is soliciting proposals for software contributions to the repository project.

The 2009 Quantitative Imaging Cytometry Course

The 2009 Quantitative Imaging Cytometry Course will be held on February 10, 11, and 12, 2009 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York.

Registration and poster submission are now open at the Center’s website, www.imagingcytometrycenter.com.

Call for Congress Sites: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015

ISAC is in search of a host city for their International Congresses to take place in 2012 and 2015. We are looking for International locations, especially in Europe for these two years. Click here for more info.

Outlined in these two documents are the logistical needs and restrictions of our meeting. Please review them carefully to help you select the best possible venue to obtain a proposal from.

Please submit your proposals to cesler@faseb.org for consideration by the Society. In addition to logistical requirements and costs, ISAC will look to select a city that will offer a strong, local presence to effectively establish significant headway in programming and sponsorship for their upcoming Meetings.

Dear ISAC Member,

We modified the access to the password protected areas of the ISAC web site. To login, you'll have to provide your membership number (ID) and a password.

In the next few days the current ISAC members will receive an e-mail containing their membership number and an automatically generated password. While the password can be changed, the membership number can't. This number will uniquely identify you for the purposes of web site login, membership renewal, and voting.

The new system aims to simplify access to the ISAC website, as well as access to other ISAC internet services, including on-line membership renewal, polls, and election voting.It also allows you to use the same number for logging into the web site and for membership renewal, and it automatically transfers the changes you make to your profile in the ISAC web site to our membership database.

We have tested the new login process with all popular browsers, including IE6 and 7, Firefox, and Safari. However, we strongly encourage you to upgrade to a browser newer than IE6 if you have not already done so.

Dear ISAC Membership:

Thank you to all who participated in the voting for the ISAC 2008 Council elections. ISAC is fortunate to have so many dedicated individuals willing to donate their time to serving the Society. The candidate list was excellent and I again thank all who were nominated for their willingness to run.

Below are the results of the election. The new Officers and Councilors will officially assume their duties at the conclusion of the May 19th Business Meeting in Budapest Hungary.

• President-Elect: Paul Smith
• Secretary: Lori Krueger
• Biological Councilors: Timothy Bushnell, James Freyer & Andreas Radbruch
• Clinical Councilors: Zofia Maciorowski & Vincent Shankey
• Technical Councilor: Ger van den Engh

Congratulations to all. I know their expertise will benefit ISAC and its membership.

Detailed results can be downloaded here.

New components of the ACS standard

The ISAC Data Standards Task Force (DSTF) presents to the ISAC membership three proposals of components of the new ACS standard (NetCDF, ZIP, and GatingML).We encourage ISAC members to participate in the forum discussion (login required) regarding the proposals. After the general review period, the Standards Committee will review the discussions and comments to decide whether the proposed components need further work by the DSTF or they are ready for approval by ISAC Council.

The ISAC Education Subcommittee for Flow Cytometry would like to invite ISAC members and commercial vendors to submit education materials (PowerPoint slides) as support materials for the basic flow cytometry curriculum that has been created and piloted over the past few months. These materials must be educational only and not commercial. ISAC must be allowed to use the materials freely in its educational programs. Topics in the basic flow cytometry curriculum include: fluids, optics, electronics, experiment set-up (appropriate controls, cell preparation, data structure, gating, analysis and display, (analogue vs. digital), biosafety. Cell sorting will not be covered in this introductory session.

Please respond with intent, or submit materials, to the ISAC office (isac-@isac-net.org), no later than Jan 21, 2008.

The case for moving ISAC to the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry

Changing names is not something we do very often. However, the ISAC leadership believes that it is time to address the issue of who the members of ISAC are and who they represent. We are proposing to change our name to the International Society for  Advancement of Cytometry. We believe that this is a very good thing for our membership. It will better represent our members to other societies. It will bring many more scientists into our society; many already in it will feel that the primary society that represents their science carries a more appropriate name.

ISAC will still be ISAC – but being called the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry is a very positive move for us. It’s time for this change and your entire executive leadership and council agreed without exception that it was time to make it. I encourage you to vote for this change. Please listen to the video and read the full text on the ISAC website. I encourage discussion on the topic. Please see the rest of this message…

Discuss this article on the forums. (5 posts)

Standard Safety Practices for Sorting of Unfixed Cells," UNIT 3.6  of Current Protocols in Cytometry is freely available on line!

Abstract:

Cell sorting of viable biological specimens has become widespread in laboratories involved in basic and clinical research. As these samples can contain infectious agents, precautions to protect instrument operators and the environment from hazards arising from the use of sorters are paramount. This unit presents a revised and updated version of the biosafety guidelines for sorting of unfixed cells established in 1977 by the International Society of Analytical Cytology (ISAC), whose recommendations have become recognized worldwide as the standard practices and safety precautions for laboratories performing viable cell-sorting experiments. The unit contains background information on the biohazard potential of sorting and the hazard classification of infectious agents as well as recommendations on (1) sample handling, (2) operator training and personal protection, (3) laboratory design, (4) cell sorter setup, maintenance, and decontamination, and (5) testing the instrument for the efficiency of aerosol containment.

Click here, or access the PDF directly.

Dear Colleagues

This website has been recently upgraded in order to resolve problems with HTML rendering in Microsoft IE 7 browser. However, owing to a number of differences in IE 7 and IE 6 rendering engines, this upgrade may cause some IE 6 installations to display the content of this site incorrectly. Please upgrade to IE 7 if you experience such problems.

The upgrade does not affect Firefox, Safari, and Opera browsers.

Best regards!

Your ISAC Web Team

Complimentary Cytometry Subscriptions

As co-chairs of the Membership Services Committee of ISAC, we are contacting you for the following reason. ISAC has a number of subscriptions to our journal Cytometry, which we would like to distribute to laboratories for whom they will be useful, but who cannot necessarily afford them. We will request that they send us a simple letter requesting the free subscription stating the financial need and scientific appropriateness for their laboratory. The Cytometry journal will be sent as e-subscriptions (internet accessible) to eliminate mailing costs.

If you know of laboratories which would benefit from these. subscriptions, please ask them to contact Laura Teodori or Zofia Maciorowski

Laura Teodori & Zofia Maciorowski