Janos Szöllősi

Janos Szöllősi studied physical chemistry and obtained his M.Sc. in 1976. In 1980 he received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Faculty of Medicine (University of Debrecen). Post-doctoral fellowships followed, first in Göttingen (Germany) with Thomas M. Jovin (1982/83), then at the University of California in San Francisco with Mack J. Fulwyler (1985/86), Larry J. Marton, Burt G. Feuerstein (1988-90), and Fred M. Waldman (1994).

Since 1976 he has had a permanent position in the Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, University of Debrecen, Hungary, first as an assistant lecturer and lately as full professor (1997). Since 1999 he has been the Chairman of the Biophysics Section of the Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology at the University of Debrecen.

His scientific interests include: studying biophysical aspects of transmembrane signaling: spatio-temporal organization of the earliest events, coupling between physical parameters and chemical signaling reactions with special interest in immunocompetent cells; investigating the topography of cell surface elements using flow and image cytometric fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET); developing and improving the FRET technique; studying the role of membrane potential and fluidity in the regulation of lateral and rotational diffusion and interactions of lymphocyte antigens and receptors. Lately he has been involved in studying the cell surface distribution of the ErbB2 oncoprotein on metastatic and non-metastatic breast tumor cells; investigating the interactions of epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1) and ErbB2 proteins; revealing the involvement of lipid rafts in signal transduction processes induced through ErbB protein interactions.

Janos has published over 95 peer reviewed papers and 15 book chapters. His outstanding research activities were recognized by the Academy Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, his teaching activities were acknowledged by the Pro Scientia Award of the Ministry of Education.

Campaign Statement

The first time when I was really enchanted by the great potentials of flow cytometry was at the ISAC meeting in Schloss Elmau in 1982. Since then I have been amazed by the continuous development in the field of flow and image cytometry. I have served on the editorial board of Cytometry since 1993, and I was appointed European Editor of Cytometry in 2002. Last year, together with Tom M. Jovin, I edited a special issue of Cytometry in the memory of Mack J. Fulwyler. My relevant experience as an active ISAC contributor includes: membership of various committees such as Conference Evaluation Committee (1991-1998); Scientific Advisory Board (1994-1996; 2002-); Council of Associated Societies (1995- ); Fund Raising Committee (2001-2002), and in 2004 I became the council member of ISAC. Furthermore, I am the founder and current chairman of the Cell Analysis Section of the Hungarian Biophysical Society. I have organized five cytometry meetings in Eastern Europe on both clinical and basic research topics; one of these was an ISAC-supported international meeting (1999: Future Trends in Quantitative Cytometry at Hortobagy-EPONA, Hungary). From many proposals, the Council selected the application of the Hungarian Society, so the ISAC XXIV Congress in 2008 will be held in Budapest, Hungary. We plan to host the ISAC community with the help and support of other national cytometry societies in the region , among others the Czech, Polish and German Societies for Cytometry.

I feel most privileged to be nominated for the position of President-elect of ISAC. The above mentioned activities gave me the experience, skills, and insights that I would like to bring to ISAC as President-elect in 2006. As a European with half a decade of North American experience I hope I can enhance the international impact of ISAC, orchestrate successful meetings (2008 Budapest), and ultimately, build an even more successful and efficient society.

The fast expansion period of ISAC is over, currently the membership is back to 1400 after a peak of 2000 in 1998. We are struggling to maintain our membership and have not been able to bring in new members at a rate to maintain a reasonable growth or even stability. We are entering the post-genomic era with the number of scientific and technical developments exponentially increasing. I believe that by enhancing our responsiveness to these new developments ISAC can revitalize itself.

Several key initiatives should be undertaken to rejuvenate ISAC which are:

• ISAC should represent the whole field of cytometry, in addition to "classical" flow cytometry, the latest developments in image cytometry, cell-based high throughput screenings and chip-based approaches used to study cellular parameters should be incorporated. Our society should serve as an integration platform of various branches of cytometry, it should provide an environment that supports and encourages these new developments. ISAC should be a forum for scientific fields essential to cytometry - basic sciences, engineering, mathematics, informatics, applied and translational research.
• Expanding of the membership of the society will be of central importance; ISAC's recruitment activities should go beyond the traditional approaches. We must make a concerted effort to keep the old members and to involve newer and younger members of ISAC in the affairs of the Society. Young members should have a special way to be represented in the council as well. ISAC could benefit from embracing young talented academics and entrepreneurs from North and South Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. I want to continue the new initiative of the present leadership, which offers an entirely new dues structure based on World Bank economy, and also a special reduction for students. In addition organizing small, thematically focused meetings at strategically located places and times would also contribute to the recruitment of new members.
• The current membership can be best served by quality organization of annual ISAC meetings. Introduction of annual meetings instead of bi-annual meetings would also decrease the fluctuations in membership number. Enhancing communication among flow and image cytometry oriented members both at the annual meetings and at regional meetings and web forums can also broaden the profile and expand the role of ISAC.
• Raising the educational role of the Society will seamlessly create new young membership in the long run. Tutorials, ISAC-sponsored courses, establishment of standards in flow and image cytometry and data management should provide essential tools in this respect. The educational role of the Society must also be extended to the general (scientific) public
• Extending the educational and mentorship role of ISAC will enhance the impact of the CYTOMETRY Journal. My vision includes transferring skills to young scientists about data collection and interpretation in the field of flow and image cytometry in order to improve the overall quality of scientific papers submitted by junior scientists. In addition, significant efforts will be made in order to recruit excellent quality review papers for CYTOMETRY.
• Maintaining constant communication with the membership is essential. I will report directly to the membership on a frequent basis, and I will seek the opinions and ideas of the members. I plan to extend the present isac-net.org web page as a platform for the two-way communication.
• Decreasing the costs of our meetings to an acceptable level will be highly important, partly because the costs of recent meetings was unreasonably high, and partly since I want to introduce regular annual meetings. Toward this end I will cooperate with the treasurer and the councilors in order to be more careful with YOUR money.

These are my priorities for ISAC as a candidate for President-elect. If elected I will consider it a significant responsibility and I will do my best - by working with the membership and the leadership of ISAC - to implement these goals and objectives. Since I was and still am the member of the Coalition for Change run in the 2004 election, I am convinced that the elected members of the Coalition for Change (6 out of 7 were elected) would support me in realizing these aims.