ISAC E-News, March 2006

REMINDERS

Deadline to vote: March 16!
Deadline for early ISAC registration: March 17!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Register for ISAC 23 – You’ll Have the Time of Your Life!
  • THE SCIENCE - Approximately 500 abstracts submitted (one of the largest ever)
  • EMPHASIS ON YOUNG INVESTIGATORS AND STUDENTS - New ISAC Emerging Leaders program for grooming the next generation of ISAC leaders and involving them in the congress organization
  • COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES
  • FOCUS ON ISAC
  • ORGANIZATION/SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
• Special First Time ISAC Exhibition Booth at Congress
• Core Manager’s Workshop Meeting in Quebec City
• Cytometry status
• Scientific Advisory Committee
• RFP for ISAC Executive Director
• Meetings and Courses
  • San Diego Area Flow Cytometry Users’ Group
  • Chesapeake Cytometry Consortium Spring 2006 Meeting
  • 29th Annual Course in Cytometry

Register for ISAC 23 – You’ll Have the Time of Your Life!

by Alex Nakeff, anakeff1@hfhs.org
and Paul Robinson, jpr@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu

This year’s congress is shaping up to be the most successful we have ever had. The organizing committee is grateful to the many ISAC members who gave us strong guidance on what they wanted at the congress. ISAC has listened and is responding – just look at what you can expect when you register!

THE SCIENCE - Approximately 500 abstracts submitted (one of the largest ever)

• More than 350 posters located in the Exhibit Hall and available for viewing throughout the entire meeting
• 20 parallel sessions featuring more than 120 oral presentation selected from more than 250 submitted abstracts for oral presentations
• Cutting-edge presentations in 10 Frontier and 12 Plenary sessions
• 15 carefully selected Scientific Tutorials
• Numerous workshops on useful topics
• Special Core Directors evening Workshop
• Outstanding Keynote opening lecture by Dr. Roger Tsien
• Distinguished Hooke Lecture by Dr. Stephen Lewis, Special UN Envoy to Africa for HIV/AIDS, speaking on a topic in which our technology is playing a key role

EMPHASIS ON YOUNG INVESTIGATORS AND STUDENTS - New ISAC Emerging Leaders program for grooming the next generation of ISAC leaders and involving them in the congress organization

• A new ISAC scholars program for young investigators
• A first time ever pre-Congress Introductory Course at Laval University for beginners in both flow and image cytometry, run by ISAC Emerging Leaders with help from senior mentors
• Increased funds for supporting student participation in the congress
• Inexpensive housing (less than $50/day) provided at Laval University
• A new and improved Emerging Leaders meeting room to enhance the “ISAC experience” and foster interactions with senior leadership
• The largest number of student abstracts ever
• A highly competitive awards competition (President’s Award for Excellence and Outstanding Student Award), with more than 60 applications submitted
• A highly competitive Outstanding Poster Award, with more than 50 posters submitted

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES

• An approximate 40,000-square-foot mixed commercial and poster area, replete with Cybercafe kiosks for e-mail communications
• Exhibit booth fees decreased by 20 percent from last Congress
• More than 105 booths – the largest commercial exhibition ever
• More than 30 percent increase in sponsorship funds provided to ISAC
• 20 commercial tutorials scheduled (many with lunches provided upon attendance)

FOCUS ON ISAC

• Registration fees decreased by more than 40 percent from 2004
• For the first time, a large ISAC booth, staffed by Membership Services, supported by Emerging Leaders, Education, Council and various committees, will be located in the Exhibit/Poster area to highlight ISAC activities, the Cytometry journal and increase membership participation in society activities.
• A Wall of History will document ISAC’s past and we’ll even display a historic early flow cytometer - come, chat and reminisce with friends and colleagues!

ORGANIZATION/SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

• Numerous social receptions include Congress Opener, exhibitor mixer, Gala Banquet – and, of course, happy hours sprinkled through the program!
• In response to popular demand, the Congress is shorter by one day
• First ISAC Congress run by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
• Convention Center facilities located within walking distance from the “Old” walled Quebec City
• Numerous outstanding restaurants within walking distance from the Convention Center – generous lunch breaks and free evenings make this a must!
• Spouses’ program available – sign up and see the sights!

We have listened and look to you to respond by participating in the Congress
Sign up!
Tell your colleagues!
Get your students and lab folks to come!
We’ll have the data and the coffee hot -- and the beer cold!!

Special First Time ISAC Exhibition Booth at Congress

by Paul Robinson, jpr@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu

In response to our members questions of “What does ISAC do for me?” the XXIII Congress Organizing Committee decided to establish a central place in the exhibit hall to be the congress home for ISAC members. This large area will contain places for each ISAC committee to feature what they do and who is on each committee. There will also be ISAC publicity, education and promotional materials available. In addition, there will be some special displays related to large scale projects funded by NIH. One important feature will be the Wall of History. Do you know who the first ISAC president was? Well, surprise, surprise, not only will you see him on the Wall of History, but he will be a featured speaker at this years congress. We will also have a wonderful display of one of Mack Fulwyler’s original cell sorters. This one was built in 1967 and the unit will be set up for you to see and enjoy. The history of this instrument development will be there in pictures and video. It may be the most interesting historical exhibit you have seen in flow cytometry. This area will be in honor and memory of Mack Fulwyler, the inventor of the cell sorter and one of ISAC’s greatest inventors and innovators.

The ISAC booth should be one of your first visiting places when you come into the convention center exhibition – after all, it’s your personal booth!

Core Manager’s Workshop Meeting in Quebec City

By Julie Auger,jauger@flowcity.bsd.uchicago.edu

The ISAC Resource (Core) Manager's Workshop will be held on the evening of Tuesday23 May at the Quebec City Convention Center. The 3.5-hour workshop (18:00 - 21:30) organized by the ISAC Resource Managers Task Force will address operational management issues such as crisis management, laboratory performance measurements and a review of new electronic management tools (LIMS) developed specifically for cytometry labs. After a break, educational management issues will be discussed including a review of the new ISAC Strategic Plan for Education. The workshop will conclude with the popular "Ask the Experts" panel discussion.

This workshop, sponsored by Invitrogen, provides an important networking venue for core managers and those interested in facility management issues. A light dinner and drinks will be provided. Pre-registration is not required, but is requested to provide a reasonable catering estimate. If you plan to attend, please e-mail Julie Auger (jauger@flowcity.bsd.uchicago.edu). Include in your e-mail your full name, institution and any members of your lab who will also be attending.

Cytometry status

by Robert Murphy, murphy@cmu.edu

As many of you know, ISAC owns all rights to Cytometry, which is published by Wiley under an agreement with ISAC (an agreement between ISAC and Wiley was signed last year to extend this relationship through the end of 2011). Cytometry is currently published in two Parts (A and B), with Part B subtitled “Clinical Cytometry.” Part B is published in cooperation with the Clinical Cytometry Society (CCS), and ISAC and CCS share the Cytometry royalties in rough proportion to the number of pages published in each part. Part B is the official journal of CCS, at least for the duration of a current agreement between CCS, ISAC and Wiley (which expires at the end of 2006).

Unfortunately, there have been a number of past incidents that have resulted in damaged relations between ISAC and CCS. The damage has resulted from perceived slights and/or concrete actions (which I trust were never undertaken with intent to injure), but I think little will be accomplished by rehashing prior incidents. Personally, I very much want us all to leave the past behind us and to ensure that our two societies have an amicable, strong, cooperative relationship to our mutual benefit. I believe that this positive attitude is shared by many ISAC and CCS members and that the proposed agreement for the sale of Cytometry Part B to CCS (see January 2006 E-news) is an important first step in building a relationship based on mutual respect. ISAC and CCS continue to work on language for a possible agreement to transfer ownership of Cytometry Part B to CCS beginning in January 2007 in exchange for half of the revenue from Part B through the end of 2011.

In addition to seeking to forge a new relationship with CCS, the ISAC Scientific Communications Committee (SCC) has been active on other fronts. Over the past year, SCC has played the major role in

• Negotiating the new contract with Wiley for publishing Cytometry,
• Establishing a new ISAC Web presence through a contract with Paul Robinson at Purdue University to manage and provide content for the ISAC Web pages, and
• Arranging for Bartek Rajwa to become the new Web editor.

SCC has also been involved in strategic planning for improving the journal. The plan focuses on significantly improving the impact factor by a combination of soliciting review articles from highly visible biomedical scientists who use cytometry, and expanding the coverage of exciting new developments in image cytometry while preserving Cytometry’s leadership role in flow cytometry. The journal is central to the mission of ISAC, and SCC is dedicated to making it into the best journal it can possibly be.

Scientific Advisory Committee

John Nolan (Chair), Gabriela Baerlocher, Natasha Barteneva, Andrea Cossarizza, Gary Durack, Yuval Garini, Marie Iannone, Bartek Rajwa, Attila Tarnok

The ISAC Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) provides advice to ISAC leadership on the scientific and educational activities of the Society. ISAC members who have thoughts, concerns, suggestions, or comments on these subjects are encouraged to communicate these to a SAC member.

This year’s Congress in Quebec City will reflect many suggestions made by attendees of the last Congress in Montpellier in their evaluation forms. The Quebec City Congress will be shorter (by a day), with fewer parallel sessions with fewer talks. Thus, not only do we anticipate that the parallel sessions will be of very high quality with less repetition, the poster sessions will take on added significance as many excellent abstracts that could not be accommodated due to time constraints will be presented in poster format. In many ways, the poster is the most intense presentation format at a scientific conference, and the Congress organizers have made a special effort to ensure that the poster hall will be open early and late, and that the poster presentations have a featured time slot in the late afternoon immediately following the workshop sessions. Check out the Congress Web site (www.isac2006.com) for details on the Congress schedule.

The SAC also endorses and, in some cases, supports small meetings on focused topics of interest to the ISAC community. If you are considering holding a meeting on a relevant topic and would like to request ISAC endorsement or support, contact ISAC Executive Director Rick Koepke for more information (rkoepke@isac-net.org).

We will look forward to seeing you at the upcoming Congress in Quebec City.

RFP for ISAC Executive Director

A request for proposal for the position of ISAC Executive Director has been released. The RFP is posted on the ISAC Website (www.isac-net.org).

Meetings and Courses

San Diego Area Flow Cytometry Users’ Group

by Eileen Bessent, ebessent@vapop.ucsd.edu

 Wednesday 22 March 2006,6-9 p.m., Special lecture: John Nolan, “ Extending the Reach of Flow-Based Analysis: Instrumentation for Spectroscopy and Nanotechnology. Meeting sponsored by San Diego Center For AIDS Research and supported by the Flow Cytometry Division of:Dako Inc. Contact Eileen for additional information.

Chesapeake Cytometry Consortium Spring 2006 Meeting

The CCC is hosting its spring 2006 meeting on Friday 31 March 2006 from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. at John’s Hopkins University, Montgomery County Campus in Rockville, Maryland. Program, registration, and accommodation information can be obtained at: http://www.ccc-flow.org. The fee for the meeting is $45, which includes breakfast, lunch, and coffee breaks. The deadline for online registration is Friday 24 March. Register early to guarantee your spot since space is limited. For additional information or comments contact Mehrnoosh Abshari at absharim@niaid.nih.gov.

29th Annual Course in Cytometry

Research Methods and Applications, 10-16 June 2006, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, USA. Formore information, go to http://www.vsh.com/bowdoin/