ISAC E-News - Winter 2002

Cytomics Revs Up

President's Message
Lisa Staiano-Coico

The sequencing of the human genome has altered the way in which science will be conducted in the 21st century. In contrast to the reductionist approach, which for the past fifty years attempted to elucidate relevant biological processes (e.g., cell death) by analysis of isolated components, the access to large masses of genomic data encourages a research discovery and systems biology approach to science.

Large-scale analytical tools such as microarray technology, mass spectrometry and protein arrays have evolved from genomic research that enable comprehensive analyses of allele composition, genome copy number, methylation, and the protein composition of cells and tissues.

Applications of these techniques have revealed that we still have much to discover about events that interact to ensure proper cell and tissue formation and function and that go awry in disease processes.

Elucidation of these events is the essence of cytomics - that is, the measurement of quantitative aspects of cell and tissue organization and behavior and correlation of these measurements with comprehensive molecular profiles to understand the molecular bases for phenotype and behavior.

This will require integration of cellular measurements, molecular profiles and clinical and biological information - in short, it will require the integration of technology, biology, medicine, and mathematics.

ISAC has a rich history of innovation when it comes to bringing the newest technology to bear on important biological and clinical questions. ISAC's unique blend of of science and technology makes it an ideal forum in which to explore new ways to exploit technology to make a significant impact on our understanding of cell and tissue function and of disease.

ISAC XXI will focus several plenary and parallel sessions on cytomics and the role that the marriage of cytometry and other technologies can play in driving forward the quantitative and automated measurement of biological systems. We look forward to vigorous discussions and to ISAC forging a new leadership role in both defining and fostering cytomics.

As outgoing president of ISAC at the XXI Congress, I'd like to acknowledge the contributions of Peter Rabinovitch (secretary), Jim Watson (past president), and Maria Pallavicini for their contributions to the development of the new cytomics focus, and to Maria specifically for helping me summarize almost a year's worth of discussion for this article. On behalf of president-elect Harry Crissman I encourage your thoughts and ideas on this new focus and look forward to seeing you in San Diego.

Updated XXI Congress Agenda, Social Tours and Entertainment Scheduled

ISAC's XX Congress in Montpellier, France, was a tough act to follow but we're sure that this year's International Congress in San Diego will be an excellent follow-up. If you haven't received a copy of the Preliminary Program in the mail, contact ISAC headquarters at isac@isac-net.org to request one.

For the first time we have a number of tours and social activities for attendees' guests (and attendees, if they can tear themselves away)-trips to LEGOLAND, SeaWorld, San Diego highlights with a harbor excursion, Wild Animal Park, the famous San Diego Zoo, and La Jolla are available. Details are in the Preliminary Program and on the Web site. Sorry, these activities are not included in the price of conference registration.

If you can avoid the social diversions, the ISAC educational program is full and diverse. As usual, we start the Congress with a full day of Scientific Tutorials on Saturday 4 May. On Sunday, Peter Doherty, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, will deliver the keynote address "Visualization of Cell-Mediated Immunity," kicking off a day of Frontiers Lectures and the first of four Workshop series.

Monday 6 May brings us a day of superb plenary sessions that we encourage everyone to attend. Joe Gray, T. Vincent Shankey, Andrew Koff and Peter Rabinovitch will chair several sessions on Cytomics (the bridge between genomics, proteomics and cytometry), a significant discussion point during the ISAC Strategic Planning Meeting in Spring 2001. (For more information about this ISAC initiative and this Congress session see the Cytomics article in this issue of E-news.)

On Tuesday 7 May we present the first of four parallel sessions with our best presentations from submitted abstracts. In addition, Caroline Dive will chair a Mini-Symposium on Apoptosis and Molecular Therapeutics, and Alexander Nakeff and James Leary will lead a plenary session on Interfacing Image/Flow Cytometry with the Proteome. Heddy Zola will chair the two-part workshop, Plans and Progress: 8th Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigens (HLDA 8).

Robert Murphy will give a special status report on the work and initiatives of the Data Standards Committee during the ISAC Business Meeting, 1400-1600 Tuesday 7 May. Committee initiatives and projects include development of a platform-independent suite for reading and writing FCS 3.0 files, XML standards for describing flow and image cytometry experiments and analyses, an image database schema for storing images and their annotations, and a common cytometry dictionary for standardizing terms used in cytometry files.

Wednesday's highlights include the New Investigator and Student Symposium during which, our brightest new talent will present abstracts in competition for the Exceptional Student Award and the President's Award of Excellence. See the awards section of the Congresses page on the Web site for a list of the abstracts and presenters in this year's competition. We invite everyone to attend this session and encourage the growth of our young investigators.

Also on Wednesday is a plenary session on Stem Cells, chaired by Jan Visser (former editor of Cytometry, now with ViaCell Inc. in Worcester, Mass.) and Peter Lansdorp. Speakers will include Visser, Lansdorp, Ihor Lemischka, Nobuko Uchida, and Hiromitsu Nakauchi. The second parallel session will take place on Wednesday along with the third Workshop series.

The final two parallel sessions will take place on Thursday 9 May, with topics including Leukemia/Lymphoma, HIV/AIDS, Cell Growth and Differentiation, Technical Advances in Image and Flow Cytometry, Digital Imaging, Genomics/Proteomics, and the second of two sessions in both Cell Death and Immunology/Hematology.

Thursday will conclude with two dynamic lectures, the first one by Stephen Lockett, principal scientist at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, and editor of the BioImaging section of ISAC's journal, Cytometry. Dr. Lockett is the first recipient of the new Janis Giorgi Huang Foundation Scientist of the Year Award, which will be presented at the Congress.

The second presentation will be delivered by Robert Hooke Distinguished Lecturer Lord Robert Winston, chief of service for Reproductive Medicine at Hammersmith Hospital and Professor of Fertility Studies at the Imperial College School of Medicine. Lord Winston carried out the first human tubal transplant in 1976 and founded the first National Health Service in vitro fertilization program in 1981.

To conclude the XXI Congress, an awards presentation will honor the winners of the student lecture and poster awards, the Membership Award (formerly the Honorary Fellow of the Society Award), and the Distinguished Service Award. The awards presentation will be followed by a reception and banquet (included in your Congress registration) concluding ISAC XXI on Thursday evening. Bring your dancing shoes-the Mar Dels, a popular San Diego nostalgia band, will heat up the banquet dance floor with hits from the 1940s to 1990s.

ISAC to Sponsor International Cytomics Conference in 2003

ISAC will sponsor the First International Conference on Cytomics, 6-9 May 2003, in Wales, UK. The conference, organized by Paul J. Smith, chair of the ISAC Scientific Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Frontiers Lectures section of the ISAC XXI Congress, is part of the strategy for advancing the Society and integrating the diverse professional interests of its membership.

The theme of the conference, "A New Era in Cell-Based Research" will address new technologies and their applications particularly in the study of molecules and their interactions within cells. The cytomics field will be covered by invited speakers addressing issues from drug discovery to advanced imaging technologies.

Abstracts will be accepted for additional presentations beginning in Fall 2002.

The conference will be held at the premier resort complex of the Celtic Manor (http://www.celtic-manor.com/). This five-star resort is at the gateway to Wales and is only 90 minutes from London. As one of Europe's leading conference resorts-chosen as the official venue for the Ryder Cup 2010 and boasting three championship golf courses -The Celtic Manor Resort is a world-class facility, providing a high profile venue for the commercial exhibitions. The organizing committee is involved in the Conference program planning stage and invites ISAC members to contribute their suggestions via members of the Scientific Advisory Committee or any Council Member.

ISAC chose to sponsor a conference on cytomics as a follow-up to the three plenary sessions planned for the XXI Congress in May 2002. The emphasis on cytomics stems from in-depth discussions at the ISAC Strategic Planning Retreat held in Chicago in May 2001. Cytomics recognizes the event-integrating activities of the individual cell and thereby addresses the complexity and behaviour of heterogeneous systems.

Cytomics opens the door to an understanding of the potential heterogeneity in normal or diseased cell populations and this knowledge is seminal to advances in major areas of biomedicine such as molecular therapeutics. Here, the focus for cytomics is technologies that permit single cell detection and sophisticated analyses.

Importantly cytomics concepts are not limited to vertebrate cell studies and there is enormous biotechnology potential in the field of fungal and plant research. ISAC has recognized the need to take a leadership position in supporting the development of cytomics given this congruence of technology, cell-based research and biomedical applications-areas that parallel the professional demographics of our membership.

About Wales
As described by Peter Williams in 'The Long Struggle for Identity: The Story of Wales and its People', the history of Wales is primarily a story of struggle. Throughout history, the people of Wales have shown great determination to survive against overwhelming odds-a struggle reflected not only in its castle-dominated landscape and its surviving Celtic language, but also in its long literary history. Created in a time when the flood of Germanic pagan invaders from the continent threatened to destroy Christian Celtic civilization in Britain, its history continued through the depredations of the Vikings, the invasions of the Normans, the oppression of the powerful Marcher Lords, and the ever-constant, ever-threatening power of the English people and the English language. Delegates will be assured of a very warm welcome in Wales and the Conference provides a unique opportunity for may overseas visitors to experience this special region of Europe.

The country has earned its reputation as "Britain's great outdoors"; visitors are rewarded by the raw beauty of coastal rock formations and verdant green hills that stretch as far as the eye can see. The South Wales venue is near to the English border for visiting places of interest such as the Wye Valley, historical market towns, National Galleries, first class sporting venues such as the Millennium Stadium, théâtres, great restaurants, ancient hunting forests, Cardiff Castle, Brecon Beacons National Park and the extensive coastal pathways. Visit the tourism Web site to start your pre-conference exploration of Wales (http://www.visitwales.com/).

XXI Goes Digital

ISAC has signed on with Digiscript, to provide valuable electronic archiving of the research presented at this year's Congress. By utilitizing state-of-the-art audio and video technology, Digiscript will digitally capture the three cytomics plenary lectures and presentations to make it available on the internet to those who were unable to attend the lectures or the Congress and to illustrate to non-attendees and non-ISAC members the initiatives of the organization.

Visitors to ISAC's Web site will be able to link to a full audio/video keyword searchable presentation of the speakers with captions; the presentations may be viewed repeatedly. We are excited to present this first step in positioning ISAC as a provider in the scientific e-learning environment.

The following sessions on Monday 6 May will be recorded, pending speaker consent:

Symposium on Cytomics, Part A, 0800-1000
Molecular and Cellular Biometry
Speakers will include: Jim Cassatt, director of the Division of Cell Biology and Biophysics of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland; Kenneth Buetow, chief, Laboratory of Population Genetics of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; Stephen Friend, president and CEO of Rosetta Inpharmatics, Inc., Seattle, Washington; and Joe Gray, professor of Laboratory Medicine and Radiation Oncology at the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Symposium on Cytomics, Part B, 1100-1300
Quantitative Proteome Analysis: New Technology and Applications by Ruedi Aebersold; Luminescent Quantum Dots for Multiplexed Optical Tagging of Genes, Proteins, and Cells by Shuming Nie; and Cytometric Microsystems in the Human Genome Project by Deirdre Meldrum.

Symposium on Cytomics, Part C, 1600-1800
Tissue Microdissection, Gene and Protein Expression, and the Tumor/"Normal" Cell Interface, by Lance Liotta; Towards a Definition of the Nucleome: Manipulating the Nucleus for High Throughput Analysis of Gene Expression by David Galbraith; and Signal Transduction Pathways-Proteomics at the Single Cell Level in Drug Development and Monitoring of Cancer Patients by David Hedley.

ISAC Seeks E-News Editor

ISAC's online newsletter, ISAC E-News, requires an editor to assemble content of importance and interest to members and prepare it for posting. The Editor will be the main contact for content providers and headquarters staff. At this time, E-News posts twice per year. Consideration has been given to increasing the frequency to four times per year in order to enhance communications with ISAC members. Because E-News is published online, there is no set length of the E-News-reliable and timely communication to the membership should be key.

Currently, the newsletter is developed and reviewed by the ISAC Secretary and Headquarters staff. A dedicated newsletter editor is being sought to expand the content and ensure a dedicated approach to maximizing the benefit of the E-News.

The Editor will be expected to:

• identify potential articles and their writers
• identify events and information of topical interest to ISAC members
• edit content to be posted to the E-News section of the Web site
• set and maintain deadlines
• work with Headquarters staff to post the newsletter following the current format
• write the e-mail content for Headquarters to send to members announcing the recent posting of E-News
• report on ISAC communications to the executive committee as requested
• evaluate the value of the communications and suggest alternatives as needed

Requirements include consistent and reliable oversight of the communications; attention to current issues and ISAC activities; and accessibility to Board and Council members, committee and task force chairs, headquarters staff, and general membership.

A yearly stipend is offered.

If interested, please contact Jill Hronek at ISAC Headquarters, jhronek@isac-net.org, or ISAC Secretary Peter Rabinovitch, petersr@u.washington.edu.

Charles Goolsby Named Editor-in-Chief of Cytometry

ISAC is pleased to announce that Charles L. Goolsby, Ph.D., has been appointed editor-in-chief of Cytometry. Dr. Goolsby will also continue to serve as editor-in-chief of Clinical Cytometry, the topical section of the Journal, a position he has held for more than four years.

ISAC would like to thank Jan W.M. Visser for his leadership as editor of Cytometry from 1998 - 2001. Dr. Visser tendered his resignation as editor to the journal in spring 2001 in order to devote his energies to new professional opportunities in the area of stem cell research. Dr. Goolsby served as interim editor-in-chief from November 2001 to present.

I am gratified by the confidence that the ISAC Council has expressed in me by appointing me to this position with Cytometry and I am honored to serve as editor in chief of Cytometry,� said Dr. Goolsby. We plan to continue the fine work that Jan Visser and Brian Mayall have done on the journal in the past and hope to build upon that tradition of excellence."

Dr. Goolsby encourages the submission of manuscripts for Cytometry and Clinical Cytometry online via Manuscript Central at:
http://cyto-wiley.manuscriptcentral.com/, a Web-based manuscript submission system that allows for quicker processing of manuscripts submitted for publication.

All aspects of manuscript submission for publication in Cytometry can now be handled online - from the initial submission of an article to the review, to the final editorial decision regarding publication.

We recommend that you access Manuscript Central at http://cyto-wiley.manuscriptcentral.com/ to learn more about this new feature and we encourage you to submit manuscripts to Cytometry regularly.

During the interim editorship, manuscript trafficking was handled by the ISAC Headquarters office. As of April 1 and to coordinate with Dr. Goolsby's establishment of the Cytometry publication office, all correspondence should be directed to Dr. Goolsby at the following address:

Charles L. Goolsby, Ph.D.
Cytometry
Department of Pathology
Northwestern University Medical School
Ward Building 6-204
303 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-3008
Telephone: 312-503-1847
Fax: 312-503-1848
E-mail: cytometry@nwu.edu

All correspondence should indicate in the subject line whether it concerns a manuscript submitted to Cytometry or Clinical Cytometry.

ISAC Names Stephen Lockett, PhD, First Recipient of Janis Giorgi Award

The International Society for Analytical Cytology is proud to announce that Stephen C. Lockett, Ph.D., has been named the recipient of its first Janis Giorgi Scientist of the Year Award.

The award was created in honor of long-time ISAC member Janis Giorgi, who passed away in 2000. Dr. Giorgi devoted a great deal of time to mentoring younger members in the field of flow cytometry. She was also a role model to a generation of female scientists who saw not only a distinquished scientist, but a warm and fallible human being.

Dr. Lockett is a principle scientist at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, and serves as editor of the BioImaging section of ISAC's journal, Cytometry.

"I am extremely honored to have been selected as the first recipient of the Janis Giorgi Award," Dr. Lockett said. "Dr. Giorgi was an important part of this field and it's very gratifying to receive an award given in her honor."

The Huang Foundation has generously donated $100,000 to establish this award, which will be presented at ISAC's biannual congresses to an outstanding junior scientist who has made seminal contributions to the field of cytometry/cytomics.

Dr. Lockett will be presented with the award on Thursday 9 May at 1645-1745 during the ISAC XXI International Congress, and will present a lecture "Analysis of Proteins and Nucleic Acid Sequences in Intact Cells and Tissues."

The Huang Foundation was founded in 1987 by Drs. Ernest Chun-Ming and Huei-Jen Su Huang as a non-profit organization to support the advancement of science, the local San Diego community, junior golf, and the preservation of Chinese heritage in San Diego. Beneficiaries have included the American Association of Immunologists, the American Association for Cancer Research, the UCSD Cancer Center Foundation, the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, the Taiwanese American Foundation, and various junior golf and community programs.

In October 2001, ISAC Council approved a change in the awards it bestows at each Congress. In order to better serve and involve the Membership in the Congress awards, the Honorary Fellow Award has been terminated, and in its place the new Membership Award has been instituted.

This award will be given in recognition of exceptional service to the cytometry community and is intended to be very "bottom up", in that it reflect the intent of the Membership to honor an individual who has given the Membership very great service. The awardee need not necessarily be an ISAC member.

The new Membership Award nomination solicitation generated a flurry of feedback and a number of worthy candidates.

The winner will be honored at the ISAC Congress Awards Ceremony in San Diego, Thursday 9 May. The winner will receive a plaque and lifetime membership in ISAC.

The ISAC Executive Committee would like to thank Society members for participating in this search for our first award winner.

Go to the ISAC Honor Roll for a list of all past award winners.

Treasurer's Report

by Maria Pallavicini
E-mail: pallavicini@cc.ucsf.edu

Society Strong Despite Investment Losses

Preliminary year-end figures for the financial results of 2001 show that the Society continues in strong shape financially. The net assets of the Society reflect the amount that would remain after all financial obligations are met. At the end of 2001, the Society had net assets of approximately $1,143,500.

While the amount of royalties due to ISAC from Wiley will not be finalized until later in 2002, our projections show that ISAC will have run a net surplus from operations for the year of about $21,000, or 4% of gross revenues for the year.

This positive news, however, was offset by the Society's investments. As we all know, 2001 was a difficult year for investors in the market, and ISAC was no exception. The society ended the year with a loss on investments of $58,500, or about 7.75% of the value of its portfolio, and an overall net loss of $37,500 for 2001.

However, cumulatively over the last 5 years (1997-2001), the Society has seen an increase in net assets of over $87,000.

Web Site Navigation Improved, Vendor News Area Introduced

Nigel Carter
ISAC WWW Editor
E-mail: npc@sanger.ac.uk

Those of you who have visited the ISAC WWW site recently will have noticed the whole site has had a new makeover. We have introduced a new colour scheme based on "Cytometry green" and the new home page displays directly news about ISAC events.

All the old pages are still easily accessible from pop-up menus when you place the pointer over the ISAC "swoosh" headings on the left hand menu bar. The original homepage is now accessible from the "Interest Areas" menu. We still have not been able to get anyone to contribute to these basic information pages in the areas of "Data Handling and Modelling", "Image Cytometry", "New Technology" and "Probes and Labels". If anyone would like to write a paragraph with a figure or two on any of these topics, suggest updated material for any of the other pages or contribute new topics I would be really grateful.

Focus on Vendors
A new feature on the web site is the "Vendor News" pages. These pages are designed to allow suppliers of image and flow cytometry equipment and reagents to let ISAC members know about new products. Vendors can upload press notices onto the ISAC WWW site free of charge so we are hoping that the news items will be frequently updated and current.

These pages should provide users with a one-stop place to keep up-to-date with image and flow cytometry products. We hope that both companies and users will like this feature of the ISAC WWW site. Please e-mail me with any comments you have particularly for making these pages easier to use or more useful (npc@sanger.ac.uk).

We are also planning new content for the Web site based on ISAC XXI. The first exciting feature will be a digitized version of the plenary talks devoted to the new concept of "Cytomics" (see Congress pages -- "Congress Details"). The talks will be videotaped, digitized and presented together with the slides and a transcript of the talks and made accessible from the ISAC Web site. This will enable those of you unable to attend the Congress to hear the lectures contributing to the new Cytomics theme.

Again, once this is active after ISAC XXI, I would appreciate any feedback about this enterprise particularly so that we know whether you like this facility and whether you would like more of the Congress digitized in future.

I have also contacted all of the ISAC Scientific Tutorial organisers to ask if they would be willing to turn their tutorials into Web-based educational material again available to members from the Members Only pages on the ISAC Web site.

Finally, as ever, I would really appreciate your ideas to make the Web site more useful and interesting to you so please find me at ISAC XXI or e-mail me with your comments and ideas (npc@sanger.ac.uk).

Plans Underway for 2003 Samuel A. Latt Meeting in Yosemite

ISAC will conduct the fourth Samuel A. Latt meeting, "Quantitative Biology for the Clinic", at the Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite National Park, California, 20-22 November 2003.

This two-day conference will focus on the applications of quantitative measurements of biologic specimens for clinical translation. Topics include diagnostic and therapeutic applications of molecular profiling technologies in cancer, informatics, marker development, and therapeutic target identification and validation.

Meeting organizers are ISAC Treasurer Maria Pallavicini and Joe Gray, past president of ISAC and chair of the Symposium on Cytomics, Part A, at the XXI Congress in San Diego. An informal meeting of people who are interested in participating in the Yosemite meeting will be conducted at the Congress.

The last Samuel A. Latt meeting was held in Michigan in 2001 and organized by Alexander Nakeff.

Details will be publicized as the program is developed; visit the ISAC Web site for more information.