ISAC E-News ISAC E-Newsletter ISAC E-News -- March 2007 
| Flow cytometry NEWS |
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| ISAC E-News -- March 2007 |
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| Written by Scott Cramm | |
| Mar 03, 2007 at 06:19 PM | |
ISAC E-News -- March 2007
ISAC Management and Leadership NewsNEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NAMED – LAUREEN ROWLANDISAC working with our new management company (FASEB) has selected Laureen Rowland as our new Executive Director (ED). She began her tenure February 12, 2007. We welcome Laureen to the ISAC team and look forward to her guidance and organizational skills. Laureen has over 27 years of experience in association management and has a comprehensive background in fiscal, business, personnel and program/project management. Laureen's most recent position was as account executive for Drohan Management Group (DMG), a full service association management company. While with DMG, Laureen served as executive director of two full service associations – the Association of University Research Parks and the American College of Medical Physics. In her capacity as executive director, Laureen served as the chief staff executive managing all fiscal, business and operational aspects of both of these associations. Laureen can be contacted at the FASEB headquarters or at lrowland@isac-net.org. ISAC LEADERSHIP HOLDS STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETINGIn keeping with its goal of positioning ISAC as the preeminent organization in the field of analytical cytometry, the ISAC leadership held a strategic plan progress review meeting, November 16-18, 2006 at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) campus. FASEB assumed management of ISAC on October 1, 2006. The ISAC Strategic Plan is a three year plan that was approved by the ISAC Council in 2006 during the Quebec Congress. In developing the plan, the Council completed a SWOT exercise where they identified the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities facing the Society. From this analysis, the strategic plan was developed with a focus on six major areas: the Journal of Cytometry, organization of the Society, membership benefits, collaboration between the Society and related organizations, education and training and the establishment of standards. Individual Council members have been tasked with oversight of each of these areas with the responsibility and directive to report on the status of each of these items to the Council on a regular basis. Periodic updates on the ISAC strategic plan will be posted to the website and included in future editions of ISAC E-News. The Society is only as strong as its membership and you are encouraged to contact ISAC headquarters with any comments, suggestions or feedback. ISAC Committee NewsBIOSAFETY ISSUES SURVEILLANCE COMMITTEEby Ingrid Schmid, Chair I am happy to report that the new ISAC Biosafety Standard for Sorting of Unfixed Cells is in press in Cytometry. In fact, on-line publication is expected in mid-March of 2007. The final document now incorporates comments and suggestions from the newly- appointed Biosafety committee members Gary Durak (US), Bill Eades (US), Chris Groves (US), and Deborah Shapira (Australia). In addition, Gerald Marti from the Food and Drug Administration and Delynn Moss from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention were asked to participate in the generation of the safety standard. To increase visibility and improve access to the newly formulated biosafety practices, Paul Robinson, president of ISAC and editor of Current Protocols in Cytometry (CPC), initiated parallel publication of an abridged version of the standard in CPC (Schmid et al., CPC 2007, 3.6.1-3.6.20). MEMBERSHIP SERVICES COMMITTEEby Laura Teodori and Zofia Maciorowski The MSC has established subcommittees for each specific area that we would like to develop. The subcommittees are chaired by the MSC committee members, and each subcommittee has an advisor. The subcommittees are still open to volunteers. We encourage those of you who would like to dedicate some time and energy to the vitality of our society to contact the co-chair of the subcommittee that interests you! Budapest Congress Subcommittee
A survey to gather information that will help improve student programs and congress activities has been diffused to our student members. Half of the student members have replied and we encourage the other student members to do so, just click on the web address you received. If you are a student member and you haven’t received this survey, please let us know. Student Subcommittee
Dario and Reiner, who are also ISAC Scholars, have collected a list of links to funding opportunities for young scientists around the world. It is now posted on the ISAC website here. The sites are not exclusively devoted to young scientists but the search has been done with particular attention to sites including opportunities for them. The list is partial and it reflects a very dynamic situation (web sites and opportunities normally have deadlines and expiration dates). We think it is important to pinpoint specific sites that do offer such opportunities: since the funding process is cyclical, most institutions announce new programs every few months. Dario and Reiner are available to expand and update the list. Everyone is welcome to contribute. Please contact them at Dario.coletti@uniroma1.it or rschulte@dpz.gwdg.de. International Groups Subcommittee
Lisa has prepared electronic material promoting ISAC to be presented at meetings where we either have an ISAC booth or an opportunity to showcase ISAC. Arvinder, Awtar and Scott Cram presented this material at the 7th Indo-US Cytometry held February 2007 in New Delhi. Thanks to them, we now have 30 new members from India! Laura and Zosia are preparing a small workshop and organizing a booth at the Italian-Japan biotechnology workshop in Osaka on May 16. New ISAC ScholarsThe MSC has selected the new ISAC scholars for 2007 (deadline for applications was December 2006). We are pleased to announce the new awardees:
CORE MANAGERS TASK FORCEby Derek Davies, Chair This Task Force has been active in discussing the best ways that ISAC may serve its members who are involved with the set up, running, maintaining and promoting of core flow and image laboratories. Currently, we are working to set up a web site as well as publish guidelines of best practice but ideas are welcome from all ISAC members! Please contact the Chairman, Derek Davies (derek.davies@cancer.org.uk). EDUCATION TASK FORCE by Lori Krueger, Chair Within the next couple of months, ISAC will be hiring a part-time ISAC Educational Programs Director who will lead ISAC's Educational and Training Initiatives. The decision to have a permanent director was made during the ISAC Strategic planning session held May of 2005. The posting for this position is included in this E-News and is posted on the ISAC web site. All interested ISAC members are encouraged to apply by March 26, 2007. In the meantime, several ISAC Education Task Force sub-committees are making steady progress toward our goal of a full and robust ISAC Educational Program. One sub-committee, chaired by ISAC members Jonni Moore and Rich Konz, and including Paul Wallace, Sharon Sokolowski, Derek Davies, Jeanine Sharpe and Lori Krueger, are addressing the curricular needs required to understand and interpret flow cytometric data. The initial goal of this group is to develop educational materials that address the basic principles of flow cytometry. These materials will then be made available to ISAC members for training and educational purposes. During the 2006 Congress in Quebec City, ISAC organized the first in a series of workshops focusing on Topics in Multicolor Fluorescence - Appropriate Use of Isotype Controls. The topic of “Appropriate Background Fluorescence Controls” continues to be a source of confusion within the flow cytometric community. To address this issue, a sub-committee including ISAC members; Ruud Hulspas, Lora Barsky, Mary Price, and Lori Krueger will be sending out a “call for your data” in an effort to compile relevant examples of real data exhibiting when to use, or not use, a particular strategy for measuring background fluorescence. The team will also be calling on experts in this area to help compile the data. The Education Task Force has plans for addressing other educational activities (including imaging and education in resource limited regions) and is looking forward to having a permanent Education Programs Director on board to help drive these processes forward. We encourage you, our ISAC membership, to become actively involved in your society. If you have an interest in serving in future ISAC educational activities, please let us know. ISAC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS – DIRECTOR POSITION OPENIn recognition of the importance of continuing education on cytometry-related topics, ISAC invites current members to apply for the position of Educational Programs Director. This individual will be responsible for developing educational goals and objectives, achieving the goals of ISAC’s Education Task Force and/or Subcommittee, and creating educational materials related to cytometry technologies and their application at the basic, intermediate, and advanced levels as well as coordinating the development, peer review, and dissemination of these educational materials. These activities are aligned with ISAC’s strategic plans. The Educational Programs Director will report to ISAC Council. The Director is expected to directly interface with the ISAC Executive Director, Council, and Congress Organizing Committee. In addition, the Director will interface with academic institutions, industry, publishers, and governments to assess current educational practices and standards, and to recommend and disseminate best practices as required. This is a part-time position that can be performed remotely (not at ISAC offices). ISAC will pay the successful candidate a $20,000 per year stipend. Candidate requirements include extensive knowledge of cytometry technologies and their application, demonstrated experience in teaching and curriculum development, and a national or international reputation for scientific rigor and excellence. To apply, send your curriculum vitae/biographical sketch, summary of teaching activities and interests, and a plan for developing and implementing a comprehensive cytometry education plan to: ISAC, Educational Programs Director Search, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3998 USA (or, electronically to: isac@isac-net.org) no later than March 26, 2007. 2008 Congress Update: Member Input Requested!PLANNING INFORMATIONby Robert Murphy, Chair Be sure to mark your calendars for the XXIV ISAC Congress to be held May 17-21, 2008 in beautiful Budapest, Hungary. Planning for the next Congress is progressing well and the organizing structure has been expanded from that used in previous congresses. Janos Szöllösi, Lori Krueger, John Nolan, Jeffrey Price, Derek Davies and Bob Murphy will comprise an overall Organizing Committee that will have the responsibility for designing all aspects of the program. Input on the scientific content of the program will be provided by a large Program Committee, chaired by Jeff and John. This committee will have members from the flow and image cytometry communities (some of whom will be in both!) and will have discussions as a whole and separately for the different technologies. The image cytometry subcommittee will be co-chaired by Jelena Kovacevic and the flow cytometry subcommittee by Mario Roederer. A number of people have already agreed to serve on the Program Committee (see below if you are interested in serving or have a suggestion for someone else). The Program Committee will be responsible for recommending speakers for the frontiers and plenary sessions, recommending chairs for the workshops and parallel sessions, and reviewing the submitted abstracts. There will also be a full selection of tutorials and pre-Congress courses. Derek Davies, who serves as co-chair of the ISAC Core Managers Task Force, will help us expand the offerings for this important constituency of ISAC. He will be ably aided by Julie Auger and Elaine Kunze, both ISAC Councilors (Julie also co-chairs the Core Managers Task Force). Lori Krueger has agreed to serve as Finance Chair, and will have big shoes to fill since Alex Nakeff (now ISAC Treasurer) did such an outstanding job on the Quebec City meeting. An important part of this job will be getting input from a Sponsors Committee, on which Gary Durack and David Basiji have agreed to serve. Janos Szöllösi will organize the local arrangements, and he has already done an outstanding job of getting some of these in place. Attendees can look forward to a special concluding Banquet that will be held at a scenic site either on the Danube River or in the exciting Pustza region (Hungary’s Wild East)! There will also be a number of pre-arranged tours, some during the Congress for accompanying spouses and families and some before and after the Congress so that attendees can participate! Janos has also assembled a comprehensive list of European and national societies, whose help and advice is being requested. The Membership Services Committee of ISAC, chaired by Laura Teodori, will continue its excellent work on supporting young scientists so that they can attend the Congress. Her committee has a number of new initiatives in mind for the next Congress. MEMBER INPUT REQUESTEDInput on the Congress is welcome from all ISAC members! In addition to expressing interest in serving on the Program or Sponsors Committee, members are encouraged to suggest: 1) potential speakers; 2) young scientists who might benefit from attending the Congress; and 3) potential exhibitors and sponsors. Please send these suggestions to ISAC2008@isac-net.org. Your help will make ISAC 2008 the best Congress ever! Affiliated Society NewsFRENCH ASSOCIATION OF CYTOMETRY [ASSOCIATION FRANÇAISE DE CYTOMÉTRIE (AFC)]by Corinne Laplace Builhé, AFC President The AFC; A will of cooperation and scientific co-education in French speaking countries. The AFC is the national representation of the French cytometrists. Our society also maintains close connections with its French-speaking counterparts (Belgian, Canadian and Rumanian societies of cytometry) and with other French societies (immunology, haematology, cytogenetics) with whom we organize scientific meetings and workshops. The AFC was born in 1994, from the joining of the Association of Flow Cytometry (ACF) and of the French Circle of Quantitative Microscopy (CFMQ), and at the end of 2006, included 239 members among whom 71 young scientists and technicians. For many years the main objectives of the AFC are focused on:
The working groups and committees are structured according to the topics discussed during the annual congress or theme-address conferences. Some major events in 2006In October 2006, the Belgian Association of Analytical Cytology (BVAC/ABCA) and the French Association of Cytometry, organized together their annual meeting in the splendid Belgian city of Bruges. It was not a first attempt of such collaboration since the congress of Dijon in 1999 was already a profitable and successful co-operation between the Belgian and French societies. This congress was, among other things, marked by scientific sessions fully devoted to the molecular applications as well as the detection of rare events and their applications in haematology, immunology, molecular cytogenetic and microbiology. 2006 was also marked by the variety of the scientific theme-addressed conferences, such as, Microbiology, Spectral imaging , Cytogenetic and molecular biology applied to gene quantitation or Basophiles activation test, reflecting the will of our society to maintain the diversity of exchanges within our cytometrists community. Current events in 2007The schedule of the next AFC congress Cytometry 2007 that will take place in Clermont-Ferrand in partnership with the Association of Technicians in Cytogenetic (ATC) is in the process of being finalised (October 09-12). This XIIth edition will resolutely look forward new technological, clinical or exploratory progress and cover large fields from biology of eukaryotic cells to stem cells and studies of clinical cases in immunology. Workshops will also be organised prior to conferences. The participants will thus have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with fluorescence compensation, kinetic imaging and 4d, immuno-allergology or data treatment for gene quantitation. New prizes and grants will be offered during “Cytometry 2007” to young cytometrists to reward the quality of their work. The thematic conferences cycle is renewed in 2007 about topics like Functional tests in cytometry, Non-cancerous Hoematology and cytometry, and Cell death. NEW CYTOMETRY SOCIETY (INDIA) FORMEDThe Cytomety Society (India), which was recently officially established, was formalized at the 7th Indo-US Flow Cytometry Workshop in New Delhi (see details below). Drs. Gopal Pande, President; Amar DasGupta (clinical) and B.S. Dwarakanath (research), Vice-Presidents; and Sumeet Gujral (clinical) and H. Krishnamurthy (research), Secretaries – announced plans for formalizing membership and organizational plans for future activities. A strong bond between clinical and research interests has been formed to assure a seamless society for the benefit of its membership. Many of those attending the workshop expressed interest in ISAC membership. The almost contagious atmosphere resulted in 30 individuals signing up for ISAC membership. While most of them are students, their interest in cytometry as a technology they need to use in their research is broad and intense. ACTIVITIES IN THE UKby Derek Davies flowcytometryUK has organized a number of meetings in the past few months notably in London and Cambridge. These have brought together workers in various disciplines to discuss various aspects of modern cytometry. We continue to organize local meetings and these are planned for London in February and in Edinburgh in March. Also in March, we are organizing the second UK Core Mangers Workshop which will concentrate on the issues of standardization, data presentation and biosafety. In July, Brian Shenton is organizing one of his regular benchtop cytometer meetings; this year though it will be combined with a leukemia workshop. Details are at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sars/facslab/2007%20Workshop.htm National Honors to ISAC MembersBOB HOFFMAN, JAMES LEARY, ROBERT MURPHY, HOWARD SHAPIRO Four members of ISAC were inducted as Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in a ceremony at the National Academies of Science in Washington, DC on March 1, 2007. Induction as Fellows of AIMBE is restricted to the top 5% of individuals involved in the field of biomedical engineering. The Institute is heavily engaged in ensuring that a variety of national funding agencies are aware of the importance of research and development. AIMBE represents many societies in its Council of Societies, including ISAC. ISAC is represented on the Council of Societies by J. Paul Robinson (FAIMBE, 2004) and John Nolan (FAIMBE, 2006). Please extend your congratulations to Jim Leary, Bob Hoffman, Bob Murphy, and Howard Shapiro on their achievement of this national honor. ISAC is very proud of their achievements.
Cytometry NewsCharles L. Goolsby, Professor of Pathology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, has been appointed the Floyd Elroy Patterson Research Professor of Pathology. Goolsby is director of the Flow Cytometry Core Facility at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Goolsby has served as editor-in-chief for two leading journals in his field, Cytometry and Clinical Cytometry. He continues as Editor-in Chief of Clinical Cytometry. Goolsby's major research interest is investigating the cell biology of B chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including dysregulation of apoptosis and the role of ZAP70 expression. He also interested in development of cell-based cytometry assays to analyze signal transduction pathways. Upcoming Meetings/Conferences/User Groups/CoursesDistance Learning Course. The Royal Microscopical Society offers a short Distance Learning Course - an Introduction to Flow Cytometry, see this link. The course is designed as part of the Certificate of Biomedical Practice in Flow Cytometry being offered by the Institute of Biomedical Scientists (IBMS), see this link. It is aimed at people working in clinical laboratories and is not as extensive as the longer course offered by the University of Ulster, see here. Also contact Michael G. Ormerod at m.g.ormerod@btinternet.com. March 23-24, 2007. Northwest Cytometry User's Group and Cascade Cytometry User's Group will be held at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Title: “Order in cytometric complexity: quantitation, inference, and data management.” For further information contact Julie Hill at hilljul@gmail.com or Allan Kachelmeier at kachelme@ohsu.edu. Two other meetings will be held on March 22 in conjunction with the NW and Cascade User’s Group meetings. The Flow Informatics and Computational Cytometry Society (FICCS; http://www.ficcs.org/) (contact Ryan Brinkman at info@ficcs.org for more information), and FloCyte Associates will be offering a course, "DNA and Cell Cycle Analysis", taught by Dr. Frank Traganos (contact Sue DeMaggio at FloCyte@flocyte.com for information). March 24, 2007. The Canadian Cytometry Association will hold its first annual meeting on Saturday March 24, 2007 at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) in Montreal. Check out their web site at www.cytometry.ca. For more information, feel free to contact us by e-mail at symposium2007@cytometrie.ca. Or Sylvain Gimmig, Canadian Cytometry Association, at cytometry@gimmig.org June 5-8, 2007. A FloCyte (www.FloCyte.com) regional training program with both basic and multiparameter flow cytometry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, William King is hosting. Registration is open at the web site, click on training and then application. June 9-15, 2007. The 30th Annual Research Course in Flow Cytometry sponsored by the National Flow Cytometry Resource (NFCR) and Verity Software House will be held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Complete information is available at http://nfcr.lanl.gov/. Application materials can be obtained from Ms. Ruby Archuleta, National Flow Cytometry Resource, Mail Stop M888, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 [voice: 505/667-3912, FAX: 505/667-2891, email: rubyra@lanl.gov]. June 17-21, 2007. The next conference of the International Society for Cellular Oncology (ISCO) will be held in Genoa, Italy, June 17-21, 2007. The theme chosen for 2007 is “Cellular oncology: Translating basic knowledge into clinical applications.” Please consider your participation to the ISCO2007 Congress (www.isco2007.org). Walter Giaretti at walter.giaretti@istge.it. June 21-22 and 25, 2007. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle is hosting the FloCyte Regional Training Program, presenting both basic and multiparameter flow cytometry courses. See the website for more registration information www.FloCyte.com, click on training. July 9-12, 2007. The 11th Newcastle Benchtop Flow Workshop will be held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. This year the meeting is combined with a Leukemia Workshop and the usual social occasions. Details as they become available are here. Also, contact Ian Harvey at i.j.harvey@ncl.ac.uk July 19-20, 2007. The inaugural flowcytometry UK meeting at King's College Cambridge, UK. Sponsored by the Royal Microscopical Society. Online registration will open soon on the web site at www.flowcytometryuk.org. Also contact Derek Davies, Chairman flowcytometryUK at derek.davies@cancer.org.uk. A flyer - can be viewed at here. Summer and Fall Courses. FloCyte Regional Training Programs will be held at UC Davis and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dates and registration information will be posted at the web site when they become available at www.FloCyte.com. Meeting Report7TH INDO-US FLOW CYTOMETRY WORKSHOPThe 7th Indo-US Flow Cytometry Workshop on “Proliferation, Apoptosis and Signal Transduction” was held February 10-14 at Jawaharalal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Support was provided by ISAC, Indo-US Science & Technology Forum, International Union Against Cancer (UICC), Beckman Coulter, Becton Dickinson, Dako, and Guava Technologies. Forty-three participants attended the workshop in addition to another 25 individuals who attended the lectures. The lectures, tutorials, and wet labs and panel discussions were well received by the attendees based on written critique feedback. |
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