ISAC E-News September 2008

• News from ISAC Leadership
  • Committee Chair Persons
  • Membership Report
  • Web Site Management
  • Executive Director Search
  • Faseb Management Of ISAC - Bio Sketch
• XXV International Congress, Seattle, Washington, USA
• Cytometry Part A Report
• 2009 Joint Meeting with CCS, ISAC, and ESCCA
• Core Managers Task Force
• Membership Services Committee (MSC)
• Meeting Reports
  • 9^th Indo-US Cytometry Workshop on The Application of Flow Cytometry in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, 21-25, July, Bangalore, India
• Upcoming Meetings Conferences/User Groups/Courses (see below for details)
  • NIH Cytometry Interest Group, Bethesda, Maryland
  • Rms Annual Flow Cytometry Course, University Of York, UK
  • European Society For Clinical Cell Analysis, Bremen, Germany
  • Midwest Regional Flow Cytometry Users Group, Kansas City, Kansas
  • Flocyte Courses, Various Sites
  • GLIIFCA 17, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Research Triangle Cytometry Association And Duke Center For Aids Research, Durham, North Carolina
  • 23^rd Clinical Cytometry Meeting, Portland, Oregon
  • New England Cytometry Users Group, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 4^th Annual Meeting Of The Irish Cytometry Society, Dublin, Ireland
  • Hands-On Flow Cytometry Course, York, UK
  • Practicalities Of Flow Cytometry, Newcastle -Upon Tyne, UK

Correction

Our apologies to Gabor Mocsar for misspelling her name in the June, 2008 E-News. Gabor received the Exceptional Student Award at the Budapest Congress.

News from ISAC Leadership

Committee Chair Persons

Bob Murphy has announced the following chairpersons for Standing Committees and Task Forces. These folk really make a difference in how our Society moves ahead. Most of the committee rosters have been finalized and will be announced soon.

Standing Committees:

• Finance: Alex Nakeff
• Scientific Advisory: Vince Shankey
• Scientific Communications: Andreas Radbruch
• Membership Services: Tim Bushnell & Laura Teodori
• Education: Zofia Maciorowski & Elaine Kunze

Task Forces:

• Standards: John Nolan
• Distinguished Awards: J. Paul Robinson
• Core Managers: Derek Davies
• Associated Societies: Janos Szolllosi

Membership Report

Interim Executive Director John Lord reported that ISAC has 1,680 total members through July 24, 2008 . This included 220 members joining as part of their Budapest meeting registrations. Council members will contact non-renewed members with whom they are familiar to convince them to re-up.

Web Site Management

The ISAC contract with Purdue University to host the ISAC Web Site expired at the end of June, 2008.  Council is exploring options for housing the server at ISAC headquarters or using commercial services.  Having the Web site (Purdue) and database (ISAC headquarters) hosted in separate locations has been more difficult to coordinate than originally expected, thus additional options are being considered.

Executive Director Search

ISAC headquarters are actively recruiting a new executive director to replace Laureen Rowland, who left for a major promotion with another organization.

FASEB Management of ISAC - Bio Sketch

(Clifford Brownstein is an Account Executive with FASEB serving as a member of the ISAC transition team while a new Executive Director is being recruited)

Clifford M. (Cliff) Brownstein has worked in the field of association management for more than 30 years. Presently, he serves as the Executive Director of both the Society for Leukocyte Biology and the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research under the auspices of the Managed Society Services division of FASEB. He has been at FASEB since June of 2007. His work ranges from executive and conference management, to newsletter and Web site content development, and to oversight of finances and fund raising, among others. He is presently in the throes of planning SLBs 2008 Annual Meeting in Denver , which is slated to attract upwards of 300 participants, and its 2009 Annual Meeting in Lisbon , a joint meeting with two other societies with an expected attendance of 600-800 participants. He has previously served as Executive Director and consultant to a wide variety of trade and professional societies, as well as owned and managed an association management company.

In the non-working part of his life, Cliff is a diehard New York Mets fan, an avid motorcyclist, and an enthusiastic, if not talented, keyboardist and harmonica player. He is the proud father of three as well as a brand-new grandfather.

XXV International Congress, Seattle , Washington , USA

Paul Smith, President Elect, smithpj2@cf.ac.uk

Paul Smith reports that the Seattle property looks like a terrific venue. At present, he has assembled a four-person Organizing Committee (one in North America , three in England ), and is assigning individual roles and responsibilities to each. He is also seeking an industry representative to serve on the Committee, as well as several others. He has made a contact with the Gates Foundation to perhaps have Bill Gates or another representative present a keynote talk. He noted that this will be the 25th anniversary of the Inte rna tional ISAC Congress.

Cytometry A Report

Attila Tarnok, Editor-in-Chief, tarnok@medizin.uni-leipzig.de

Cytometry A continues to develop well. As of mid-August we have received 170 new submissions this year so we can select more carefully (~50% rejection rate). The impact factor is also increasing nicely. The prospect is that for the upcoming 2008 impact factor we will better than 2007 (2.9) and may even exceed that of 2006 (~3.3).

I would also like to encourage everyone to submit manuscripts - in particular Communications to the Editor as these are not only well read but also because they can be immediately downloaded for free.

2009 Joint Meeting with CCS, ISAC, and ESCCA

Mike Keeney, Mike.Keeney@LHSC.ON.CA

Plans for the triple society meeting (Clinical Cytometry Society, ISAC, and European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis) are moving ahead. The joint meeting will be held a day before the regularly scheduled CCS meeting in Jacksonville, Florida on October 15, 2009. See the June 2008 E-News for more details.

Core Managers Task Force

Derek Davies, derek.davies@cancer.org.uk

The Core Managers Task Force wants to use this next year to consolidate some of the work carried out in the last two years. Specifically this involves expanding the Core Managers section of the ISAC website to include resources and links for new and old managers alike. Access to this is from the front page of the ISAC website although this does require you to log in. All comments, additions and feedback are welcome.

We are particularly keen to engage newer core facilities and managers who may not easily be able to attend ISAC or ISAC-affiliated societies meetings. We do have some funds available to facilitate this. Core managers benefit enormously from interactions as generally, although they are considered the local expert, there are not necessarily the same network opportunities available as to other scientists. In the past we have helped organize and promote specific core managers meetings in the US, the UK and Germany and the Task Force would like to continue and expand this. Applications for support should be directed to the Chair of the Task Force ( derek.davies@cancer.org.uk ).

Membership Services Committee (MSC)

Tim Bushnell, Timothy_Bushnell@URMC.Rochester.edu and Laura Teodori, teodori@casaccia.enea.it, Co-Chairpersons

The Membership Services Committee (MSC) is beginning an exciting and far-reaching series of initiatives in support of the long-term strategic plans of ISAC. As co-chairs of this committee we welcome your comments, suggestions, support and volunteer efforts to move these initiatives forward.

Over the next two years there are several projects, both major and minor, that the MSC is involved in. To achieve our goals by the 2010 Congress, we are assembling a great group of volunteers to help us achieve these benchmarks. Specific initiatives underway, or planned are:

• Improving and simplifying membership renewal
• Improved marketing of ISAC to casual users including communication of ISAC sponsored initiatives in areas such as data presentation standards, biosafety issues
• Developing a program to help grow and support new regional programs
• Improved recruitment of student members including improvements to the ISAC Scholars program
• Supporting the concerns of commercial members.

To assist us in these initiatives, we are establishing a series of regional subcommittees around the world. We recognize that each area has unique membership needs, and this structure will help the MSC address these needs, while feeding important data to the Council to help guide policy. These regions are:

• North America Central and Eastern Europe
• Central and South America India and Asia
• Western Europe Africa

We are in the process of finalizing the committee co-chairs and members of each of these groups. If you are interested in helping out, please contact us! The society needs to be responsive to you, its members, and the role of the MSC is to make that happen. These committees will help work within these regions to get the word out about ISAC, to raise awareness of the society and its work.

A second area of importance is expanding our Affiliated Societies program. ISAC currently affiliates with those societies around the world that are involved in cytometry. There are currently 29 affiliated societies, and we hope over the next two years to expand the relationship between these societies and ISAC. Janos Szellosi and Iwao Nishiya will be serving as co-chairs and the contact points for this program.

Student membership is an important future for the society. It is by identifying graduate students and post-doctoral associates early in their careers that we can help grow the next generation of cytometry leaders. We are especially interested in connecting with these individuals, as well as working to further promote the ISAC Scholars program, both in terms of individuals applying for this program, and groups who can financially and professionally support these scholars.

A new committee being established this year is the Companies Committee. These groups have unique membership needs and their concerns have been poorly represented and addressed in the past. We hope that this committee will solve these complaints. If you wish to be a company representative on this committee, please let us know.

In conclusion, this is an exciting time to move forward on the energy from the XXIV congress as we move toward the XXV congress in Seattle . With these initiatives and the volunteers stepping up to help us, we believe we can address past membership concerns while making a greater impact on the membership by growing existing and initiating new program. If you dont feel we are doing are job, please let us know. We can only respond to your comments both positive and negative.

Meeting Reports

9^th Indo-US Cytometry Workshop on The Application of Flow Cytometry in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, 21-25 July, Bangalore, India

National Center for Biological Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Course Coordinator: Dr. Hanumanthappa Krishnamurthy, Faculty Coordinator: Dr. Atwar Krishan. A major focus of the workshop was to teach new methods for study of side populations (SP - stem cells) from hematopoietic/embryonic tissues and tumor cells lines and tumors. Students were provided with protocols, a CD with review articles and recent reprints. 31 attendees were selected from 63 applicants. The students were exposed to lectures that reviewed the topics and lab demonstrations where small groups could discuss the subject on a one on one basis with faculty and fellow attendees

Typical of the lectures were ones by Dr. Vo on the use of new rapid proliferation CLICK assays, Dr. Krishan illustrated the use of electronic volume for the study of very small volume stem cells in hematopoietic tissue, Dr. Vincent Shankey on the use of flow cytometry for the study of signal transduction and kinases. Student feedback was exceptionally positive with enthusiasm for being able to collect scientifically valid data in their own laboratories. They were provided with several email contacts so additional help can be obtained.

Becton Dickinson, Beckman Coulter and Guava, Invitrogen, and ISAC provided financial and/or instrument and reagent support.

Upcoming Meetings/Conferences/User Groups/Courses

NIH Flow Cytometry Interest Group, Bethesda Maryland

September 5, 2008. The next NIH meeting will be held on Friday, from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM at the NIH Bethesda campus, Lipsett Auditorium. All investigators in the Metro area and beyond are invited to attend. The theme of the meeting will be Advanced Cytometry Technology. Contact: Bill Telford at: telfordw@mail.nih.gov for the NIH FCIG Steering Committee.

RMS Annual Flow Cytometry Course, University Of York

September 15 - 19, 2008. The RMS runs its annual Flow Cytometry course at the University of York ( http://www.rms.org.uk/event_flow.shtml ). The course is modular with a two day introduction for newcomers to flow cytometry and then three days on either research or clinical applications. This very successful course, organized by Peter O'Toole, Steve n Couzens and Derek Davies, is always fully subscribed so early registration is advisable.

European Society For Clinical Cell Analysis, Bremen, Germany

September 16 - 20, 2008. The first Joint European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis (ESCCA; formerly known as European Working Group on Clinical Cell Analysis, EWGCCA) and the German Society for Cytometry (DGfZ) will be held at the World Trade Center in Bremen , Germany . in association with, the 4th European Clinical Cytometry Course of ESCCA. Detailed info rmation on the meeting and the course is available from the website: http://www.cytometry2008.eu/. Flyers with the complete program can be downloaded from the 'Course Program' and 'Meeting Program' section of the website. Also, registration is open on the website. Contact: Gregor Rothe at gregor.rothe@laborzentrum-bremen.de.

Midwest Regional Flow Cytometry Users Group, Kansas City, Kansas

September 17, 2008. First annual conference. Participants are encouraged to give a short presentation about their instrumentation and/or methodology which makes them unique - so we can get to know you! We will meet in the University of Kansas Medical Center, Life Sciences Innovation Center, 3rd floor conference room at 9 AM . The meeting should wrap up mid-afternoon so we can all get back to our work on Friday! Contact: Joyce Slusser at jslusser@kumc.edu.

FloCyte Courses

• September18, 2008. The day before the GLIIFCA meeting in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . Register at www.FloCyte.org. Click on training and then application.  All of the flow cytometry course curricula topics are listed also at the website. 
• October 6, 2008 . Karolinska Institutes, Stockholm, Sweden: Multiparameter Flow and Compensation course.  Maris Handley, from Dana Farber Cancer Center , Harvard, Boston, will be teaching this course.
• October, 20-22, 2008. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Accuri Cytometers is hosting our basic and multiparameter flow courses. Tim Bushnell will lead this set of courses.

Late October - our New York City Halloween traditional Basic and Multiparameter courses. Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center will host this years course.  Watch www.FloCyte.org   for this announcement.

GLIIFCA 17

Mary Paniagua, mpaniagu@bsd.uchicago.edu and Ryan Duggan, rduggan@bsd.uchicago.edu, Co-Secretaries, GLIIFCA

September 19-21, 2008 . Milwaukee , Wisconsin will host the Great Lakes International Imaging and Flow Cytometry Association GLIIFCA 17 at the Hyatt Regency. The program committee is at work under the guidance of Paul Wallace (President), with Michael Sramkoski and Vera Donnenberg. Please note: the meeting is being held earlier in September this year. Please see the website: http://www.gliifca.org for program information and latest developments.

Research Triangle Cytometry Association & Duke Center for AIDS Research, Durham, NC

September 23^rd, 2008 . One day Mini Symposium: "Flow Informatics: Data Standards, Analysis, & Management", Duke University Medical Center , Durham , North Carolina , 27710 . Registration is required for parking and meal planning. RSVP by Tuesday, September 9th or for info rmation about this meeting contact: Janet Ottinger at jotti@duke.edu, (919) 684-9807.

For information about the Research Triangle Cytometry Association contact: Marie Iannone at marie.a.iannone@gsk.com (919) 483-9486. The meeting announcement can be viewed here.

23^rdClinical Cytometry Meeting, Portland , Oregon

October 12-14, 2008 . Clinical Cytometry Society Meeting. Post Meeting Workshop on PNH - October 15, 2008. For more info rmation visit: www.cytometry.org. For questions or assistance, please contact us at: admin@cytometry.org Reminder - early registration deadline: September 10, 2008 and hotel reservation deadline: September 12, 2008.

New England Cytometry Users Group, Boston , Massachusetts

Richard Konz, Richard.Konz@umassmed.edu

October 29, 2008 . New England Cytometry Users Group Annual Meeting: Current Research in Flow and Image Cytometry will be held on October 29th, 2008 from 9 am - 5 pm at the Westin Copley Place Hotel, Boston . For more info information, click here.

4^th Annual Meeting of the Irish Cytometry Society, Dublin , Ireland

November 25-26, 2008 . Astra Hall, University College Dublin . This will act as a joint meeting of Flow Cytometry, Confocal Microscopy, High Content Screening and related technologies. The meeting should prove an exciting event and an excellent opportunity for all to interact, share your work with colleagues in related fields, and gain awareness of other technologies, methodologies, tools, etc. Abstract deadline is September 15th, 2008 . Due to a high level of corporate sponsorship, we are delighted to announce that registration for the congress is free. Contact: Alfonso Blanco at alfonso.blanco@ucd.ie.

Hands-on Flow Cytometry Course in York

PeterO'Toole, pot1@york.ac.uk

January 27-30, 2009 . Announcing a four day intensive hands-on course covering basics through more advanced techniques, see our web site at: http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/biol/tf/ic_flowcourse.htm. Instructors will include Peter O'Toole ( University of York ), Ian Brotherick (BeckmanCoulter), Derek Davies (CRUK), Adrian Robins ( University of Nottingham )

Practicalities of Flow Cytometry, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne , UK

Rebecca Stewart, rebecca.stewart@newcastle.ac.uk

February, 2009. Please find below a pdf file for a one-day meeting/course Ian Dimmick and I are holding next February at the North East Stem Cell Institute within the Inte rna tional Centre for Life, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK).  The course will cover many aspects of flow cytometry including instrument layout, sample preparation, quality control, multicolour flow cytometry and compensation, cell sorting and data analysis, together with specific techniques and applications such as cell cycle analysis, detection of apoptosis and assessment of telomere length. All topics will be discussed from the basic principles up to more advanced levels (as determined by individual speakers) to ensure the meeting will be of interest to all levels. http://www.cyto.purdue.edu/flowcyt/meetings/newcastle_2009.pdf