The teratology society 2012–2017 strategic plan: Pushing the boundaries

The Teratology Society held its fourth strategic planning session in Albuquerque, NM, April 10–12, 2012, and launched the 2012–2017 Strategic Plan in conjunction with the 2012 annual meeting in Baltimore, MD. Building on the energy of the successful implementation of prior strategic plans (San Diego, 2007; Nashville,TN 2002; Cincinnati, OH 1998), session participants worked to identify barriers to success as a scientific society, as well as impending challenges and opportunities to which the Society needs to respond. The following report provides an overview of the Strategic Planning process, objectives, activities, and conclusions. A total of 23 members were present at the session, and the group included representation from Council, various committees, and different member constituencies. This plan, Pushing the Boundaries, and its three strategic intents: Broaden Our Identity, Expand Our Membership, and Increase Our Influence, will drive the direction of the Teratology Society for the next five years., 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How to target uncertainty in Dutch invasive cardiovascular care

Current meetings of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology and the Working Group on Intervention Cardiology have shown that new strategic developments in the Dutch healthcare system have created much turbulence and uncertainty amongst members of the organisations. Both on-site and off-site new cardiac centres with and without surgical backup, respectively, are arising or being planned throughout the Netherlands. These strategic adaptations are related to service delivery failure, despite appropriate quality measures. To understand the reasoning behind this uncertainty and how to deal with it, we need to explore its origin and thinking. Its rationale is based on the assumption that each organisation relies on its ability to survive through innovation and transformation. Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are key players in a large group of stakeholders participating in the chain of cardiovascular care. In addition, the Dutch healthcare system is deeply embedded in a historical sociopolitical environment. This may explain why ongoing uncertainty may beget more uncertainty. What are the consequences for the content of the route forward?     

Ecological complexity for unifying ecological theory across scales: A field ecologist's perspective

The evening session in ecological complexity at the last Joint Meeting of the International Association for Ecology (INTECOL) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA) held in Montreal was an occasion to evaluate the pertinence and upcoming challenges of the complex systems approach (CSA) applied to ecology. Through concepts such as the interaction topology among biological objects, the phenotypic integration of individual traits, the meaning of biological objects and complexity measures in space and time, the management of human dominated ecosystems, and non-equilibrium thermodynamics as a paradigm for the development of ecosystems, the panel members covered some of the most active areas of research in ecological complexity. However, for many ecologists, and particularly field ecologists, a comprehensive framework clearly emphasizing how and why the CSA provides a unique corpus for studying ecosystem functions is missing. The purpose of this article is thus to provide an overview of the different themes visited during the evening session and to emphasize the distinctiveness of the CSA as an alternative to contemporary ecological issues. Examples from functional ecology and food webs are given to support the discussion.     

Announcing the call for the Special Issue on “The Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) – 2021 Meeting”

This Commentary describes a call for submissions for the upcoming Special Issue focused on the research topics presented at the Australian Society of Biophysics (ASB) in 2020 and 2021. Submissions from past and present ASB members who could not attend these meetings are also welcome as contributions to this special issue.

In 2020, the ASB held its 44^th Annual Conference virtually, enabling joint sessions with the University of California Davis Early Career Researchers, Biophysical Society of Japan, and the New Zealand Section of ASB to take place despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To complement these ASB joint meetings, Biophysical Reviews in partnership with the Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) will present the second of a series of Special Issues highlighting the activities of a National Biophysical Society. This National Biophysical Society Special Issue series will highlight the activities and showcase the areas of research carried out by its members.Review articles are solicited from speakers and poster presenters of the 44^th and participants at the 45^th ASB annual conferences. Commentaries from session chairs and meeting organisers are also requested. Submissions from those who have had long-standing association with ASB or with knowledge of its history are also most welcome. This Special Issue will be prepared and edited by the above authors.     

‘Life after last orders’: microbiology as a career

The 2003 conference of the International Biodegradation and Biodeterioration Society (www.biodeterioration. org) and the International Biodegradation Research Group (www.ibrg.org), was held last September at the Manchester Metropolitan University. The conference, ‘Management and Control of Undesirable Microorganisms’, followed the usual format of lectures, questions, posters and social events, but an additional event was staged for younger society members. Funding from FEMS, the Federation of European Microbiology Societies, in the form of a Young Scientists Grant, enabled the attendance of delegates from across Europe including the Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, Russia, Uzbekistan and the UK. These delegates, and the rest of the conference, were invited to a workshop entitled ‘Life after Last Orders’, where some of the slightly older members of the Society described their career paths. Informal 5–10 minute presentations were followed by question/answer sessions, which also included some interesting contributions from the floor. The session was chaired by the two youngest members of IBBS Council, Kathryn Whitehead, a PhD student at MMU, and Chris van der Gast, from the University of Oxford Centre for Environmental Biotechnology. The following narratives describe the career paths of two ‘experienced’ microbiologists! It was fascinating to hear how the careers of one's peers had developed.     

Clinical interpretation and recommendations for patients with a variant of uncertain significance in BRCA1 or BRCA2: a survey of genetic counseling practice

The intent of this study was to document current practices in breast cancer genetic counseling and identify areas of variability for patients with a variant of uncertain significance (VUS) in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Registered members of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Cancer Special Interest Group (SIG) were sent an invitation via electronic mail to participate in an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into three sections: clinical experience, clinical meaning, and risk perceptions and clinical recommendations for clinical situations involving a VUS. Fifty-seven of the eligible members responded. During the pre-test counseling session for a BRCA risk assessment patient, the vast majority of counselors (80.7%) mention VUS as a possible test result. Nearly half, 49.1%, report having given such a result to their patients at least one to four times. However, only 63.2% felt as though their patients understood the meaning of a VUS result. When asked to conclude the implication of a VUS and make medical management recommendations, the responses were varied. Nevertheless, a good proportion of counselors expressed the importance of testing other family members to help clarify the proband's risk and aid in medical management issues. Although the recent recommendations by the American College of Medical Genetics suggest standards for the interpretation of sequence variations, they do not provide guidelines for making clinical recommendations based on these variations. The results of this study reveal significant diversity in the personal interpretation of a VUS result, leading to various clinical recommendations, and suggest a need for clinical management recommendations as well.     

Genetic approaches for understanding virulence in Toxoplasma gondii

Virulence of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is highly variable and dependent upon the genotype of the parasite. The application of forward and reverse genetic approaches for understanding the genetic basis of virulence has resulted in the identification of several members of the ROP family as key mediators of virulence. More recently, modern genomic techniques have been used to address strain differences in virulence and have also identified additional members of the ROP family as likely mediators. The development of forward and reverse genetic, as well as modern genomic techniques, and the path to the discovery of the ROP genes as virulence factors is reviewed here.     

Innate barriers to viral infection

Innate immunity represents the foremost barrier to viral infection. In order to infect a cell efficiently, viruses need to evade innate immune effectors such as interferons and inflammatory cytokines. Pattern recognition receptors can detect viral components or pathogen-associated molecular patterns. These receptors then elicit innate immune responses that result in the generation of type I interferons and proinflammatory cytokines. Organized by the Society for General Microbiology, one session of this conference focused on the current state-of-the-art knowledge on innate barriers to infection of different RNA and DNA viruses. Experts working on innate immunity in the context of viral infection provided insight into different aspects of innate immune recognition and also discussed areas for future research. Here, we provide an overview of the session on innate barriers to infection.     

The 3D path of body centre of mass during adult human walking on force treadmill

Three-dimensional (3D) path of the body centre of mass (CM) over an entire stride was computed from ground reaction forces during walking at constant average speed on a treadmill mounted on 3D force sensors. Data were obtained from 18 healthy adults at speeds ranging from 0.30 to 1.40 m s^?1, in 0.1 m s^?1 increments. Six subsequent strides were analyzed for each subject and speed (total strides=1296). The test session lasted about 30 min (10 min for walking). The CM path had an upward concave figure-of-eight shape that was highly consistent within and across subjects. Vertical displacement of the CM increased monotonically as a function of walking speed. The forward and particularly lateral displacements of the CM showed a U-shaped relationship to speed. The same held for the total 3D displacement (25.6–16.0 cm, depending on the speed). The results provide normative benchmarks and suggest hypotheses for further physiologic and clinical research. The familiar inverted pendulum model might be expanded to gyroscopic, “spin-and-turn” models. Abnormalities of the 3D path might flag motor impairments and recovery.     

Ageing and the immune system in vivo: commentary on the 16th session of British Society for Immunology Annual Congress,Harrogate, December 2004

The problems associated with the ageing immune system coupled with possible solutions were discussed recently at the British Society for Immunology Annual Congress in Harrogate in December 2004. The session "Ageing and the Immune System in vivo" dealt in details with the immune risk phenotype and the potential methods of reversing the problems of an ageing immune system. This is a commentary on that session.     

The role of zooplankton predator-prey interactions in structuring plankton communities

This group of papers derives from a session, organized heldto recognize the fundamental contributions made by Gustav-AdolfPaffenhöfer to the field of zooplankton behavioural ecology.The session was organized by his colleagues, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi,Marie Bundy and Done Deibel, at the American Society of Limnologyand Oceanography Aquatic Sciences meeting in Salt Lake City,20–25 February     

Preface to Phloem-Insect Interaction

The review articles presented here were invited from keynotespeakers at the session on Phloem–Insect Interaction atthe Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) Annual Meeting inBarcelona, Spain 2005. The session was generously supportedby the SEB, the Journal of Experimental Botany, and Syngenta. The interaction between sap-feeding herbivores (such as aphids)and plants is unusual since it is dominated by a single plantcell type, the     

The story of nori in Japan

At a special session held on 7th January, 1965, Professor H. Wright Baker told the Society of the events which led to the erection of a memorial tablet to Dr Kathleen M. Drew, first president of the Society.

A shortened version of Professor Baker's talk is given here.     

Meeting Report: "Metagenomics, Metadata and Meta-analysis" (M3) Workshop at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2010

This report summarizes the M3 Workshop held at the January 2010 Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing. The workshop, organized by Genomic Standards Consortium members, included five contributed talks, a series of short presentations from stakeholders in the genomics standards community, a poster session, and, in the evening, an open discussion session to review current projects and examine future directions for the GSC and its stakeholders.     

History of the international embryo transfer society Part II

During 1979, service to members, including publication of abstracts of articles pertinent to interests of members, publication of bibliographies covering topics of embryo transfer, publication of the proceedings of the owners-managers workshop, service as a source of information and contacts for members, and updating members through publication of a newsletter, has been maintained and increased in scope. Membership has been growing steadily throughout the year and, at this writing, the membership has exceeded 200 from 22 countries. Thus, as the Society approaches the 1980 decade, it can do so with an optimism of not just survival but of continued growth in size, breadth of service to members, and range of species and topic interests. There is a good mix in the Society between the commercial and university research sectors interested in embryo transfer. Also, there is a good mix between animal scientists, veterinarians, physiologists, and others interested in this specialty interest area. It is expected that these factors will contributeto a healthy future for the Society.     

Preface to Below Ground Processes

The Focus Section in this issue of the Journal of ExperimentalBotany (JXB) contains four invited papers from a session heldat the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) Annual Meetingin Barcelona, Spain, in July 2005 addressing aspects     

Highlights from the 2010 BAS/BSCR spring meeting: New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research

The British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS)/British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) spring meeting was held in Manchester, UK, on 7-8 June 2010. Experts in the field of systems biology, proteomics, metabolomics and miRNAs presented how these techniques can be used to discover 'New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research'. The conference was attended by over 150 participants, mainly from the UK. A total of 2 days of presentations and a poster session with 55 posters provided the possibility to discuss the latest research results and showed the opportunities that new techniques can offer in cardiovascular research.     

Highlights from the 2010 BAS/BSCR spring meeting: New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research

The British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS)/British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) spring meeting was held in Manchester, UK, on 7–8 June 2010. Experts in the field of systems biology, proteomics, metabolomics and miRNAs presented how these techniques can be used to discover ‘New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research’. The conference was attended by over 150 participants, mainly from the UK. A total of 2 days of presentations and a poster session with 55 posters provided the possibility to discuss the latest research results and showed the opportunities that new techniques can offer in cardiovascular research.     

Steroids,steroid receptors and disease

The 672nd Biochemical Society meeting was held at Sussex University, UK, from 19 to 21 December 2000. One session was dedicated to the study of steroids and their receptors, and related diseases.     

Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics 2016: The Antibody Society's annual meeting,December 11–15, 2016, San Diego,CA

Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics, the largest meeting devoted to antibody science and technology and the annual meeting of The Antibody Society, will be held in San Diego, CA on December 11-15, 2016. Each of 14 sessions will include six presentations by leading industry and academic experts. In this meeting preview, the session chairs discuss the relevance of their topics to current and future antibody therapeutics development. Session topics include bispecifics and designer polyclonal antibodies; antibodies for neurodegenerative diseases; the interface between passive and active immunotherapy; antibodies for non-cancer indications; novel antibody display, selection and screening technologies; novel checkpoint modulators / immuno-oncology; engineering antibodies for T-cell therapy; novel engineering strategies to enhance antibody functions; and the biological Impact of Fc receptor engagement. The meeting will open with keynote speakers Dennis R. Burton (The Scripps Research Institute), who will review progress toward a neutralizing antibody-based HIV vaccine; Olivera J. Finn, (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine), who will discuss prophylactic cancer vaccines as a source of therapeutic antibodies; and Paul Richardson (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), who will provide a clinical update on daratumumab for multiple myeloma. In a featured presentation, a representative of the World Health Organization's INN expert group will provide a perspective on antibody naming. “Antibodies to watch in 2017” and progress on The Antibody Society's 2016 initiatives will be presented during the Society's special session. In addition, two pre-conference workshops covering ways to accelerate antibody drugs to the clinic and the applications of next-generation sequencing in antibody discovery and engineering will be held on Sunday December 11, 2016.