Disparate Biomedical Fields Cross Paths At Experimental Biology Meeting

Life scientists from a wide array of disciplines, whose paths might not normally cross, will come together in Atlanta for Experimental Biology '95 (EB '95) from Sunday, April 9 through Thursday, April 13. The 15,000 biomedical researchers expected to attend will get a chance to meet one another, share information, and plan future research activities while attending scores of technical sessions on such topics as "Protein Lipidation in Cellular Signaling" and "Degeneration and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord." EB '95 is a multisociety, interdisciplinary scientific meeting that has been developed, organized, and coordinated by six sponsoring organizations: the American Physiological Society (APS), American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), American Institute of Nutrition (AIN), American Association of Immunologists (AAI), and American Association of Anatomists (AAA). Although these professional associations arrange their own sessions--including relevant symposia, distinguished lectureships, workshops, and short courses of specific interest to their members--the majority of the approximately 6,000 technical papers to be presented at the annual meeting are divided into several interdisciplinary themes that are of common interest to biomedical investigators. "We have been working hard to create interdisciplinary topics so that scientists who normally wouldn't see or talk to each other will have the opportunity to do so," says John Erdman, the director of the nutritional sciences division at the University of Illinois and a member of the Experimental Biology program committee. This year's themes--presented as part of smaller, ongoing meetings within the larger meeting--are: cardiovascular biology; cell injury, inflammation, and repair; epithelial cell biology; metabolic processes in health and disease; neurobiology; regulation of growth and development; respiratory biology; and signal transduction. The six sponsoring societies are members of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Until three years ago, the meeting was sponsored by different FASEB societies each year. Beginning with EB '93, however, the six became the permanent sponsors of the annual gathering. At that time it was also decided to meet each year in the same city and at the same time of year under the Experimental Biology umbrella. In addition to the sponsoring societies, 12 non-FASEB "guest" societies are invited to participate and further expand the program. This year's guests bring representation as diverse as the International Society for Interferon Research, the North American Society for Biorheology, and the International Society for Bioelectricity. The meeting is spread out over the Georgia World Congress Center and nearby hotels. A major effort of the meeting is to encourage people to participate in sessions they may not have attended in the past, and to feel as if they are part of a theme focus, says Erdman. As an example, Erdman describes a few sessions related to his field of nutritional science that could generate considerable interest among attendees across disciplines. One symposium, entitled "Dietary Guidelines for Children: A Focus on Fat," will be presented on Monday, April 10, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Georgia World Congress Center. "This is a highly controversial area because many adults are imposing fat restrictions on their children that could be damaging for those youngsters," he explains. "There's also increasing interest in the non-nutritive components of foods that have potential bioreactive action," Erdman notes. David Kaufman, a pathology professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and program chairman for EB '95, points to another advantage of the gathering's multidisciplinary approach: "One of the strengths of this meeting is that it brings scientists from several disciplines together to solve biological problems that aren't limited to a single discipline." These interpersonal contacts are essential in exchanging materials, building collaborations, designing experiments, and arranging to work in one another's laboratory, Kaufman stresses: "Like most other endeavors, personal connections are very important in facilitating the scientific process." Other meeting participants emphasize the themes' concentration on leading-edge technology. "Pharmacology's interest is strongly in the area of signal transduction, and there is a series of symposia at this meeting that will address new developments in that area," notes Brian Cox, a professor in the pharmacology department at the Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Md. One such session, the annual ASPET Pharmacology Focus Symposium, will highlight recent advances in the study of lipid mediators derived from arachidonic acid. The symposium will take place on Monday, April 10 at 9:00 a.m. at the Georgia World Congress Center. "We're looking at novel developments in the roles of intercellular and membrane lipids as regulators of cell function," says Cox, who represents ASPET on the EB '95 program committee. Two additional symposia--Tuesday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the World Congress center--will emphasize the role of guanine nucleotide binding proteins. "These G proteins are very important regulators of cell function," Cox explains. "Vaccine development is also important these days, and an exciting symposium entitled 'The Role of Cytokines in Leukocyte Chemotaxis' will be presented on Wednesday morning," April 12, from 8:00 a.m. to noon at the center auditorium, relates Paul Kincade, head of the immunobiology program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City and a member of the meeting's program committee. Apoptosis, or cell death--a subject that has sprung dramatically into scientific consciousness (R. Lewis, The Scientist, Feb. 6, 1995, page 15)--is the focus of another session. "We're having a major symposium on apoptosis on Tuesday, April 11, from 8:00 a.m. to noon in the Georgia World Congress Center auditorium, with Barbara Osborne as one of the speakers," Kincade notes. Osborne is an associate professor in the molecular and cell biology program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a coauthor of the textbook Methods in Cell Biology (San Diego, Academic Press, 1995 ed.). She has conducted an exhaustive study on the literature in the field and spent a sabbatical year in the lab of Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Massachusetts Institute of Technology biology professor H. Robert Horvitz, a leading apoptosis researcher. The meeting is likely to prove interesting not only for its timely subjects, but also for the prominent researchers to be featured in the sessions. For example, Alfred Gilman, chairman of the department of pharmacology chairman at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas and 1994 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, will kick off a symposium on "Regulation of Adenylyl Cyclases" with a discussion of G proteins at 8:00 a.m. in the Georgia center auditorium. EB '95 will include numerous activities outside of the sessions, as well. For example, an AAI-sponsored program designed to bolster scientific communication will pair graduate students and postdoctoral scientists with distinguished immunology leaders at a lunch during the meeting, Kincade points out. A placement service also will be in operation to assist graduate students in finding postdoctoral training, as well as help doctoral-level scientists locate jobs. "It's a great place for an active recruitment program, because the meeting draws a lot of students and young faculty, as well as many employers looking to hire such people," says North Carolina's Kaufman.

Disparate Biomedical Fields Cross Paths At Experimental Biology Meeting

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