Teratology Society
Members' Section
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Teratology Society Members' Section |
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Teratology Society Newsletter Volume
11, Number 2 Table of Contents President's Message A Happy Holiday Season to everyone. It is certainly an interesting time to be a teratologist, and I am proud to be your President in this era. Not only is the Society making great strides on its strategic plans, but also the issue of children's health has probably never been higher. To highlight only a few examples from the public policy arena, I note that the CDC has just released data that folate levels in women of child bearing age have increased almost three fold over the past several years in the general population as detected by the NHANES survey (we now anxiously await the data on relevant pregnancy outcomes at the national level due later this year), the NTP/NIEHS has just completed its first assessment on developmental and reproductive effects (with phthalates as the topic) through its newly established Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR), the FDA is working on revising of its pregnancy labeling system for drugs, the EPA is hard at work developing a screening and testing program for endocrine active substances, and multiple agencies are participating in an effort to improve the surveillance system for drug exposure during pregnancy and in planning a large, prospective longitudinal cohort study of pregnancy outcome. If you want more information on any of these items and can't locate them, let me know and I will point you in the right direction. On the scientific front, we have been the beneficiary of an absolutely paradigm shifting development of technology that is allowing broad range genomic and proteomic assessments that were not possible only a few years ago. We now have the ability to isolate and amplify the products of single cells from the embryo by techniques such as laser capture microdissection. We also have computer models of embryonic development that are beginning to represent key developmental events such as segmentation. Additionally, a recent report of frontiers in risk assessment by the National Academy has given a boost to the study of the role of altered signal transduction pathways play in developmental toxicity. Could we ask to live in a more interesting and challenging time for our field? Getting back to our progress on our strategic goals, I would like to mention that last year's meeting was a strong scientific and financial success, and we are using the profits to significantly drive down the cost of registration at the Montreal meeting. The 2001 meeting is the first in a long while to be in the center of the city (we will be following a similar path for at least two additional years), and we hope you take advantage of the lower cost housing and options for dining (and as Jan Friedman notes in his column, the scientific program will be nothing to sneeze at either). Deadline for submitting abstracts is early February, and you can find preliminary program information on our Web site. A strong showing by members would reinforce that we are on the right tract to strengthen the Society at our lifeblood event. Under the guidance of George Daston, we are also achieving steady progress on the future of our journal. Negotiations are well underway with Wiley-Liss to change the look, feel and substance of Teratology, and to link changes to other elements of the Wiley-Liss product line. These changes should result in wider recruitment of articles, higher impact factors, and financial benefits to the Society. We hope negotiations will be far enough along to hold a special "Issues Forum" at the Montreal meeting on the future of the journal. In any event, we will be consulting membership on the proposed changes just as soon as there is real and tangible information to share. I realize this is a bit of tease, but for now Council has deemed that this is the best path forward until we have more specific information and commitments available. On another issue, I encourage you to visit the Teratology Web site and provide feedback on how you think it is shaping up, and what elements we might want to enhance. Changes there are occurring rapidly. Soon we will have our membership listing posted, and with that the ability to use credit cards to pay annual dues. This will make it easier for you, and cost the Society less in paperwork. On the issue of cost, Council remains vigilant to expenditures, and now is routinely developing annual budgets and meeting budgets that clearly lay out our expenses and anticipated revenue streams. Our management firm and Tonia Masson, our Executive Director, are also actively engaged in the process of making us financially responsible. Because we rely heavily on corporate memberships and sponsorships to maintain the financial integrity of the Society. I will soon be contacting a number of you regarding either corporate memberships or contributions to specific items in the annual program (not my favorite job, but a key element of the Presidency). Having made much progress on our strategic goals, we are now gearing up for the next strategic planning session, set for 2002 or 2003, that will help scope out the path to the next level. Till next year, take care.
You won't want to miss next year's Teratology Society Annual Meeting in Montrıal! The programme will be exciting, with sessions on stem cells in development, genomic approaches to understanding embryogenesis, intracellular redox status and control of transcription, male-mediated developmental toxicity, genetic pathways in neurodevelopmental abnormalities, teratogenic effects of obstetrical procedures, recent advances in clinical teratology, and FDA initiatives in the area of teratology. The Education Course on the principles of teratology will feature applications of new technologies to the understanding of abnormal development. There will also be a terrific Warkany Lecture, presentation of the most outstanding paper published in Teratology by the Wilson Publication Awardee, and the best of your current research in the student plenary session, five other platform sessions, and two poster sessions. Take a look at the tentative schedule, and don't forget to send your submissions before the ABSTRACT DEADLINE, 7 FEBRUARY 2001. This meeting will reflect our recent strategic planning initiatives, and you will notice several important changes. The location is in a downtown hotel rather than at a resort. Very favourable rates have been obtained at Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, which is right in the heart of the city, but many other choices of accommodations are available in various price ranges throughout Montrıal. The early registration fee for members has been reduced by almost 25%. The early registration fee for students and trainees is only $100, a reduction of nearly 50%. Sponsorship of the meeting helps to keep the registration fees low, improves the quality of the program, and encourages student participation. If your company would like to help sponsor the meeting please contact Robert Kavlock by email (kavlock.robert@epa.gov) or Tonia Masson at headquarters (703) 438-3104 or tmasson@teratology.org. A list of the sponsorship opportunities can be found on the Society's Web site. The meeting schedule has been adjusted to take advantage of the venue. Morning sessions begin late enough to allow you to have breakfast in a nearby cafı. (Coffee will not be available at the meeting before the morning sessions). The mid-day breaks have been extended so that you will have time to walk to a local deli or bistro for lunch and get back for the beginning of the afternoon sessions. The afternoon sessions have been extended, but most evenings are free so that you can go to one of Montrıal's fabulous restaurants for dinner. Montreal has an amazing variety of cuisine and some of the very best restaurants in North America. You may want to come a few days early or stay a few days after the meeting to explore Vieux Montrıal, enjoy the Montrıal International Jazz Festival, or tour the Laurentians or Quebec City. Visitors from outside Canada will benefit from favourable currency exchange rates and a tax refund on purchases. Plan to join
us June 23-28 in Montreal for the 2001 Teratology Society Meeting!
The title of the 2001 Continuing Education Course is "Principles of Teratology: Application of New Technologies towards Understanding Abnormal Development". The theme of the course is to review the principles of teratology and discuss how these principles have remained intact even as new technologies and information become available. The course is organized according to the six principles of teratology as proposed by Wilson. Jim Schardein will open the course by giving us a review of the basic principles of teratology, and discuss how teratology has evolved from the classical testing approach to our current mechanistic approach. Tom Knudsen will give us an update on the current technologies being used to evaluate teratogenic mechanism. The following principles will be discussed:
The course
will close with Bill Scott giving us an overview of our current knowledge
of abnormal development.
The FASEB MARC Program has travel awards available for faculty (and 2 underrepresented minority students) to attend Teratology Society national meetings. In addition, we now have funding to support travel awards for underrepresented minority students and/or postdoctoral fellows who have been selected to give poster or oral presentations at the Teratology Society annual meetings. Each Faculty/Students Travel Award includes funding for 1 faculty member and 2 students. The maximum total for the Faculty/Students travel award is $2,400. The faculty award covers travel-related expenses up to $1,000. The students award covers travel-related expenses up to $700 per student. Each Poster/Oral Presenter Travel Award covers travel-related expenses up to $1,000. In addition, the meeting registration fee for all award recipients will be reimbursed at the advance registration rate. Our application deadline dates are included with the application forms which are available online (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) at https://ns2.faseb.org/marc/forms/forms.htm.
The 2001 Teratology Society Nominations Committee is working on developing
a slate of candidates for the following positions: Vice-President Elect,
Councilor, and Treasurer. If you know of a member who has the qualifications
for one of these positions, might be willing to commit the necessary time
and energy, and is interested in the future direction of the Society,
please email your suggestion(s) and comments to any of the Committee members
listed below. (The Vice-President Elect position requires a four year
commitment while the Treasurer and Councilor terms are three years each)
The Committee will be selecting a final slate and alternates to submit
to Council by mid-December, so please exercise your civic responsibility
and help shape your Society's future.
Submitted by George Daston We are making progress towards renegotiating our contract with Wiley-Liss, the publisher of Teratology. While we are still a long way from finalizing a contract, things look promising. I think we stand an excellent chance of getting a much-improved contract, and of having publications that truly represent the significance and breadth of our field. On the table now are some important improvements to Teratology, additional publications to better reflect our interests and to attract new members, and a much more beneficial financial deal for the Teratology Society. Wiley has suggested that, as part of this process, we consider re-naming the journal. I want to hear your feedback on this. First, let me give you the details. Our goals in re-negotiating the contract were to improve the appeal and readability of our journal, and to increase revenue for the Teratology Society. These goals were stated in the Society's strategic plan that was developed in 1997 as being of critical importance to the Society's financial health and for membership retention and growth. I'm pleased to report that Wiley has proposed a number of changes that should meet both goals. First, in terms of appeal and readability, gratis color plates will be much more available in the future. What's more, Wiley has agreed to printing four-color covers for the journal. Wiley's art department is at work on a mock-up for us to see; when ready, it will be posted on the Web site for your review. There's more to the proposal. Wiley would like us to consider taking on two other journals and an electronic database. The first of the two journals would be a developmental toxicology-oriented journal that would exist primarily to publish safety evaluation studies. My belief is that there is a real need for additional venues to publish such information and would be of particular benefit to our members in industry, government and contract labs. Furthermore, it is unlikely that this journal would detract from Teratology, as the number of these evaluations published in Teratology over the last two years has been small: six by my count. The other new journal would specialize in basic embryonic development, specializing either in reviews or basic research. This journal would be an important way for us to reach out to and attract the developmental biology community. The exact nature of the database has yet to be worked out. A couple of (mutually exclusive) ideas that have been floated are 1) a more detailed repository of the results of safety evaluations; or 2) a genomic database to link gene expression data with observations of abnormal development. The financial aspects of a new contract look good. Wiley will fully support the editorial offices for all the publications, and give us a percentage of the revenue. We are still negotiating the percentage, but Wiley has already guaranteed a minimum payment to the Society of $50,000 per year for the term of the contract. FYI, our current contract brings us $6-7,200 per year to support the Wiley-Liss Symposium. Now, about the name(s) of the journals: Wiley would like to have a single, overarching name for all four publications (three journals plus a database). They are provisionally using Birth Defects Research as this title. Part A would be Teratology, but Wiley proposes calling it something like Teratology: Mechanisms in Embryonic [or Abnormal] Development, or Mechanisms in Abnormal Development (formerly Teratology). Part B would be the developmental toxicology journal, Part C the basic/review journal and Part D the database. I, and the
rest of Council, would very much like to know what you think about changing
the name of the journal, the content of the database, or about any of
the other aspects of the contract. I'm particularly interested in
hearing alternative suggestions for names, both the overarching name and
names for parts A-D. Please respond to me by e-mail at daston.gp@pg.com.
After I've received some suggestions I will try to set up a web-based
survey, like we did last year for the logo, to get a more comprehensive
perspective of your collective thoughts.
Each year many companies make contributions to help support the Society's efforts in increasing awareness about birth defects and communicating with the membership. During the Interim Council Meeting, Council voted for contributions, which were previously identified as President Circle or Sustaining Members, to be recognized in 2001 as a Sustaining Membership at a Platinum, Gold or Silver level according to the schedule below.
This contribution helps support the Teratology Society's general operations. Recognition for contributions will be provided in the following manner:
It is easy to be a Sustaining Member, if your company is interested please contact either Robert Kavlock at (919) 541-2326 or Tonia Masson at headquarters at (703) 438-3104.
Several years ago the Society established liaisons with other scientific organizations to foster the exchange of information. Please visit the following link to review the list of existing liaisons and to determine if there is an organization missing. If you know of an organization that should be listed or if you are willing to serve as a liai@teratology.orgy headquarters via email (tshq@teratology.org). If you are aware of other changes that should be incorporated, please send them to headquarters. A liaison serves as a contact person with other organizations to exchange information about meetings or other activities/news that is of interest to the membership. The information about the other organization is shared with the Teratology Society Secretary, currently George Dearlove, for communication with the Teratology Society. Much of the information that needs to be shared with the other organization can be found in the newsletter, an email update or on the Web site. Serving as a liaison requires very little of your time, there are not meetings to attend or minutes to be kept. A liaison simply informs their colleagues at the other organization of Teratology Society activities and in return notifies the Teratology Society Secretary their newsworthy items. Sharing of this information helps the Society fulfill its goal of disseminating information in order to build the Society and its annual meeting.
It should also be noted that the IFTS supports a student travel fellowship for exchange among the constituent societies of the IFTS. Notices of this fellowship appear in the journal, Teratology.
The Society has received requests from individuals looking for a list of graduate schools with teratology programs. If you know of a school with a program, please send the name and location to headquarters in an email titled Graduate Schools addressed to TSHQ@teratology.org. After-press
notes: In our Just for Students pages there is a listing of Graduate Schools with Teratology Programs
The Teratology Society has had a Placement Service for many years. The Service has been successful in placing potential employers in touch with potential employees and advertising Postdoctoral Positions, but the numbers have been limited to a few each year. Over the past year we have been suggesting that potential candidates and employers use the much larger and more widely distributed Placement Services maintained by the Society of Toxicology and FASEB to provide much greater coverage to both employers and employees. The Teratology Society Web site provides links to these Web sites. It is hoped
that the wider distribution of resumes and job offerings will increase
the number of people using the placement service speed the process of
linking parties together. If you are interested in using the Placement
Service, please contact Alan Hoberman at alan.hoberman@primedica.com.
Clarke Fraser was awarded the Excellence in Human Genetics Education Award for 2000 by the American Society for Human Genetics. Select the following link for more information (http://www.faseb.org/genetics/ashg/ann-meet/2000-supp/2000-sess-07a.htm). |
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