Teratology Society

Members' Section

Teratology Society Newsletter

Volume 13, Number 1
Posted 12-Mar-2003

Table of Contents

Message from the President
Submitted by William Slikker, Jr., Ph.D.

Philadelphia is the destination for all those attending our Annual Teratology Meeting, June 21-26, 2003. The Program Committee, led by our vice-president Shelley Tyl, has assembled an outstanding scientific Program and the continuing education courses offer superb learning opportunities. We will honor the very best of our Society at the several award ceremonies. The Warkany Award presentation and the Wilson Publication Award will proceed the Decade of Behavior Distinguished Lecture and the student platform competition. The Fraser and Wilson Awards Luncheon on Thursday will offer a real treat. In addition to the Fraser Award presentation and the several student awards, we will honor our past presidents. So arrange your flight schedule to leave after 3:00 PM on Thursday because you will want to dine with the past presidents and learn of the scientific and Society-related accomplishment during their year of presidential service to our Society.

The registration fee is very low this year in the hopes of attracting more attendees to our East Coast venue. The many restaurants and shops immediately surrounding the Loews Hotel offer a variety of cuisines over a broad cost range. Speaking of the Loews, our hotel is truly something special. I ask you all to register now at negotiated low rates. The Society benefits from you staying at the Loews and I encourage you to do so.

The annual banquet will be a delicious event, sandwiched in between the banquet reception and the sounds of "Three Penny Revue", back by popular demand.

Our historian, Ron Jensh has been collecting memorabilia from our membership and will display the societal treasures during the meeting at a central location. Come to Philadelphia to enjoy the past and embrace the future.

To all those that have been enthusiastically pursuing their roles as Teratology committee chairs and members, as officers and members of our sister societies ETS and JTS and associate societies NBTS, OTIS, BTS, MTA and MARTA, I thank you and express my gratitude. The AIM staff, ably led by Tonia Masson, has readied a fantastic meeting venue and I personally invite each of you to attend.

See you in Philadelphia---Bill

Submitted by Shelley W. Tyl, Vice President and Program Chair

Greetings:
We have a wonderful program for the 2003 Annual Teratology Meeting in Philadelphia on June 21-26, thanks to the hard work of the session chairs, the topics they have chosen, and the superb speakers they have recruited. Our President, Bill Slikker, has indicated in his article some of the events and award presentations scheduled.

I would like to tell you something about the exciting symposia/workshops we have planned, which speak to the overarching theme of the meetings to make explicit the interactive links between animal and clinical studies and between basic and applied researchers and clinicians in the areas of reproductive and developmental biology and toxicology. The Education Course (Dana Shuey, Chair) will have two sessions. Session I will examine the integration of human and animal data in understanding mechanisms and risk for human birth defects using statins as a case example. Session II will present animal models for use in the advancement of understanding mechanisms and risk of human birth defects. The March of Dimes symposium (Barbara Struthers and Steve Harris, Co-Chairs) will present the facts and issues surrounding Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) in term of outcomes. The Issues Forum (by Bill Slikker) will introduce the editors of our new tripartite journal, Birth Defects Research, Part A. Clinical and Molecular Teratology (Phil Mirkes, Editor); Part B. Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (George Daston, Editor); and Part C. Embryo Today: Reviews (Rocky Tuan, Editor). The three editors and their co-editors and reviewers are off and running, and are already evaluating manuscripts for the first few issues. Jack Bishop has organized a Student Plenary Session and Platform Award Competition. The Public Affairs Committee workshop (co-sponsored by the TS, OTIS, and NBTS) will be a one-day multidisciplinary discussion on "Communicating Risks for Pregnancy Exposures: A Workshop on Appropriate Incorporation of Animal Developmental Data in Drug Labels." The goal is to develop recommendations for improving the pregnancy label for better risk assessment and risk communication. The Sunrise Mini-course (Dana Shuey, Chair) will examine the role of the placenta in developmental toxicity/teratogenicity. The Wiley-Liss Symposium (Barbara Abbott and Martha Werler, Co-Chairs) will examine "Gene-Environment Interactions in Susceptibility: Human Studies and Animal Models." The NBTS/TS Joint Symposium (Judy Buelke-Sam and J. Edward Fisher, Co-Chairs) will be "An Update on Animal Juvenile Toxicity Testing: Pharmaceutical Use and Environmental Exposures in Children." Teratogen Update (Bob Brent, Chair) will present the newest news on reproductive risks of lead exposure, vertical transmission of HIV, environmental endocrine disruptors and nongenital malformations from exposure to progestational agents. Bill Slikker and Bern Schwartz will co-chair a symposium on "Childhood Obesity: Impact on Children’s Health and Possible Developmental Etiologies." George Daston and Melissa McDiarmid will chair a symposium on "Occupational Exposures and Reproductive Health, Including Practical Exposure Information for Clinicians." Jerry Heindel has organized a symposium on "The Fetal Basis of Adult Disease: Role of the Environment." Joe Holson has put together a fascinating detective story on the relevance of prenatal toxicity of a therapeutic in rats to human risk. Asher Ornoy will chair a symposium on "Maternal Autoimmune Diseases and Immunologically-Induced Embryonic and Fetal Damage." The complete agenda can be found on the Society’s Web site (http://teratology.org/meetings/index.htm.)

Come early, stay late, avail yourselves of the formal program, the scheduled entertainment, the ambience of Philadelphia, and the pleasure of greeting old friends and meeting new ones. See you in Philadelphia!

Submitted by Dana Shuey, Continuing Education Committee Chair

The Continuing Education Committee is proud to offer this year’s Continuing Education Course entitled Integration of Human and Animal Data in Understanding Mechanisms and Risk for Human Birth Defects. This course is intended to highlight the diversity of our Society, which is recognized as one of its greatest strengths, and to emphasize the importance of an integrated, collaborative approach to the investigation and understanding of human birth defects. In addition to providing the attendees a greater understanding of the many areas of research that contribute to understanding mechanisms and risks for birth defects, including basic animal research, clinical and epidemiologic research and animal toxicology, it is our hope that this course will stimulate further collaborative interaction among our members. A detailed course abstract and updated agenda follow.

Integration of Human and Animal Data in Understanding Mechanisms and Risk for Human Birth Defects
The fundamental objective of all birth defects research, be it basic mechanistic research, developmental toxicology, clinical, genetic, or epidemiologic research, is to gain a better understanding of the etiology, mechanisms and potential risk factors for human birth defects with the ultimate goal of treatment and prevention. This Continuing Education Course will provide an overview of how animal and human data gained from these various fields of research contribute collectively towards achieving these goals. The course is divided into two sessions. The first will focus on contributions of animal and human data in understanding the potential risk of drugs in pregnancy, and pregnancy labeling of pharmaceuticals. The statins, a widely-used class of cholesterol lowering drugs, will be used as a case example. Presentations will include a current understanding of the role of cholesterol in morphogenesis and possible risks associated with cholesterol lowering based on animal and human information, developmental toxicity studies with statins, and considerations in the labeling of these drugs for use in pregnancy. The second session will focus on additional examples of animal and human data contributing to a better understanding of mechanisms and risk factors for birth defects. For this session, neural tube defects and autism will be examined in detail. Presentations will include current understanding of epidemiology, genetics and environmental risk factors, and how information from animal models has advanced our understanding of these factors. While specific topic areas have been selected as examples for detailed review, this course should foster a better understanding of general approaches in basic mechanistic, toxicological, clinical and epidemiologic research that will have broad application. This cross-disciplinary course is also intended to stimulate interaction among researchers engaged in different fields by providing insights into complementary areas that may enhance their own research endeavors.

Integration of Animal and Human Data in Drug Development and Pregnancy Labeling: The Statins as a Case Example (Saturday afternoon)

Cholesterol and Morphogenesis – Evidence from Animal Models.
Maximilian Muenke, M.D., National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH

Cholesterol and Morphogenesis – Human Evidence
Richard I. Kelley, MD PhD, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins

Review of Nonclinical Developmental Toxicity Studies with the Statins
L. David Wise, Ph.D., Merck Research Laboratories

Risks and Benefits of Exposure to Statins During Human Pregnancy: Results from Postmarketing Surveillance.
Jeanne Manson, PhD, MSCE, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Animal Models in the Advancement of Understanding Mechanisms and Risk for Human Defects (Sunday morning)

Risk Factors for Neural Tube Defects: Current Understanding from Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Genetic Studies.
Cynthia Moore, MD, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Using Animal Models to Understand the Consequences of Abnormal Folate Transport During Neural Tube Closure
Richard Finnell, Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Interspecies Comparison of Mechanisms of Neurulation, Implications for Interpretation of Neural Tube Defects in Developmental Toxicity Studies
John DeSesso, Ph.D., Mitretek Systems

Autism: 1) Diagnosis, epidemiology, genetic and teratologic risks, and 2) Searching for the causes with human and animal studies.
Patricia Rodier, Ph.D., University of Rochester

Sunrise Mini Course
The Sunrise Mini Course was first introduced at last year’s Annual Meeting with great success. The Sunrise Course is intended as a short course on very specific topics in basic research, developmental toxicology and/or risk assessment. . This year’s course, offered by the Continuing Education Committee, is entitled The Importance of the Placenta in Developmental Toxicity and Human Health Risk Assessment. While the critical role of the placenta during pregnancy is clearly recognized, the potential influence of the placenta is often not a significant consideration in interpretation of developmental toxicity studies and human health risk assessment. This course will examine the importance of the placenta in developmental toxicity testing, interpretation and risk assessment. Presentations will include:

The placenta as a target for toxicity and human health risk assessment.
Richard Miller, Ph.D., University of Rochester Medical Center

Interspecies comparison of placental metabolism and transport, implications for developmental toxicity testing and human health risk assessment.
William Slikker, Jr., Ph.D., NCTR/US FDA

Submitted by Mary Alice Smith, Ph.D.

The Nominations and Elections Committee has reviewed the nominees for the positions of Vice President-Elect, Secretary, and Councilor. The Ballot and Candidate summaries containing information regarding each individual’s qualifications will be mailed to you in March. The following members are the candidates for the positions:

Vice President-Elect:
Elaine Francis
Melissa Tassinari

Secretary:
George Dearlove
Deborah Hansen

Councilor:
Robert Parker
Ida Smoak

The Committee members would like to thank each candidate for accepting the challenge to run for office and for their willingness to contribute to the future of the Society. Current Teratology Society members can expect to receive the printed ballot including candidates' statements in March with a June deadline for returning your votes. Remember that petitions for additional nominations, signed by at least 5% of members, can be accepted through April 22, 2003.

I would also like to thank each Committee member for volunteering to work on this Committee and for their contribution to making this a successful election.

Mildred Christian
Deborah Hansen
Kok-Wah Hew
Cynthia A. Moore
Jan M. Friedman

Submitted by Thomas Flynn, Ph.D., Membership Committee Chair

The committee is pleased to present to you and welcome the members who joined the Teratology Society in 2002.

Regular Members
Megan Adamson, M.D.
Judith Allanson, FCCMG, DABMG
Steve Barton, M.S.
Gregg Cappon, Ph.D.
Cyrus D. Fakroddin, B.S.
Sherry Ferguson, Ph.D.
Louan C. Fisher, B.S.
Lynn Hanna, Ph.D.
Debra Kennedy, M.B., B.S., F.R.A.C.P.
Kenjiro Kosaki, M.D.
Kathryn Kraus, M.D.
Louise Lanoue, Ph.D.
Fathi A. Malek, Ph.D.
Sue Marty, Ph.D.
Myla Moretti, M.S.
Alan E. Mushen. M.S.
Mukund Parkhie, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Jeffery Pitt, Ph.D.
Lorraine Posobeic, B.S.
James (Jim) Ridings, B.S. (Hons)
Barbara Struthers, Ph.D., D.A.B.T.
Rocky Tuan, Ph.D.
Nancy Wanek, Ph.D.
James Warneke, B.S.
Elizabeth Weaver, D.A.B.T.

Associate Members
Angela J. Curin, B.S.
Megan Hoyt, B.S.
Merlin Madsen, Ed.D.

Student Members
Jeffery Charlap, M.S.
William Clark Dunty, Jr., B.S.
Rayetta Grasty, B.S.

Emeritus Members
Charlotte Ferencz, M.D.
Howard M. Hayes, D.V.M.
Keith Moore, Ph.D.
David Packard, Ph.D.
Trivedi V. Persaud, Ph.D.
Ashley Wickramarante, Ph.D.

Submitted by J. M. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Past President

Thanks, Lew!
We are very excited about the transformation of our journal into Birth Defects Research, with three parts and three terrific new editors. This transformation was made possible by the success the journal has achieved as Teratology over the past few years. Our Society was founded 42 years ago, and its journal began publication a few years later, in 1968. The first Editor was Harold Kalter, and the second was Bob Brent, who served in this capacity for 16 years. Tom Sadler followed Bob, and Lew Holmes began his term as Editor of Teratology in 1998.

Lew took over at a critical time in the life of the journal and of our Society. His strong leadership, scientific integrity, clear vision, and commitment to excellence brought Teratology into the age of molecular embryology and genomics. This was a difficult task for many reasons, but Lew accomplished it without compromising the journal’s traditional strengths in birth defects epidemiology, experimental teratology, and developmental toxicology. Lew also enhanced the journal’s focus on clinical and public policy initiatives to prevent birth defects and provided a forum for discussion of the issues this raised.

Our Society has long benefited from Lew Holmes’ many contributions, but we are especially grateful for his outstanding stewardship of our journal for the past 5 years. THANK YOU, LEW from all the members of the Teratology Society and from the scientific and clinical communities you have served so well.

Submitted by Barbara D. Abbott, Publications Committee Chair

Our Publications Committee in now fully staffed and includes Richard Miller, as Vice Chair, Lori Dostal, Barbara Hales, Deborah Hansen, Stephen Harris, Jeffrey Peters, and Anthony Scialli, as well as the ad hoc and liaison members. The committee membership reflects the diverse interests of members of our Society. Those serving the Teratology Society through participation in this committee include members with expertise in clinical, epidemiological, basic and applied research and have appointments in academia, government and industry. You can find the contact information and terms of office for each committee member on the Teratology Society website and in the program for our meeting in Philadelphia in June.

I encourage each of the Society members to take advantage of the opportunity to "Meet the Editors" at the Issues Forum on Sunday at our annual Teratology Society meeting. Also at this year’s meeting, the Wiley-Liss Symposium, which is organized by the Publications Committee, features four excellent presentations on "Gene-Environment interactions in susceptibility: Human studies and animal models". Lew Holmes and his editorial staff and the publications committee are also hard at work selecting a winner for the Wilson Award. There are many excellent manuscripts published during 2002 for consideration and selecting only one will be a challenge. I am looking forward to an exciting and informative meeting and hope to see you all in Philadelphia.

Submitted by Ron Jensh

EIt has been fascinating reviewing some of the documents that have accumulated over the past 40+ years. I have particularly enjoyed going over my own photographs of meetings dating back to the ’60s. However, I have not received much of a response from the membership in response to my letter asking you to submit any material you may have that would be a good addition to the archives. Many thanks to those who have responded!

Please send me any material (old programs, letters, postcards, photographs, etc.) you think would be appropriate to include in the archives. I can digitize any material you want returned.

The process is much greater than I anticipated, so it will take quite some time to update our complete history. Forty-plus years is a long time! I think you will enjoy seeing some of the material on display at this year’s meeting in Philadelphia. Remember – the more memorabilia we can accumulate, the more interesting and fun it is for everyone, so send your info to me as soon as possible! See you there – send material now!

Send to:
230 East Park Ave.
Haddonfield, NJ 08033-1835

Submitted by George Dearlove, Secretary, Teratology Society

The main function of a Teratology Society Liaison will be to provide the membership with information about another scientific society AND to provide that society with the same sort of information about the Teratology Society. The intent is to foster a closer relationship between the organizations for the betterment of both.

Any information required to inform the other society about the Teratology Society meetings, functions and/or publications will be made available by the Secretary, Executive Director or Council upon request.

The Society will request each person assuming the Liaison position with another scientific society/organization to commit to the following:

• Inform the Teratology Society membership about the annual meeting (time, location, outline of topics, general contact information to register for that meeting) of that other society through a brief article in the Newsletter
• Present the Teratology Society membership with an update of important events or changes within the selected Scientific Society at the annual meeting (may be 3 minutes at business meeting, a poster, or copies of program for future meetings)
• Provide contact information to the respective Journal Editors for recruitment of publications for presentation in our Journal
• Provide suggested contributors from the other group to the individuals responsible for planning our annual meeting (i.e. for contributions to Symposia, platform presentations or poster presentations)

The appointment as a Society Liaison will be reviewed at an agreed upon interval (e.g. every three years) to determine if a new Liaison should be appointed or if additional assistance is required (if the selected society forms specialized subgroups that may need their own Liaison).

Anyone interested in nominating a Society with which we could form a liaison, or wishing to volunteer to become the Liaison with another scientific organization should contact headquarters at tshq@teratology.org.

Submitted by George Dearlove

American College of Toxicology held its twenty third annual meeting in Hershey Lodge, Hershey, Pennsylvania on November 10-13, 2002. The meeting was well attended (over 500 registrants, a couple dozen security and undercover agents, and at least 8 members of SHAC). The meeting is set up along the same format as our own Teratology Annual Meeting with 11 symposia (one organized by Steve Harris and Tom Collins of the Teratology Society, and featuring last year’s winner of the Fraser award, Jeff Peters), a Great Debate and a Brown Bag Lunch Discussion sessions.

This year, the keynote speaker was Dr. John Gearhart, the C. Michael Armstrong, Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and one of the worlds leading experts on stem cell research. Dr. Gearhart’s talk was entitled "Human Stem Cells: The End of the Beginning". Dr. Gearhart reviewed stem cell research from its beginnings to date and included an interactive video presentation. The program also featured the presentation of the ACT Distinguished Service Award. The recipient this year was Dr. Carol Henry, Vice President of the American Chemistry Council.

Additionally, the meeting was started off with a number of continuing education courses, one of which was organized by Steve Harris and featured Teratology Society Members Eve Mylchreest, Dana Shuey, Gregg Cappon and Utpal Gupta as some of the lecturers.

Anyone interested in presenting a scientific symposium (does not have to include just members of the Teratology Society) at the American College of Toxicology meeting next year should contact Dr. Robert Snyder at Rutgers University.

Submitted by J. M. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D.

The 7500 professional members of the American Society of Human Genetics strive to promote and expand research, apply knowledge to enhance health care, train the next generation of professionals and to educate and inform the public about genetics.

The next Annual Meeting will be held November 4-8, 2003, in Los Angeles. Information about the meeting as well as about the Society’s many public policy and educational initiatives is available on the newly enhanced website at http://ASHG.ORG.

Submitted by Jack Bishop

The Environmental Mutagen Society (EMS) is the primary scientific society fostering research on the basic mechanisms of mutagenesis as well as on the application of this knowledge in the field of genetic toxicology, EMS has 7 core scientific areas: 1) human health effects (developmental, cancer, aging and genetic disease); 2) exposure, detection and metabolism of DNA damaging agents; 3) responses to DNA damage; 4) mutational mechanisms; 5) DNA technologies; 6) molecular epidemiology; and 7) testing regulatory issues and risk assessment. The membership is composed of a unique mix of academic, government, and industrial scientists and policy makers.

The EMS 34th Annual Meeting: Environmental Mutagenesis: From Mechanisms to Risk Assessment will be held at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort, Miami Beach, Florida on May 10 - 14, 2003. The Annual Meeting will feature 2 symposia its first day (Sunday May 10) that should be of special interest to Teratology Society members. The first, Embryonic and Fetal Exposure and Children's Health Symposium will have talks Sunday morning on "Physiologic and Genetic Risk Factors for Paternally Transmitted Chromosomal Abnormalities" by Andrew Wyrobek, LLNL, "Impact of Environmental Pollution on Pregnancy Outcome" by Radim Sram, Czech Republic, "Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy: Genetic Susceptibility and Cytogenetic Consequences in Mothers and Newborns" by James Tucker, Wayne State U, "Genetic Polymorphisms and Down Syndrome: Maternal Risk and Fetal Survival" by Jill James, NCTR, and "Clinical Consequences of Intrauterine Mutagen Exposures" by David Manchester, U of Colorado. The second, Childrens Susceptibility to Environmental Agents Symposium will have talks Sunday afternoon on "Children's Health and the Environment" by William Suk, NIEHS, "Emerging Environmental Threats to Children's Health - The Situation in Developing Countries" by Kalpana Balakrishnan, Chennai India, "Functional Genomics and Pesticide Exposure in Children and Pregnant Women" by Nina Holland, U of Berkeley, "Health and Genetic Impacts of the Chernobyl Accident" by Yuri Dubrova, U of Leichester UK, " and "Molecular Epidemiology of Childhood Leukemia" by Martyn Smith, U of Berkeley.

EMS has a satellite meeting immediately following the Annual Meeting. The Impact of the Environment on Colon Cancer Meeting will be held at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort, Miami Beach, Florida on May 14 - 16, 2003. This conference brings together studies that have furthered our understanding of the role that environmental factors play in development of colon cancer and assesses the impact of genetic backgrounds on risk. There is a discount if for attending both the EMS Annual Meeting and the Colon Cancer Meeting.

If you would like more information about the Environmental Mutagen Society, becoming a member or attending the Annual Meeting or the Colon Cancer Meeting please visit www.ems-us.org or email us at emshq@aim-hq.com.

Submitted by Robert J. Felix

In November, the Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS) had elections for officers of the Executive Council. The newly elected officers are Tina Chambers (president-elect), Lori Wolfe (treasurer), Beth Conover (Member-at-Large/Historian), and Myla Moretti (Member-at-Large).

In December, Lynn Martinez, from the UTAH Pregnancy Riskline, was invited to represent OTIS and testify at the Congressional Hearing on Issues Relating to the Safety of Accutane. Lynn addressed the disturbing trend of continued occurrence of Accutane-exposed pregnancies and the need for increased regulatory safeguards for the use of oral isotretinoin in women of reproductive age. Written testimonies are available for viewing on the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations website: http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/hearings/12112002Hearing755/hearing.htm.

In the next few months, OTIS will begin the North American Isotretinoin Information & Survey Line. The goal of the survey line is to determine reasons why women continue to become pregnant even after the manufacturer has implemented a pregnancy prevention program (PPP). This one-year project has been funded through a cooperative agreement between the AAMC/CDC/ATSDR and will survey 30 pregnant women with exposure to isotretinoin to understand how they perceived the PPP. The coordinating center for this OTIS project is the Utah Teratology and Birth Defects Network. Research Coordinators from 16 different TIS’ were trained at the OTIS mid-year research meeting in January. Individuals interested in participating in this survey can call the OTIS Coordinating Center at (866) 626-OTIS (6847).

At the upcoming Teratology Society (TS) Meeting, OTIS is co-sponsoring the 2003 Decade of Behavior Distinguished Lecturer with TS, NBTS, and BTS. The speaker is Ann Streissguth presenting "30-Year Perspective on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Research". Additionally, OTIS is co-sponsoring with TS and NBTS the Public Affairs Committee Workshop. The topic of the workshop is "Communicating Risks for Pregnancy Exposures: A Workshop on Appropriate Incorporation of Animal Developmental Toxicity Data in Drug Labels".