In this issue:
ASCEPT 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting
ASCEPT Mentoring Program 2009
ASCEPT Travel Award Reports
ASCEPT - Pharmacogenetics SIG Report
The BJCP Young Invesigator Prize
BPS 2009 Winter Meeting
ASCEPT and Society for Free Radical Research (SFRR) Joint Symposium
News from other organisations
Positions Vacant
September 2009 E-Newsletter
of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists
Welcome to the September ASCEPT eNewsletter.
If any would like to contribute any items to eNews, please send it along to Meetings First for consideration.
Roselyn Rose'Meyer
ASCEPT Newsletter Editor
ASCEPT 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting
The 43rd ASCEPT Annual Scientific Meeting is getting closer. Don’t forget to put 29 November - 2 December 2009 in your diary and register early to take advantage of our early bird offer. Join us in Sydney at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.
POSTER Abstract submission deadline has been extended until Friday 18 September, 2009. You may only submit your abstracts online. Please click here and use your details to log in to the Meetings First website. Please make sure your abstracts are submitted by this deadline.
Registration can be via the Internet or by the paper registration form. Don’t forget Early Bird Registration deadline is 20 October.
Meeting Highlights
10 Symposia/Workshops, featuring international speakers
- ADME/ PK and Development of Biopharmaceuticals and Natural Products
- Teaching Connects Research and Professional Practise
- Size, Maturation and Body Composition
- Drug Discovery for Diseases of the Brain
- Individualising Medicines: Drug development for older people
- Neuromodulatory Systems of the Gut as Drug Targets
- Understanding Drug Drug interactions
- Protective actions of cGMP in Cardiovascular Disease
- Cardiotoxicity of Prescription Drugs
- Challenges and Opportunities for Academic Drug Discovery and Development
- Academics don’t discover drugs
- Challenges and Opportunities for Functional Selectivity in Drug Discovery
- Translation of Pharmacogenomics into Clinical Practise
Free Public Lecture “Obesity – Are drugs the answer?” (1.30 pm Sunday 29 November)
This panel will comprise Professor Ian Caterson, Professor Ric Day, Professor Margaret Morris and Professor Joe Proietto
NH&MRC Grant Forum (6.30- 8pm Monday 30 November )
ASCEPT members who have served on NH&MRC panels will take you through the GRP process and advise on how to better position your grant.
Conference Dinner – Tuesday night Harbour side, Casa di Nico, King St Wharf
To view the current meeting program, please click here or copy and paste this link
http://www.meetingsfirst.com.au/meetings/ASCEPT09/Images/Program.pdf into
your web browser
Please click here to register online or copy and paste this link http://www.meetingsfirst.com.au/login.asp into your web browser.
You will require your password to log into the Meetings First website, if you have forgotten your PIN please contact Meetings First on 61 3 9739 7697 or ascept@meetingsfirst.com.au
ASCEPT Mentoring Program 2009
A mentoring program was established by ASCEPT in 2008. This program has been a great success as indicated by quotes from mentees in the current program:
- “I think it has been very worthwhile. I'm glad I enrolled (in) this program and credit to … for being a good mentor”
- “ … it has been great to have someone outside my lab to talk to about research experiences. … I feel that the mentoring program is benefiting me, and allowing me to discuss many things such as lab dynamics, funding, publications, and post doctoral opportunities.”
You might like to consider becoming a mentor in this program. Feedback from mentors, indicates it has been a rewarding experience. As Rebecca Ritchie said: “I actually think its going really well … I'd say it was great!”
If you are interested in becoming involved in this program as a Mentor or Mentee please read the Mentoring Guidelines. Mentees need to consider their goals with respect to this program – the Mentee Goals form might be useful in this respect.
Please complete the profile form for Mentees or Mentors and email the completed form to angela@meetingsfirst.com.au. The deadline for submission is Friday 30th October 2009.
The Mentoring Program Committee will match each mentee with a mentor who has volunteered to contribute his/her expertise. It is envisaged that matching will occur in November so that mentees and mentors will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face at the Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney. At the first meeting with your mentee or mentor, you will be required to sign and submit to ASCEPT@Meetings First a Mentee or Mentor letter of agreement, as appropriate.
ASCEPT Travel Award Reports
Vanessa Brait
Firstly, I would like to thank ASCEPT for granting me an International Travel Award, giving me the opportunity to attend and present my data at the XXIVth International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function (“Brain ‘09”) in Chicago, Illinois, USA, from June 29th to July 3rd, 2009.
This conference was fantastic. I received a lot of valuable feedback on my poster, met many of the people whose papers I had read and referenced, and went to some of the best, and for me, the most relevant, seminar and poster sessions I have ever been to. I was surrounded by some of the most renowned stroke researchers in the world, and taking part in the educational and social events alongside them was an absolute privilege.
The first day of the conference was comprised of educational seminars. I found these especially informative. The first session was on ‘Rodent Ischaemia Models’. In this session I learnt how to perform a thrombo-embolic stroke and the importance of testing stroke therapies in hypertensive animals. I also learnt that for the intra-luminal filament model of stroke, silicone-coated filaments produce the most reproducible infarcts and the smallest mortality rate, and that it is extremely important to monitor temperature closely while the mouse is undergoing stroke, since hypothermia is very neuroprotective. Another educational seminar I attended was titled, ‘Behavioural Analysis’. This was about measuring behaviour after stroke in rodents. I came away from this session understanding the large difference between brain repair and compensation, and the ways in which to structure behavioural tests to differentiate between the two, to only test brain repair. Another educational seminar was ‘Experimental Design to Publication’ by Ulrich Dirnagl. This was a very critical analysis of stroke publications, and informed us of many ways to improve our stroke studies.
There were many sessions of interest during the 4 intense days of seminars, and I will briefly describe one of the most interesting seminars for me.
NADPH Oxidase from Circulating Inflammatory Cells Exacerbates Injury in Experimental Stroke – X. Tang, USA
Dr Tang, from the M. Yenari laboratory presented a paper which showed that Nox2 plays an important role in stroke pathology. Using chimeras with wild-type (WT) or Nox2 KO bone-marrow, they elegantly showed that while resident brain Nox2, vascular Nox2 and bone-marrow Nox2 are all important in stroke damage, the Nox2 in leukocytes produces more damage, given that there is a larger infarct volume in Nox2 KO mice with WT bone-marrow, compared with WT mice with Nox2 KO bone-marrow. This is consistent with our study, which showed that the Nox2 in circulating T lymphocytes produce a large amount of superoxide after stroke.
This conference has given me many new ideas to follow up on in my PhD studies, has affirmed that the work my supervisor and I are doing in my PhD is novel and current, and due to the educational seminars, the conference has given me elements upon which to improve our stroke model and behavioural testing. Therefore, as a result of my attendance at this conference, I feel I am a better stroke researcher and cardiovascular pharmacologist. So thanks again ASCEPT, for your generous travel award.
ASCEPT - Pharmacogenetics Special Interest Group Report
Andrew Somogyi reports on The Australian Pharmacogenomics Summit (Sydney, July 30-31 2009).
This was the first ever pharmacogenomics summit held in Australia and it was interesting to note it was instigated by IIR Conferences, an international information business company with a health portfolio. This company viewed that pharmacogenomics is gaining an increasing focus in many developed and developing countries but apparently not Australia.
ASCEPT was well represented, providing registration to 4 PhD students and with its members chairing and presenting. In addition, the ASCEPT membership form was included in the delegates' information package.
There were about 50 registrants and although this could be seen as disappointingly small, it made for a focused meeting, allowing all delegates to voice their opinion. The 16 speakers, presenting over the 2 days, ranged from industry (big pharma), government (state and federal), academia and health companies, with some speakers talking about the roles they play in health committees (eg. MSAC). There was also significant non-speaker input from those in private and commercial pathology testing services as well as federal drug registration and subsidy bodies.
One disappointment I found was that the “non-pharmacologists” had a quite different view of what pharmacogenomics is all about compared to pharmacologists. In particular, their view was that pharmacogenomics relates primarily to the molecular mechanisms of diseases such as cancer and thus the potential for drug discovery. In contrast, pharmacologists tend to view the subject in terms of genetic influences on drug efficacy and toxicity. Hopefully a “bridge” between us can be constructed soon!
Key issues identified were:
- pharmacogenetics is just one of a number of factors contributing to inter-individual variability in drug action;
- translational research needs to be done in Australia;
- cost-benefit studies (pharmaco-economics) are needed;
- lobbying of national health advisory bodies is an imperative;
- a national consensus is needed on the drug genotypes that need study, and how and by whom will a test result be interpreted and drug recommendations made, for without a national consensus on this, patient safety may be compromised and doctor frustration ensue.
The most important aspect of the summit was that for the first time in Australia some key players were brought together to discuss how Australia will advance pharmacogenomics into clinical practice. The networking was very fruitful and I believe ASCEPT should be prepared to lead the charge, through the extensive experience and the research of its members, to see pharmacogenomics incorporated into clinical practice. If ASCEPT does not act, other professional societies will step in and take the lead.
The BJCP Young Investigator Prize
The British Pharmacological Society (BPS) will award an annual prize of £1000, a certificate and 1-year honorary BPS membership for the best paper by a trainee published in the print version of BJCP during a calendar year. Those eligible will be clinical trainees (of whatever specialty), or basic scientists in training registered for a PhD (or equivalent).
On acceptance of a manuscript the authors will automatically, as part of the Manuscript Central system, be sent a reminder about the BJCP prize and will be invited to fill in an application form, giving information about the provenance of the work and the precise role played by the potential award-winner. The judges will be the editors of the Journal, but they may call for expert assistance in making their decision, which will be final.
Andrew Somogyi (BJCP- Australasian Editor)
BPS 2009 Winter Meeting
15 – 17 December 2009
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, UK
We are delighted to announce that the online registration and abstract submission for the 2009 Winter Meeting is now live.
Registration is complimentary to all BPS Members until the 8 December 2009. After this date all registrations will be subject to a £50 registration fee.
Register now so as not to miss out!
Should you have any colleagues who would like to attend this meeting please note if they apply for membership before 1 November they will be able to register at the member rate.
Please visit http://www.bps.ac.uk/ for more information.
ASCEPT and Society for Free Radical Research (SFRR) Joint Symposium
"Oxidative Stress and Cardiovascular Disease"
December 2nd & 3rd, 2009
University of Sydney Veterinary Science Conference Centre
A joint symposium between ASCEPT and the SFRR entitled 'Cardiovascular Disease and Oxidative Stress' will be held during the SFRR Annual Scientific Meeting. The symposium will commence on the afternoon of Wednesday 2nd December (immediately following the conclusion of the ASCEPT ASM) and finish the morning of Thursday 3rd December 2009. The program will include international and national speakers; Professor John Keaney (USA), A/Prof Chris Sobey (AUS), A/Prof Tony Kettle (NZ), A/Prof Merlin Thomas (AUS).
ASCEPT members are being offered a registration fee of $70 to attend this symposium. A number of free communication slots and posters will be available for full and student ASCEPT members to present their research.
Close of early bird registration is 9th October 2009.
To register for this symposium and submit an abstract follow this link http://www.pathology.usyd.edu.au/sfrra2009.htm.
For further information please contact: Barbara.Kemp@med.monash.edu.au or Alyson.Miller@med.monash.edu.au
News from other organisations
Please click on the relevant links for any news from other organisations that may be of interest to ASCEPT members.
Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS)
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
BPS Pharmacology Matters e-Bulletin
Research Australia
Research Australia Policy Forum
Thursday, 1 October, 9.30am-11.30am – Melbourne
Please join us at the Research Australia Policy Forum to discuss and debate the policy agenda as it relates to the budget cycle and recently released national reviews/reports relating to health, innovation and education.
The forum will be chaired by Professor Garry Jennings AM, Director, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and Research Australia Board Member.
The agenda will include:
- Open discussion about setting research priorities
- How to position research in the context of health, innovation and reviews and government responses to reviews.
- Five minute presentations from leading alliance partners including AusBiotech, MTAA, ASMR, AAMRI
- Panel discussion
Thursday, 1 October 2009
9.30am-11.30am
Innovation@257
257 Collins Street
Melbourne
RSVP Essential by Friday, 18 September: kandy.musgrave@researchaustralia.org – T: (02) 9295 8546
Positions Vacant
Looking for a new job? Listed below is a position currently vacant that you may be eligible to apply for. Please click on the link for jobs you're interested in.
Post Doctoral Fellow (NH&MRC)
University of New South Wales
Click here for more information
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