The 2012 World Congress on In Vitro Biology, held in Bellevue, WA, was a terrific success thanks to the efforts of Fredy Altpeter, Program Chair; Vibha Srivastava, Plant Biotechnology Section Program Chair; Brad Upham, In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Section Program Chair; and the Education and Student Committee Chairs, Margaret Young, Kerri Neugebauer, and Vinita Daniel. These Chairs with the help of their committees worked hard to ensure an exciting and informative program was presented. We were also honored to welcome the Japanese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments and The Japanese Tissue Culture Association as Co-sponsors at the World Congress. Each organization sponsored and organized a scientific session along with the In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Section.
This year’s event included four well-received plenary sessions on: “Applications of Nanotechnology in In Vitro Biology (Nanobiology)” convened by Kan Wang and Brad L. Upham, “Nutraceuticals in the 21st Century: Identification, Production, and Demonstration of Efficacy and Safety” convened by Mary Ann Lila and John W. Harbell, “Omics Technologies in the Dissection of Biological Processes” convened by Patrick McNutt and Andy Pereira and “Commercialization of GMO’s: IP – Risk Assessment and Regulatory Issues” convened by Addy Alt-Holland and Cecilia L. Chi-Ham. The Program Committee also worked together to determine a high profile Keynote Speaker that would be of mutual interest to both sections. Through these efforts, Dr. Leroy C. Hood, President of the Institute for Systems Biology, was invited to be our keynote speaker and gave a fascinating presentation on “Systems Approaches to Disease and the Emergence of Proactive P4 Medicine.” The 13th International Conference on Invertebrate and Fish Cell Culture, held only once every 4 years, took place at the beginning of the 2012 Congress and provided 2 symposia and one workshop for the attendees. In addition, each section organized numerous sessions dealing with technological breakthroughs and theoretical advances in the in vitro sciences. The Plant Biotechnology Section (PBS) held 9 symposia, 3 workshops, 4 interactive poster sessions, and 4 contributed paper sessions. The In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Section (IVACS) organized 7 symposia, 1 workshop, 1 interactive poster session, and 2 contributed paper session. In total, there were 222 presentations representing 104 oral presentations, including those mentioned above, and 118 poster presentations.
The Education and Student Committees worked together to organize two events for students: the Student Networking Symposium on Writing and Submitting a Grant and a Student Networking Luncheon. These sessions were attended by both students and non-student participants and provided the opportunity for networking and educational interactions. Also to be commended for their efforts in encouraging student and post-doc participation in the In Vitro Meeting are Lia Campbell, Hong Luo and Sukhpreet Sandhu, who convened the Student and Post Doc Oral Competitions. Students are the future of our organization and we are very encouraged to see this level of participation and hope to see even more in the future.
The 2012 World Congress also offered the Joint Sections Social and 3 ticketed offsite social events: an evening at the Chateau Ste. Michelle; a scientific tour at the Institute of Systems Biology and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and a tour of the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collections and the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden at Weyerhaeuser. All of these events were enthusiastically attended and allowed for enjoyable social interaction between participants as well as an opportunity to explore the surrounding area near Bellevue.
The SIVB is deeply indebted to a large list of individuals who put this event together. These individuals include: conveners, presenters, moderators, fundraisers, corporate sponsors, volunteers and exhibitors. Special thanks are due to the Program and Local Organizing Committees for putting together a stellar event. Thanks to all for making this meeting a great success and we hope to see you in Providence, Rhode Island in June 2013.
Submitted by the Business Office
