2013 Meeting Recap

As the Program Chair for the recently concluded SIVB annual meeting in Providence, RI, I thank the nearly 400 presenters, exhibitors, and participants for their enthusiasm in making the meeting a success. Thanks go to Drs. Zheng-Yu Wang and Addy Alt-Holland, the program chairs for the Plant Biotechnology and In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences sections, respectively, and their conveners for putting together a varied and very interesting scientific program that included workshops and interactive poster sessions as well as a keynote address, four plenary sessions and twenty-two scientific symposia. I also thank Drs. Pam Weathers, Bob Lawrence and Barbara Doonan for organizing tours of the Massachusetts Bio-manufacturing Education Center and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and I thank Drs. Yvonne Reid and Albert Kausch for organizing the workshop “Best Practices in Plant and Animal Cell Cultures.” Finally, I thank Marietta Wheaton Ellis and her staff at New Beginnings Management for keeping the organizers and the meeting on track and on time.

As a member of the IVACS section of the SIVB, the scientific sessions I find most interesting are the joint IVACS/PBS plenary symposia. Being able to hear both plant and animal cell scientists talk about their research and the advances in their fields is a distinct and unique feature of attending SIVB meetings. This year Keiichi Itakura (City of Hope) and Ted Klein (DuPont Pioneer) reviewed the technological advances and the equally important business developments from which emerged the fields of recombinant biological therapeutic drugs and genetically modified food crops. Pam Weathers (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) gave a wonderful talk on her work to develop a low tech plant-based malaria therapeutic for use in the third world, while Carole Cramer (Arkansas State University) and Stephen Streatfield (Fraunhofer USA, Inc.) gave very interesting talks on using whole plants as biological machines to synthesize recombinant protein drugs and vaccines. Charles Yarish (University of Connecticut) reviewed his wide-ranging research using various species of seaweeds in bioremediation of coastal waterways, in mariculture of economically valuable food components, and as the basis for secondary education and community outreach programs. In the keynote address Steven Briggs (UC San Diego) described his efforts to use proteomics to build an atlas of protein expression to understand the regulation of networks of interacting proteins (proteotypes) in different developing plant tissues. A satisfying and unifying conclusion of this work is that kinases are important regulators of cellular phenotypes in plants just as they are in animals.

The SIVB has a longstanding interest in fostering the education, the training and the professional development of students, and this interest was evident in Providence. I was gratified to see both undergraduate and graduate students involved in program planning, organizing and chairing symposia, delivering talks, presenting posters and participating in SIVB committee meetings in addition to attending scientific sessions and student-oriented workshops. As is often said, the SIVB is a society in which a participant can have an impact no matter the stage of his or her career, and we are counting on the students who may be new to the SIVB to be the leaders of the society in the future.

On a personal note it was heartwarming to be in attendance during the joint social for the tribute to Dr. Michael Horn, a longtime member of the Plant Biotechnology section and a past chair of the publications committee, who passed away in 2012. During the ceremony, SIVB president David Songstad gave the President’s Award to Mike’s wife Tricia in recognition of his many contributions to the society. This was the first presentation of the award since 2004. Dave has also started a Mike Horn Endowment Fund to support meeting attendance by postdoctoral fellows; donations to the fund can be sent to the SIVB business office.

The 2014 SIVB meeting will be held in conjunction with the Society for Cryobiology in Savannah, GA, from May 29 to June 4. suggestions for improvements over this year’s meeting to [email protected].

Submitted by J. Denry Sato, D.Phil