The Society for In Vitro Biology established the Fellow Award to recognize outstanding professionals who have made significant contributions to the field of in vitro biology and demonstrated service to the Society. The Society for In Vitro Biology honored Mr. Michael Dame, Dr. Lucy EJ Lee and Dr. William Gordon-Kamm with Fellow Awards at the 2020 World Congress on In Vitro Biology. This issue of the In Vitro Report includes the Fellow Award article for Mr. Michael K. Dame. Dr. Lucy EJ Lee’s and Dr. William Gordon-Kamm’s Fellow Award articles will be included in a future issue of the In Vitro Report.
Michael K. Dame Receives the 2020 SIVB Fellow Award
Michael K. Dame has been a very active member and contributor to the SIVB and IVACS since 2008 and so we were extremely pleased to see him receive the 2020 SIVB Fellow Award. The Fellow Award recognizes both excellence in scientific pursuits and service to the society (and section) and he has given a full measure of both for more than a decade.
Michael K. Dame, Recipient of the 2020 SIVB Fellow Award
Michael completed his Bachelor of Sciences in 1983 at the University of Michigan and started his career in fisheries biology with the Peace Corp. Since 1988, he has held positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Michigan, School of Medicine. He is currently the Associate Director of the Transitional Tissue Modeling Laboratory. This highly recognized core facility has the mission of enabling the research community to implement a diverse range of in vitro grown primary human tissues for discovery-based research, as well as personalized regenerative medicine. In addition to providing 3D cultures and human tumor cell models for research and therapy development, Michael offers training to graduate students and researchers in the development and application of these specialized tissue culture techniques. Taken from PubMed, Michael has over 57 publications as well as two book chapters. Many of us will remember his several presentations to the SIVB meetings on 3D culture technologies and in vitro tumor modeling. He has been an active collaborator with Professor James Varani (University of Michigan) for nearly forty years. Michael’s productive collaborations have led to the development of in vitro human macro- and micro-vessel endothelium culture systems. These novel cell systems have been used to model and elucidate the complex processes regulating cellular injury and recovery mediated by leukocytes and cytokines.
Slide from Michael Dame’s Acceptance presentation at the 2020 World Congress on In Vitro Biology Virtual Pre-recorded Meeting
Michael has been a major contributor to our annual meetings. Over the past eight years, he has co-convened at least one if not two symposia or plenary sessions each year. His contacts within the scientific community are considerable and that has allowed him to attract high quality speakers. For 2020, he is serving as the Meeting Program Director and navigating all the challenges that entails. For the IVACS section, he has served as the Program Chair (2014-2016) and Section Chair (2016-2018). Finally, he is serving on the Board of Directors as Member-at-Large representing the IVACS section (2018-2022).
Michael’s passions for his research and willingness to serve the SIVB have made him a very valued colleague and society leader. We congratulate Michael Dame as the well-deserved recipient of the 2020 SIVB Fellow Award.
Submitted by Joshua Gasiorowski and John Harbell
