OHIO VALLEY REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS

The Ohio Valley Regional Chapter (OVSOT) held its Sixteenth Annual Fall Meeting at Wright State University, Dayton,OH, on October 30, 1998. The topic of the scientific program was "In Vitro Approaches in Toxicology." The program was presided over by Dr. Daniel Acosta, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, who led off the symposium with a presentation entitled "An In Vitro Approach to the Study of Target Organ Toxicity of Xenobiotics". The other invited speaker and title of their presentations were: Dr. RoseMarie Osborne, Proctor & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH, on "Alternative Approaches to Assess the Occular Irritancy of Consumer Products"; Dr. Neil Wilcox, Food & Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, on "A Model for the Validation and Regulatory Acceptance of Alternative Testing Methods"; and Dr. John Frazier, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH, on "The Role of In Vitro Methods in Predictive Toxicokinetics." Approximately 74 members attended this year's event. There were 25 poster presentations, 17 by graduate students from Indiana University, Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, the University of Cincinnati, US EPA, and from the Air Force Research Laboratory/Operational Toxicology and the Navy Medical Research Institute/Toxicology Detachment. Winners of the graduate student poster presentation
competition were (1st Place) Matthew Leff, University of Louisville, "Pre-Translational Regulation of Recombinant Human N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) Allelic Variants in Yeast: Identification and Characterization of Three Novel Alleles"; (2nd place) Jian Cai, University of Louisville, "Use of GC/MS to Investigate Mechanisms of N-(Carboxymethyl) Valine Adduct Formation in Hemoglobin"; and (3rd Place) Erin Votaw, Ohio State University, "Inhibition of UVB-Induced Carcinogenesis by Theaflavins" . Judges for this year's graduate student competition were Dr. Mark Carfagna, Lilly Research Laboratories, Dr. William Baker, Wright Patterson and Dr. Bjorn Thorsrud, Springborn Laboratories. During the business and Executive Council meetings, elections were held for outgoing officer/councilor positions. Results of the election were as follows:

Vice-President, Dr. Yvonne Dragan, Ohio State University;
Secretary/Treasurer, Dr. Lisa Kamendulis, IndianaUniversity;
Councilor, Dr. John Lipscomb, US EPA.

Outgoing Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Carl Potter, EPA, gave a treasurer's report. Incoming OVSOT President, Dr.David Hein, University of Louisville, presented an engraved gavel to outgoing President, Dr. Darol Dodd, ManTech Environmental, in appreciation for his achievements and hard work during his tenure. The OVSOT Chapter has also established a Web site that is accessible through the SOT homepage.

(1st Place) Matthew Leff, University of Louisville, "Pre-Translational Regulation of Recombinant Human N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) Allelic Variants in Yeast: Identification and Characterization of Three Novel Alleles"

(2nd place) Jian Cai, University of Louisville, "Use of GC/MS to Investigate Mechanisms of N-(Carboxymethyl) Valine Adduct Formation in Hemoglobin"

(3rd Place) Erin Votaw, Ohio State University, "Inhibition of UVB-Induced Carcinogenesis byTheaflavins"

Left to right: David W. Hein, University of Louisville (incoming OVSOT President), John Frazier, Wright-Patterson AFB, Neil Wilcox, Food & Drug Administration, RoseMarie Osborne, Proctor & Gamble Company, Daniel Acosta, University of Cincinnati, and Darol Dodd, Man Tech Environmental, (outgoing OVSOT President).