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Spring Issue 2008
2008 SOT Annual Meeting Sets New Attendance Record
More than 6800 toxicologists and other professionals attended the 47th Annual Meeting in Seattle this past March, setting a new attendance record for the Society. This year’s meeting featured 54 Symposia, Workshops, and Roundtables, 11 Informational Sessions, one Historical Highlights Session, 26 Platform Sessions, 72 Poster Sessions, and a Soapbox Session. In addition, 2363 abstracts were submitted for presentation. More than 2600 attendees participated in the 13 Continuing Education Courses.
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Breaking all previous attendance records, more than 6800 attendees participated in diverse programs and activities. |
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Historical Highlight Chair Michael Madden introduced the session on Ozone Toxicology: Historical Perspectives of the Science that Shaped the Regulatory Standards. |
For a pictorial overview of the meeting, please visit the 2008 Annual Meeting Photo Gallery.
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For the second year, the Soapbox Session proved a popular addition to the SOT Annual Meeting. |
More than half of the conference attendees took full advantage of the meeting and arrived on Sunday and half of the attendees participated in Thursday’s sessions. SOT received rave reviews from attendees and based on survey results, over 80 percent of the attendees rated the scope of the scientific sessions the top two numbers of a 5 point scale. Additionally, more than 70 percent of the attendees were able to attend those seminars that were most relevant to them and more than 80 percent of the attendees reported they had ample time to network.
Highlights of the five-day event included an Awards Musical Prelude featuring Kaley Eaton, a versatile musician and pianist, the 47th Annual Awards Ceremony, the 25-Year Member Reception, the Student/Postdoctoral Fellow Mixer, the Postdoctoral Assembly Luncheon, the Regional Chapter, Specialty Section, and Special Interest Group Receptions, all of which were held at various times between Sunday and Wednesday.
Two Nobel Laureates delivered key addresses during the course of the meeting. Nobel Laureate Lee Hartwell, President and Director of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, delivered the Plenary Opening Lecture, “Perspectives on Science in the 21st Century.” Dr. Hartwell had made major contributions to our understanding of cell division and cancer through his study of genes that control cell division in yeast. He received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is also the recipient of the Medical Research Award, the Gairdner Foundational International Award, and the Alfred P. Sloan Award in cancer research.
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Nobel Laureate Lee Hartwell delivered the Plenary Opening Lecture |
Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Walker delivered MRC Lecture |
Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Walker delivered the Keynote Medical Research Council (MRC) Lecture, “Biological Energy Conversion and Its Toxic Consequences.” He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997. He is also the recipient of the A.T. Clay Medal, the Johnson Foundation Prize, the CIBA Medal and Prize of the Biochemical Society and the Peter Mitchell Medal of the European Bioenergetics Congress and the Gaetano Quagliariello Prize for Research in Mitochondria by the University of Bari, Italy. Both presentations by these Nobel Laureates are available on the 2008 Annual Meeting site.
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Vishal Vaidya chaired the Professional Career Development as a Toxicologist informational session. |
Informational sessions included topics such as “Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Job Interviewing Session for Early Career Scientists” to “Cross-Cultural Understanding of Asian and Western Cultural Values in the Workplace.” These sessions continue to grow in number, variety, and attendance at the Annual Meeting.
A session of note was presented by Dr. Antonio Scarpa, Director of the NIH Center for Scientific Review, who described the "Enhancements in the Review of NIH Grant Applications." SOT welcomes the formation of the new Systemic Injury by Environmental Exposure (SIEE) Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) under the existing Digestive Disease Integrative Review Group. The SIEE SEP will provide for the review of a broad range of toxicology grant proposals by toxicologists. Dr. Scarpa answered questions about how the new SIEE SEP will operate and what would be required for it to become viable for conversion to a standing Study Section.
The Town Hall Meeting focused on the 2008–2011 Strategic Plan. SOT 2007–2008 President George B. Corcoran and SOT 2008-2009 President Kenneth S. Ramos described how the Society will work to advance its vision of "Creating a Safer and Healthier World by Advancing the Science of Toxicology," emphasizing that the Society must position itself to face the challenge of Increasing the Impact and Future Vitality of Toxicology by setting priorities that:
- Increase Scientific Impact
- Advocate for the Value of Toxicology
- Build for the Future of Toxicology
- Expand and Deepen Member Engagement
- Strengthen Organizational Effectiveness.
2008 ToxExpo™ Breaks Records
The 2008 ToxExpo™ in Seattle once again proved to be the biggest and best toxicology-related exhibition in the world with a record breaking 358 companies represented in the exhibit hall. Exhibitors included 72 international companies and 51 first-time vendors who displayed the latest cutting-edge technology and services available in scientific development. The 6800 Seattle attendees were also able to view several hundred scientific poster sessions on a multitude of topics of interest to the Toxicologists.
Planning for 2009 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo™ Underway
SOT is preparing for another successful meeting in 2009. The thematic approach that was used for the 2008 program will be carried forward for the 2009 Annual Meeting and will include Biomarkers, Epigenetics, Inflammation and Disease, and Neurodegenerative Disease. Due to its timeliness, Nanotechnology will again be highlighted. At the close of the proposal submission site in April 30, the Society had received 150 session proposals for consideration. The sessions tentatively accepted for the Baltimore meeting will be posted to the SOT Web site in July.
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Information on the ToxExpo™ is available twenty-four hours a day. Current information on the latest technology, products, and services provided by ToxExpo™ Exhibitors is at your fingertips with just a few clicks of the mouse! If your company is interested in exhibiting at the 2009 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo™ in Baltimore, Maryland, please use the “Become an Exhibitor” link to submit a booth request. For more information, please contact Liz Kasabian, Exhibits Manager, at SOT Headquarters, 703-438-3115. If you know of a company that should be exhibiting at ToxExpo™, please let us know! |
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