Annual Reports:
ANNUAL REPORT: 2008–2009
May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009
I. Officers/Committees: |
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Officers: |
2008–2009 |
2009–2010 |
President: |
Carol Auletta |
George DeGeorge |
President–Elect: |
George DeGeorge |
William Reifenrath |
Vice President: |
William Reifenrath |
Jeff Yourick |
Secretary/Treasurer: |
Carol Sabourin |
Carol Sabourin |
Sr. Councilor: |
Bob Osterberg |
Jens Mortensen |
Jr. Councilor: |
Jens Mortensen |
Cynthia Ryan |
Student Representative: |
Michael Borland |
Lauren Mordasky Markell |
Post Doc Representative: |
Dae Joon Kim |
Dae Joon Kim |
Past-President: |
David Hobson |
Carol Auletta |
Program: The current President, Carol Auletta (now Past-President), was responsible for facilitating the development of proposals scientific sessions at the 2009 annual meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland. These proposals (symposia, workshops, continuing education etc.) were submitted in the spring of 2008 and the specialty section was responsible for one workshop that was selected for inclusion in the program. Response and attendance at the workshop was excellent. George DeGeorge (now current President) is responsible for organizing the proposal submission for scientific sessions at the 2010 annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Communications: The Vice-President, William Reifenrath, was in charge of communication within DTSS with the primary duties consisting of the preparation of the DTSS Newsletter and updating the DTSS section of the SOT website. William Reifenrath is now the new web site point of contact for the DTSS and will be responsible for revising and updating the web site in the coming year.
Awards: DTSS sponsors the DTSS Best Paper of the Year Award, Sinclair “Student Award”, Stratacor “Post-Doctoral Award”, and the Battelle Student Research Awards. Senior Councilor, Bob Osterberg, had the task of supervising the awards given by DTSS for presentations made at the annual meeting. In 2010, Senior Councilor, Jens Mortensen will be responsible for organizing DTSS awards presented at the annual SOT meeting with the help of new Junior Councilor, Cynthia Ryan.
II. Activities:
The Specialty Section Officers and Student Representatives had a fall conference call on September, 2008, to discuss newsletter production responsibilities and content as well as reception preferences and plans for DTSS activities at the 2009 SOT Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.
A newsletter was prepared under the direction of William Reifenrath with contributions from the officers, student representatives and general membership and sent by the SOT to the DTSS membership in November 2008.
Nominations for DTSS elected officer positions were formally solicited in December 2008, and the ballot was finalized in January 2009 and sent to the DTSS membership by SOT. DTSS continues to have a high degree of interest in service by its membership.
The officers had a spring conference call on March 2, 2009 in preparation for the SOT Annual Meeting. We discussed the newsletter production, Annual Meeting and reception, funds in the treasury, the upcoming meeting program, preparation and submission of workshops, symposia and continuing education courses for 2009, and student activities at the SOT Annual Meeting.
Our Student Representative, Mike Borland, assisted by Dae Joon Kim, our Postdoctoral Representative did excellent work presenting our Specialty Section at the Student-Postdoc mixer at the Annual Meeting in March 2009. Interest by students in DTSS activities was again relatively high thanks to the outstanding efforts of both Michael and Dae Joon.
A Roundtable session entitled, “Phototoxicology: A Passing Fancy or Enduring Concern” co-chaired by Bob Osterberg and Don Forbes was sponsored by DTSS at the Annual Meeting in March 2009.
The DTSS officers’ meeting was held on March 17, 2009, in Seattle, WA. DTSS officers met and discussed future scientific programs, SOT initiatives, finances and awards.
The 2009 Annual DTSS membership meeting and reception was held on March 17, 2009 in Baltimore, MD. Attendance was approximately 60 members. Brief presentations included a brief president’s report, financial report, and invitation to prepare and submit proposals for workshops, symposia and continuing education courses for the 2009 SOT Annual meeting.
The Executive Council of the DTSS/SOT was pleased to recognize the increase in submissions for the various DTSS awards this year. The Battelle Student Research Awards were new awards that gave $2500.00 to each of the two student winners to work on their research proposals. These awards were presented by Carol Sabourin of Battelle (DTSS Secretary-Treasurer), Carol Auletta (DTSS President) and Bob Osterberg (Senior Councilor) for the following research proposals: “Analysis of coactivator and corepressor recruitment mediating PPAR modulation of AhR dependent signaling” Michael G. Borland and Dr. Jeffrey M. Peters (Pennsylvania State University) and “Inhibition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in human epidermal keratinocytes by lectin or niacinamide” to Leshuai Zhang, and Dr. Nancy A. Monteiro-Riviere (North Carolina State University).
The DTSS Best Paper of the Year Award was presented by Carol Auletta and Bob Osterberg to Adrienne T. Black, Gray, J.P., Shakarjian, M.P., Mishin, V, Laskin, D.L., Heck, D.E., and Laskin, J.D. Toxicol. Appl. Pharm. 232:14–24, 2008 from Rutgers University and the UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for the paper entitled “UVB light upregulates prostaglandin synthases and prostaglandin receptors in mouse keratinocytes.”
The Informa Paper of the Year Award(s) from Taylor and Francis Publishers were presented by Dr. Wally Hayes for the best papers submitted to the Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology Journal. This year’s winners were: James V. Rogers et al, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, James N. McDougal, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, Jennifer A. Price, Battelle Memorial Institute, Frances M. Reid, Battelle Memorial Institute and John S. Graham, US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland for the paper entitled “Transcriptional Responses associated with sulfur mustard and thermal burns in porcine skin”, Vol. 27, No. 3, September 2008, pages 135-160 and, Pendlington R.U., Minter, H. J., MacKay C, Roper, C. S., Sanders, D. J. and Pease, C. K., Unilever Colworth, Bedford, U.K. for the paper entitled “Development of a modified in vitro skin absorption method to study the epidermal/dermal disposition of a contact allergen in human skin”, Vol. 27, No. 4, pages 283-294, 2008.
The Stratacor-Port Royal Research “Post-Doctoral” Award was presented by Bill Reifenrath of Stratacor (incoming President-Elect), Carol Auletta and Bob Osterberg to Tilton, Susan C., Kelly-Spratt, K.S., Kim, K.H., Lemeur, N., Gentleman, R, Zhang, H., Letarte, S. and Kemp, C.J. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Johns Hopkins University and the Institute for Systems Biology for the paper entitled “A comparative ‘omics’ approach to understanding tumor suppression by p19Arf during skin cancer progression.”
The Sinclair “Student” Award was presented by Marc Tayman of the Sinclair Research Center, Carol Auletta and Bob Osterberg to Surh, Inok and Fisher, Susan M., University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center for the paper entitled “Overexpression of the prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype 1 (EP1) promotes tumor development in COX-2 dependent manner”.
All awards winners received a certificate, a commemorative plaque, and a check.
Dr. George DeGeorge (incoming DTSS President) of MB Research Labs presented an iPOD to a winning student from the Student Reception that was held at the SOT Annual Meeting.
III. Financial Report
Based on the financial summary as of December 31, 2008, the Dermal Toxicology Subspecialty Section (DTSS) has a net asset of $15,007. SOT has not provided the amount for the 2009 dues or Annual Meeting registration. SOT began providing monthly updates in October 2008. Expenditures for 2009 awards will be $5,500. Expenditures are estimated to be $341 for plaques, $123 for the breakfast, and $3,120 plus for the Annual Meeting.
IV. Goals (2009–2010)
- To encourage the identification and preparation of symposia, workshops and continuing education programs by members of DTSS. Explore the development and use of a list of relevant general topics that might stimulate ideas for the preparation of a proposal.
- Continue to seek new members (especially students) for the Dermal Toxicology Specialty Section.
