Near the end of one of our most successful years, we are particularly grateful to our Corporate Sponsors and Supporters. Their support enables us to maintain and expand our programs and was instrumental to the success of ABRF '96, our first full-scale, three-day meeting last spring. David Speicher and Steven Carr, the ABRF '96 meeting organizers, deserve special commendation for blazing the trail for our first meeting; Jack Shively and Lloyd Smith are following their example by planning ABRF '97. We deeply appreciate the hard work of our Research Committee members who rose to the challenge of completing studies in time for ABRF '96 and then initiating new studies for presentation at ABRF '97.
We especially thank our out-going Executive Board members, Greg Grant and Sheenah Mische, for their continual efforts to foster the growth and quality of the ABRF. Both have helped build the infrastructure of our Association and have worked tirelessly to ensure that the ABRF continues to be responsive to Associates' needs as we grow. We welcome Karen De Jongh and Reid Townsend as new members to the Executive Board. Both have contributed substantially to our Research Committees, and I am confident that their efforts as Executive Board members will be important to the success of our organization. The Executive Board has elected Ruth Angeletti as the 1997 President and Karen De Jongh as Secretary/Treasurer. We appreciate their willingness to assume these leadership roles and ask you to join us in supporting their efforts as our organization continues to develop.
Balloting the membership on proposed changes to the Bylaws did not provide the number of votes needed to include a statement on the eligibility of vendor employees to serve on Committees. This left the matter to the discretion of the Executive Board. The Board recently decided that vendor employees may serve on Committees subject to the same conflict of interest policy and selection procedures that govern all Committee members. Details of these guidelines may be found in this newsletter issue.
Planning is nearly complete for our next meeting, ABRF '97: Techniques at the Genome-Proteome Interface. We expect this meeting will be as successful as the 1996 meeting. The program for the meeting includes three full days of workshops, plenary sessions, tutorials, poster sessions, and presentation of study results by each of our Research Committees. The exhibit space has been completely subscribed, and a large number of poster abstracts have been received. This meeting will offer all of us an opportunity to learn about the latest techniques while renewing old friendships and making new ones. We hope to see you at this meeting in Baltimore, MD from February 9 to 12, 1997.
Elizabeth Fowler
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