Our first independent meeting, held in San Francisco from March 30 to April 2, was an outstanding success! It was wonderful to see so many of you there. A world of thanks go to the meeting organizers, David Speicher and Steven Carr, and to the FASEB meeting management team headed by Jean Lash. Their efforts developed an outstanding program that attracted more than twice as many attendees as expected and then handled the logistics so that the meeting went smoothly. Thanks also to the many speakers, all our exhibitors and corporate sponsors, and especially to all of you who attended. We are looking forward to another exciting and informative meeting next year in Baltimore, MD organized by Jack Shively and Lloyd Smith.
The ABRF will present a half-day symposium on August 3 just before the 1996 Protein Society Meeting in San Jose, CA. The programorganized by Ron Niece, Lowell Ericsson, Laurey Steinke, and Nadine Ritterwill feature the presentation of the ABRF Award sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. This year Dr. David J. Lipman will be honored for his outstanding contributions to the field of Computational Biology and the development of software for the comparison of nucleic acid and protein sequences. We hope to see you there.
Immediately before ABRF '96, the Executive Board met for its annual planning meeting to discuss ways of fostering the support of core facilities and furthering the growth of the organization. Three new task forces have been formed. One, led by Ken Williams and Gary Hathaway, will recommend specific actions aimed at improving the status of core facilities; the second, chaired by Len Packman and Tom Andersen, will assess innovative ideas for ABRF initiatives; and the third, which includes Ken Mitchelhill, Dirk Krapf, Jack Shively, and Tom Andersen, will coordinate our electronic communications efforts. Your input into these areas is always appreciated.
Two important policy issues are explained in more detail in this newsletter. First, the Executive Board has implemented a conflict-of-interest policy that now applies to all Associates who serve the ABRF. The second policy matter is a request to change the bylaws to address a long-standing and controversial issue that the Executive Board feels should be resolved by a vote of the membership: whether vendor employees can serve on ABRF Committees. In addition to this, we will ask the membership to vote on incorporating procedural changes into the bylaws so they conform with established administrative practices. Changing the bylaws requires a majority vote of all the Facility members, so please participate in this important election; questions may be addressed to any member of the Executive Board.
Elizabeth Fowler
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