Created: 3rd January 1999, last updated: 4th January 1999, © 1999 ABRF
The end of the year is always a time for reassessment and reevaluation. The ABRF continues to look for ways to address both mature and cutting edge technologies, and to take on creative new activities to benefit our members.
The results are in from our first Executive Board election since we voted last year to change our voting membership from laboratories to individuals, thus increasing the participation of our members in activities of the ABRF. Al Burlingame and Len Packman will join the Executive Board starting in January, 1999. Len is our first international member to serve. Earlier this year, ABRF members approved a bylaws change enlarging the Executive Board from six to eight people by extending the term to four years, providing more continuity and talent to share the many activities needed to help the society function. John Rush, who has served on the Executive Board for three years, will be stepping down due to prior commitments. Before joining the Executive Board, John was editor of the ABRF News and member of several research groups. He has nurtured all aspects of communications within the ABRF, working closely with our webmaster Ken Mitchelhill and our electronic discussions archivist Dirk Krapf. John is now completing a project to place all 24 of the research group studies published in the "Techniques in Protein Chemistry" series on our Web site, more accessible to members and to interested scientists. He has also worked as liason to the DNA Sequence and Nucleic Acids Research Groups, among others, helping to foster growth of our membership and activities in these key areas. John's quiet, but cogent, insights will be missed. We welcome Paul Morrison, who has agreed to serve the remainder of John's term. At the Executive Board fall planning meeting, Lynda Bonewald was elected as the 1999 ABRF president. We look forward to her leadership in helping the ABRF remain a fresh and creative organization.
How does the executive board work? It operates by consensus, which provides a fair and balanced mechanism for planning and operations. While the president leads the board in setting priorities, it is rare that a major action is taken without discussion and consensus among the board members. Actions on controversial issues are typically delayed until additional information is obtained. Each year we discuss which issues are priorities and we plan how to address them. To ensure survival of the ABRF, long term planning has become ever more important. Since we are a technology driven organization, a major and recurring issue is the identification and incorporation of new technologies needed by ABRF members. In addition, our science policy activities have dramatically increased in the past two years, addressing funding issues as well as practical issues that will improve the daily lives of our members in biomolecular resource laboratories. During this past year, attention has also been paid to the improvement of fiscal and association management activities to ensure the long term health of the ABRF. The executive board seeks input not only from within, but from previous board members, experienced ABRF members, the research groups, and members via the electronic discussion group and meetings.
This is the second year that the ABRF has taken part in science policy initiatives, both through its membership in FASEB and other independent activities. Last year, for the first time, the FASEB Federal Funding Consensus Conference paid close attention to technology and resource infrastructure issues, which certainly contributed to the increased NIH and NSF funding in these areas. See the following two News & Events items for more details on current policy activities.
It is still possible to pre-register for ABRF '99 "Bioinformatics and Biomolecular Technologies: Linking Genomes, Proteomes and Biochemistry" and for the pre-meeting course "Protein Sequencing by Mass Spectrometry", to be taught by Prof. Don Hunt and colleagues. Special thanks go to Murray Hackett and the Mass Spectrometry Research Group for providing us with this unique opportunity. The program for ABRF '99, organized by Mark Lively and David Landsmann (listed on page 4 to 6 of this issue) will provide an exciting opportunity for learning and for interacting with new and old colleagues. ABRF 2000 will be held in Bellevue, WA (outside Seattle), February 19-22, 2000. We're delighted to announce that Ruedi Aebersold has agreed to organize the meeting and is now in the process of identifying a co-organizer and theme.
We look forward to more exciting ABRF activities in 1999, and wish a good new year to all our members.