Created: 1st December 2000, last updated: 30th December 2000, © 2000 ABRF
ABRF Annual Meetings
ABRF2001, to be held February 24 through 27 in San Diego, California, is fast approaching. Paul Tempst and David Schwartz have put together an exciting program. Plenary speakers include Ronald Evans, Roger Brent, Andrew Marks, Allan Wolffe, and Roger Kornberg. Considerable interest has been expressed in John Quakenbush's pre-meeting course on microarray analyses. The ABRF Award Recipient this year is Csabo Horvath. He is being recognized for his accomplishments in the development of High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography, which is essential for many of our technologies. Mark your calendars for ABRF 2002, to be held March 9 through 12 in Austin, Texas. Plans are being made to incorporate proteomics as a major theme.
Research Group Studies
The Research Group Guidelines are being revised for presentation at the Research Group Chairs-Executive Board meeting at ABRF 2002. The following is a suggested timeline:
January
Recruit new members for the committee,
Executive Board approval of new members
ABRF Meeting
Old and prospective new members meet at the conference
Poster presentation
Final manuscript due
March
Elect new chair for group.
June 1
New research project defined and submitted to the Executive Board (may be a 2-year study, but must be in proposal)
June/July
Project details finalized
September 1
Study disseminated
November 1
Data in
November-January
Data analyzed and manuscript drafted; poster should be derived from manuscript
It has also been suggested that the following points be included: that the September issue of JBT be dedicated to Research Group studies, that members be recruited based on writing skills as well as technical skills, that studies be designed for introduction of new techniques and assessment of a laboratory performance, and that more challenging studies be designed for those who have the appropriate facilities and equipment. The focus of the latter group would be on cutting-edge technology. The Executive Board welcomes additional comments and suggestions for the Research Group Guidelines.
JBT and HighWire
Ralph Bradshaw, chair of the Publications Committee, has been instrumental in promoting JBT online through HighWire. HighWire was recommended because of their vast stable of journals, including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, among others. ABRF members will be able to access HighWire through a hyperlink on our Web Site. ABRF members will also be able to view abstracts or contents of all other HighWire journals. Members will use a password for access to the articles in JBT. JBT articles will be available online prior to print publication, allowing faster dissemination of information.
New Editor-in-Chief Sought for JBT
Clayton Naeve has announced his resignation as Editor-in-Chief of JBT. Clayton's enthusiasm and drive have been responsible for the establishment of JBT as a new vehicle for the growth of knowledge in the field of biotechnology and as a mouthpiece for ABRF in the larger scientific community. He will be keenly missed by all associated with the Journal. Both Lynda Bonewald, retiring President of ABRF, and Mark Lively, incoming President, have expressed their gratitude to Clayton for services to the Society. The Publications Committee, chaired by Ralph Bradshaw, is seeking nominations from the membership of ABRF for a new Editor-in-Chief, and asks that these be sent in writing to Ralph at rablab@uci.edu.
Dave Speicher will join Clive Slaughter as the newest Associate Editor for JBT. He and Clive will be reorganizing the review process and restructuring the editorial board. ABRF members can support JBT by submitting their best work to our society's journal. Often, articles published in the field of biomolecular techniques present "results" but not detailed methods. ABRF members are encouraged to publish articles providing detailed techniques in JBT to be referenced in other articles. JBT will also publish Research Group reports targeted to ABRF members and including current and future technologies.
ABRF Web Page
Ted Thannhauser, chair of the Web Site Committee, has presented a plan to secure bids from commercial companies to update our Web Site. A list of desired features for the redesigned ABRF Web Page includes the following: the Web Site should serve as a window to other resources; Research Groups should be able to do online updates; there should be hyperlinks to corporate sponsors' sites; and laboratories should be able to do online updates of their entries in the "yellow pages." The option of banner advertising to generate revenue will be explored.
New Board Members
It is with regret that we bid farewell to John Stults and Karen DeJongh as they rotate off of the Executive Board as of January 1, 2001. John has provided insight and wisdom concerning ABRF operations in his usual quiet yet effective manner. Karen has been absolutely invaluable as treasurer of the organization and leaves this position with ABRF in good financial shape. Laurey Steinke will assume the Treasurer's position, and Mark Lively will become President. We are looking forward to the participation of our newest board members, Ted Thannhauser and Preston Hensley.
The ABRF/American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Joint Symposium will be presented at the 2001 ASBMB Annual and Satellite Meetings held in conjunction with Experimental Biology 2001, to be held March 31 through April 4 in Orlando, Florida. This is a continuing series sponsored by both ABRF and ASBMB. The goal of these joint symposia is to bring emerging technologies to biochemists and molecular biologists, who can then use the new techniques in their research programs. "High-Throughput Genomic Technologies: Decisions Based on Science and Reality" is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 4. Michael R. Sussman, Director of University of Wisconsin Biotechnology Center, and Ronald L. Niece, Research Resources and Technologies, organized the symposium, which covers several different applications of developing technologies. The symposium includes an introduction highlighting the role of resource laboratories in contemporary research and illustrating how the instrumentation and experience of the core laboratory can expedite research programs. Dr. Sussman will discuss progress in the development of saturation reverse genetics using knockout plants and will describe a maskless array synthesizer for producing high-density DNA oligonucleotide arrays "on the fly." Hundreds of thousands of lines can be screened for knockout plants for any gene of interest. Combinatorial chemistry comes to the laboratory benchtop in the form of high-density oligonucleotide arrays. Dr. Smith addresses the problem of complexity in mass spectral data. His laboratory's approach is to reduce complex spectra by controlling the charge state of the ion to a small number. Using electrospray ionization and an orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometer, the aerosol is exposed to a bipolar ionizing gas. In mixtures of proteins or nucleic acids, spectra are simplified and chemical noise minimized.