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History of the ABRF

From "ABRF News" June 1991

ABRF was formally organized in 1988, largely through the sustained efforts in 1986-87 by a small group of dedicated scientists including: Donna Atherton, Audree Fowler, Rusty Kutny, Ronald Niece, Alan Smith, and Kenneth Williams. In addition to establishing ABRF, these founders continued to guide the organization during its critical infancy. During ABRF's first three years, our membership has expanded from less than 50 to nearly 200 member laboratories.  

"The ABRF is uncommon in terms of the unrelenting volunteer spirit and commitment of its members and its single-minded  purpose of helping to bring state-of-the-art biotechnology to bear on the myriad array of biochemical and biomedical challenges that are its reason for being."  Ron Niece - "Professional Societies, Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities, Activities and History of ABRF", vol. 4, The Encyclopedia of Bioprocess Technology: Fermentation, Biocatalysis, & Bioseparation, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

More information on the ABRF Wikipedia

A Chronology of how the ABRF began

1986

  • A Research Resource Facility Satellite Meeting, organized by Donna Atherton (Rockefeller University), Audree Fowler (UCLA), Rusty Kutny (DuPont), Ronald Niece (University of Wisconsin), and Alan Smith (UC Davis), was held in conjunction with the Sixth International Conference on Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis in Seattle, WA in August.

1987

  • A second Research Resource Facility Meeting was held at the First Symposium of the Protein Society in San Diego, CA in August. The organizers above identified themselves as the Research Resource Facility Group. Kenneth Williams (Yale University) joined the group and the first Core Facilities Operations Survey was conducted.

1988

  • A Satellite Symposium was held with the 72nd annual FASEB meeting in Las Vegas, NV in May.
  • The first set of sequence and amino acid analysis samples (STD-1 and STD-2) were distributed to 103 core facilities.
  • A Satellite Meeting was also held in conjunction with the Second Symposium of the Protein Society, San Diego, CA in August.
  • The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) was formally organized.
  • The ABRF conducted an instrumentation survey of core facilities.
  • Separate ABRF research subcommittees for protein sequencing and amino acid analysis were formed.
  • The first election of officers was held. Donna Atherton, John Crabb, Audree Fowler, Elizabeth Fowler, Ronald Niece, and Kenneth Williams were elected as members of the first ABRF Executive Committee.
  • The ABRF received a small National Science Foundation Grant.

1989

  • An ABRF Satellite Workshop was held in conjunction with the ASBMB/ASCB joint meeting in San Francisco, CA in January.
  • The ABRF incorporated in the state of Delaware.
  • Samples for the sequence (89SEQ) and amino acid analysis (89AAA1 and 89AAA2) surveys were distributed to 120 core facilities.
  • ABRF Survey and Newsletter subcommittees were formed.
  • The Survey subcommittee distributed a survey on operations in core facilities.
  • Eight companies supported ABRF by becoming corporate sponsors.
  • An ABRF Satellite Meeting was held in conjunction with the Third Symposium of the Protein Society, Seattle, WA in August.
  • The second election of ABRF officers was held in the Fall of 1989. Alan Smith and David Speicher were elected to the Executive Committee to replace Audree Fowler and Donna Atherton.
  • The ABRF applied to the National Science Foundation for multiyear support of its expanding research efforts and related activities.