Present: Prof. Huw Rees (chair), Dr Andy Bates, Dr Dave Fernig, Prof. Malcolm Jackson, Dr Sandy McLennan, Prof. Philip Rudland.
1. Apologies were received from Prof. Julian Crampton and Dr Mike White.
2. Minutes of the meeting of ‘October 22 1999 were accepted.
3/4. Matters arising/Reports
3(i) Outline programme HHR has now determined that a proposal will need to reach the Biochemical Society by February 7 2000, for a meeting of the Meetings Committee on February 24. It was agreed that this committee should aim to have the proposal completed by Christmas. HHR also enquired with Sheila Mills at the Biochemical Society about registration fees, and has also asked for information about clashes with other meetings at around the proposed date. He has not yet received a reply, and will chase this up in due course.
Action HHR
3(ii) Accommodation HHR and DGF understood that bookings had also been made at Dale Hall, although these were not notified to us by the Conference Office. This anomaly is being investigated.
5. Symposia HHR has contacted Jon Saunders and Brian Tomsett. Jon Saunders is investigating a possible link with SGM through Pat Goodwin of SGM. It was suggested that host-pathogen signalling might be an appropriate theme. Brian Tomsett is happy to collaborate on a ‘Plant Signalling’ symposium. MRHW has contacted Andrew Millar (Warwick), and he is keen to participate in planning the Plant Signalling Symposium. He suggested that Steve Kay (Scripps) would be an ideal Plenary speaker to bridge Non-invasive Biochemistry and Plant Signalling (see 5).
5. List of speakers The list of speaker’s names was corrected and it was agreed that the minutes would be made available to ‘Biochemistry’ staff in the School, plus Prof. Jon Saunders and Prof. Brian Tomsett.
Action ADB
6. Finance HHR has spoken to Dr Bob Howells at The Wellcome Trust about the possibility of support. The Trust would be happy to accept an application, on the basis that it is a Departmental meeting, with partial support from the Biochemical Society. The normal limit is £ 5000, but he intimated that a larger grant was a possibility. An application form is available on the Web, and is considered through normal scientific committees, in this case, Molecular and Cell Biology. The contact is Jan Whitby. It was also considered that an approach could usefully be made through the History of Medicine section of the Trust, in view of the historical aspects of the meeting. It was agreed that MJJ would approach Jan Whitby and the History of Medicine Section informally.
Action MJJ
5. Programme (continued)
(i) Further speakers The following names were also added to the list of potential high-profile speakers:
A few of these have come from a list of Howard Hughes Investigators*, and will need further investigation in terms of precise research area, etc. The last three were added after the meeting by HHR, in part after discussions with Chris Green.
Action DGF
(ii) Timetable and symposia The outline timetable from the previous meeting was considered in more detail, and the following provisional timetable was proposed:
9.00 - 10.00 Plenary
10.00 - 10.30 Coffee
10.30 - 12.00 Parallel sessions (3 x 30 min?)
12.00 - 14.00 Lunch and posters
14.00 - 15.00 Plenary
15.00 - 15.30 Tea
15.30 - 17.00 Parallel sessions (3 x 30 min?)
17.15 - 18.15 Named lecture
This would make a total of nine plenary lecturers (including the Morton Lecturer and a Historical Lecturer) and 54 other speakers in nine full-day symposia (although symposia need not be a full day). Although the speakers identified above and in the previous minutes were originally considered as potential plenary lecturers, it was decided to place them (sometimes rather arbitrarily) into nine possible symposium themes (not titles). It was recognised that this process of programme design will require modification in the light of discussions with Biochemical Society Groups and other collaborating organisers; however, the intention was to design an initial framework:
Non-invasive Biochemistry
Steve Kay, Roger Tsien
Ageing/Stress/Redox Signalling
Rick Morimoto, Susan Lindqvist, Nick Jones
Lipids/Signalling
Bob Michell, Mike Waterfield, Michael Berridge, Dennis Noble
Gene expression/Steroids/Retinoids
Ron Evans, Malcolm Parker, Roger Tsien, Bert O’Mally, Pierre Chambon, Emile Baulieu, Philip Beachy, H. Clevers, Bernd Gröner, Aaron Klug
Cognitive Neuroscience
Steven Rose, Nancy Rothwell, Gareth Williams, Michel Goedert, G. Smith, John Scott, G. Smith (Rob Beynon?)
Plant Signalling
Steve Kay, Andrew Millar
Microbes, Signalling and the Environment
Cell cycle/checkpoints
Richard Triesman, Paul Nurse, Salvador Moncada, David Lane, Steven Elledge
Phosphorylation
Phil Cohen, Steve Jackson, Stevan Hubbard, Michael Karin, Tom Blundell, Nick Tonks, Axel Ullrich, Bill Gullick, Joan Massagué, Norbert Perrimon
Of these, the following were considered to be the ‘A’ list for Plenary Lectures:
A historical speaker will also be required. HHR agreed to speak to George Pitt about some possibilities.
Action HHR
None of the above were considered to be appropriate for the Morton Lecturer, since Ron Evans has already had the award. Further names which were thought appropriate were:
6. Size of lecture theatre for Plenary sessions It is clear that it will not be possible to accommodate the whole meeting in one Lecture Theatre in the Science Block for the Plenary sessions. After some discussion of the possibility of holding them in the new Medical School theatre, it was agreed that the plenary and name lectures will be held in LTA, with overspill in LTB (and possibly another theatre). For the record, the capacities are: A - 374, B - 250, C - 150, D - 85. It was felt that, with appropriate use of modern technology and some forethought, it ought to be possible to show slides simultaneously in the overspill theatre, thus removing the major problem with a video-only arrangement.
7. AOB - None.
8. Date of next meeting: Thursday November 11, 9.00 am
Andy Bates