Present: Prof. Huw Rees (chair), Dr Andy Bates, Dr Dave Fernig, Prof. Malcolm Jackson, Dr Sandy McLennan.
1. Apologies were received from Prof. Julian Crampton, Prof. Philip Rudland and Dr Mike White.
2. Minutes of the meeting of November 19 1999 were accepted.
3. Reports
HHR and ADB reported on the approaches to the Biochemical Society Interest Groups. Ten Groups were approached. An enthusiastic response was obtained from eight. No response was obtained from the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology and the Molecular Enzymology Groups, and the Protein and Peptide Science Group later withdrew their initial expression of interest leaving the following Groups in the frame:
- Glycobiology
- Hormone
- Lipid
- Membrane
- Neuroscience
- Nucleic Acid and Molecular Biology
- Regulation in Metabolism
The Society for Endocrinology was also approached. The committee was very enthusiastic about the possibility of contributing to the meeting. The Society is organising the 5th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology in Bristol from 7-11 September 2002. This allows the possibility of joint attendance by participants and speakers from abroad; they are happy to bill STF as a Satellite Meeting. Malcolm Parker from ICRF will coordinate the Society’s involvement in STF.
The meeting of interested parties will take place on January 18.
MJJ reported on his discussions with the Wellcome Trust about possible funding. It is likely that they may regard the meeting as having too great an involvement of Biochem. Soc. to qualify for funding, although he had not yet contacted the History of Medicine section about the possibility of their involvement in the historical aspect of the meeting. It was agreed that the matter of Wellcome funding would be addressed again once the full scale of Biochem Soc’s involvement is known
DGF reported a possible source of funding for a Japanese speaker, the Mizutani Foundation, who might fund a Japanese glycobiology speaker (who need not be resident in Japan).
The possibility of an approach to the European Science Fund/Foundation? was also mentioned.
4. Programme
There was some concern that the current layout of the meeting (reprinted below as A) might include too many plenary speakers, leaving only an average of 6 x 30 min slots per colloquium. It was agreed that the meeting in January would be presented with three alternative layouts for discussion:
A
This makes a total of 9 plenary lectures and 54 colloquium lectures (6 per colloquium)
B
This makes a total of 6 plenary lectures and 72 colloquium lectures (8 per colloquium), although one extra 30 min lecture, or the extension of a number of slots to 40 min could be achieved by adding 30 min to the day in B.
C
As A or B with an additional half day for more flexibility (not really favoured by the Programme Committee).
Dates of meeting. It appears that the Neuroendocrinology Congress in Bristol will begin on Saturday September 6. For this reason, and to take advantage of cheaper flights over Saturday night, it was agreed that the last day (or half day) of the meeting would be Friday September 6.
A provisional assignment of the colloquia to specific days was proposed (on the initial assumption that all would be one day long):
Day 1
Signalling from the Membrane; Non-invasive Biochemistry; Stress Signalling and Ageing
Day 2
Lipid Signalling; Microbes, Signalling and the Environment; Cell Cycle Checkpoints
Day 3
Nuclear Receptors and Gene Expression; Plant Signalling; Signalling in Neuroscience
5. Book of the Meeting
The assumption is that a book with a biomedical slant will sell well. Clearly not all the colloquia will come into this category, but in any case, inclusion of the whole meeting would be impossible in one volume. One comment was that it would be helpful if the Microbial Signalling colloquium had a biomedical slant, perhaps focussing on host-pathogen interactions. The possibility of a publication will be discussed at the January meeting.
6. Budget
The budget of the meeting was discussed briefly. It was agreed that the registration fee for the meeting would be £25 and £10 for students and qualifying post-docs. It was agreed that DGF will consider an outline budget including fixed costs and speaker-dependent costs for the next meeting.
Action DGF
7. AOB
The matter of the Morton Lecture was discussed. Our current nomination is Bob Michell, although Kai Simons from EMBL, who works on membrane fusion was suggested as an alternative.
8. Date of next meeting: Thursday January 13, Committee Room, Life Sciences.
Andy Bates