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Division of Comparative Physiology & Biochemistry (DCPB): 2004 Spring Newsletter

In this newsletter:




Message from the Chair

Donna L. Wolcott

I have inherited from the Past-Chair, Nora Terwilliger, leadership of a vibrant division, and at over 800 members, the largest in SICB. What an awesome assemblage of expertise and interests! The meetings in January 2004 in New Orleans offered many excellent symposia sponsored or co-sponsored by DCPB. One of the highlights for me was the symposium honoring George Bartholomew, a society-wide symposium presented by the past recipients of the Bartholomew award - all ten of them! At the last minute, George himself was unable to attend.

My 8.5E+09m dash as chair is well underway. The starting line is lost in the detritus of a busy semester, and sometimes when I am churning through the flurry of insistent immediacy - trivial or otherwise, I lose track of the goal. And on really bad days, the goal seems to be getting further away. But one goal is to deliver to my successor a division as healthy as I found it. I realize that it is the height of hubris to think that the success of the division lies in my hands. I share the leadership with an excellent executive committee, (Nora Terwilliger, past-chair; Michael Dickinson, program officer; Paul Yancey, secretary; Joanna Joyner Matos, grad rep, UFL), and receive critical help from DCPB members who are active in affiliated societies. For instance, Lou Burnett is the SICB Representative on the US National Committee of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS). The IUPS Congress in 2005 will be held in the US for the first time in over thirty-five years, so the National Organizing Committee is especially busy. I encourage all of you to contribute to travel support for young investigators, especially those from outside the US, so that they can attend the Congress. Visit http://www.iups2005.org/sponsorship.htm and make a donation. Even if you don't generally attend IUPS functions, please contribute. I would like members of the division to at least match the $5K that members of the SICB executive committee approved (yes, the full $5K requested was reinstated, instead of the initial allocation of $2K). These funds will go to support development of symposia with integrative and comparative content for the Congress. DCPB representatives made a persuasive case to SICB that the US-held Congress provides a unique opportunity to highlight the value of integrative and comparative science - and hence, SICB. A culmination of several years of effort by DCPB/SICB members in planning and organizing, the 2005 Congress presents a real opportunity to move the rudder of the great ship of physiological sciences and shift it ever so slightly from its overly human-centered course into the productive waters of comparative and integrative studies. Oh the places we'll go... So please give generously to the travel fund for the Congress. Who knows? If we can match the SICB donation, it is much more likely that the SICB exec. committee can justify an additional infusion of $10K in 2005, as requested, to support international student travel to the Congress.

Thanks to all of you who expressed interest in doing editorial work for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry - another example of the health of the division. I will pass along the names of the new "recruits with this year's nomination of the DCPB executive committee. Editor Pat Walsh will make the selections for DCPB-affiliated editors from among our nominations, and use the additional pool for any non-affiliated positions that might be available.

Thanks to David Tapley, who organized a well-run competition for best student paper and poster, and the 45 students who participated (23 posters, 22 papers). The quality of the presentations was so uniformly good, that it made selection of the very best work quite difficult. The decisions of the judges can be found in Michael Dickinson's Message of the Program Officer. Please encourage students to participate in 2005. Information on the competition can be found at http://sicb.org/awards.php3#bsp

We have two important elections this Spring: Chair-Elect and Program Officer. Check out the candidates' statements found elsewhere in the newsletter, and vote. Thanks to Nora Terwilliger, Warren Burggren, and Harvey Lillywhite, the nominating committee, for an excellent recruiting effort.

Think back on your past experiences at SICB meetings. Can you think of someone who used to be active, but hasn't shown up for awhile? Pass on the name to me, or even better yet, send an email to him/her yourself. If you have colleagues who could contribute to the intellectual - and social (!) mix of the meetings, contact them, too. Let them know you would value their participation. Keeping and building a strong membership is yet another goal for the division. I look forward to see you all in San Diego next January.






Message from the Program Officer

Michael Dickinson

New Orleans:

A special thanks to all who helped to organize the DCPB-sponsored symposia in the last meeting, including Carl Reiber, John Swallow, Ted Garland, Ray Huey, Gretchen Hofmann, and Robert Dudley. Along with the record number of contributed papers, the symposia helped make the meeting a great success. Thanks also to Yoshitaka Nagahama for delivering the Howard Bern Lecture, as well as Howard himself for providing a tribute to Aubrey Gorbman. Congratulations to Jason Podrabsky, who was awarded this year's George A. Bartholomew Award [see his biography at the end of this newsletter].

San Diego:

The Division is sponsoring two symposia for next year's meeting, both focusing on physiological adaptations to extreme ecological conditions. Peter Albert, Jim Clegg, Brent Mishler, and Mel Oliver have organized a society-wide symposium entitled, "Desiccation Tolerance in Animals, Microbes, and Plants: Comparative Mechanisms and Evolution". Robert Dudley and Doug Altshuler have organized a symposium (co-sponsored with DVM) entitled, "Adaptations for Life at High Elevations".

Future Meetings:

It is never too soon to start thinking of ideas for symposia for future meetings. The symposia are a great way to relay new research themes to all members of the Society. Organizing a symposium does not require as much effort as you may think. Please email me (flyman@caltech.edu) or call (626-395-5775) to discuss ideas and get started.

Upcoming Events:

Next year, the 35th Congress of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) will be held in San Diego from March 31 to April 5th (http://www.iups.org/). Although this meeting is only a few months after the next SICB meeting in the same town, there are many excellent reasons for attending. First, the Congress has an integrative theme this year: From Genomes to Functions, which will be of interest to DCPB members. Indeed, several members of the IUPS Program Committee are active SICB physiologists, including Barbara Block, Malcolm Gordon, and Harold Atwood. Second, the last time this truly international congress was held in the United States was in 1968. Thus, this meeting represents a rare and relatively inexpensive opportunity to meet and interact with our colleagues across the globe. Third, SICB is an official sponsor of the Congress, as are the American Physiological Society (APS), the Society of General Physiologists, and the Society for Neuroscience. The Division encourages all of its members to attend what is sure to be an excellent meeting.

The 7th Congress of the International Society for Neuroethology will be held this summer from August 8-13 in Nyborg, Denmark (http://neuro.biology.sdu.dk/). This tri-annual event is an exceptional meeting for those interested in the mechanistic underpinnings of behavior.

Finally, here are the results of the best presentation competition at the New Orleans meeting:

Best Poster Competition:

First Place: Lisa K. Johnson, UNC Wilmington, NC, for

Johnson, L.K, Kinsey, S.T. "Effects of muscle fiber size on post-contractile lactate recovery in the blue crab Callinectes sapidus." UNC, Wilmington.

Honorable Mention:

Jeremy Holman, College of Charleston, SC, for

Holman, J.D., Burnett, L.E., Burnett, K.G. Jorgensen, D.D. "The depression of oxygen uptake in blue crabs in response to bacterial challenge."

Patrick Baker, Miami University, OH, for

Baker, P.J., Costanzo, J.P., Herlands, R., Wood, R.C., Lee Jr., R.E. "A tolerance for freezing promotes winter survival of hatchlings of the northern diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin."

Best Oral Presentation:

First Place: Allison Green, USC, CA, for

Green, A.J., Manahan, D.T. "Metabolic efficiency in fast-growing larvae."

Honorable Mention:

Katrina Salvante, Simon Fraser U., Canada, for

Salvante, K.G., Walzem, R.L., Williams, T.D. "Differential allocation of lipid resources during avian egg production."

Jason Blank, Hopkins Marine Station, CA, for

Blank, J.M., Morrissette, J.M., Landeira-Fernandez, A.M., Block, B.A. "Cardiac performance of Pacific bluefin tuna in response to temperature."






Message from the Secretary

Paul H. Yancey

MINUTES FROM THE BUSINESS MEETING, JANUARY 5, 2004, NEW ORLEANS

Nora Terwilliger (Chair) presented the minutes from the DCPB Business meeting in Toronto, January 2003. The minutes were approved unanimously.

Nora then introduced Paul Yancey as the newly elected secretary, and thanked Gene Williams for standing for election. Paul then presented the revised divisional bylaws as distributed in the Fall 2003 newsletter. The primary revision was the addition of a section on "Best Student Paper Awards," which had been approved some years earlier but which had not yet been incorporated into the official bylaws. This section began with the following:

"Two awards will be given in the Best Student Paper competition at the Annual Meeting, one for the best oral presentation and one for the best poster presentation. Each year the award will be titled in honor of a distinguished comparative physiologist or biochemist. The name of the honored person will be selected by the DCPB Executive Committee."

The revision was amended with the addition of the word "deceased," to read:

"in honor of a deceased distinguished comparative physiologist or biochemist."

The final version was approved. The current bylaws can be found at:

http://sicb.org/handbook/bylaws.php3#dcpbbylaws

Michael Dickinson (Program Officer) then reported on upcoming meetings, including symposia of interest to DCPB at SICB 2005 in San Diego and at the IUPS 2005 meeting in San Diego. See his report Message from the Program Officer in this newsletter for more information.

Lou Burnett (IUBS and IUPS Representative) and Malcolm Gordon (Chair of Commission on Comparative Physiology for IUPS) and Barbara Block (member of the commission) reported that the IUPS 2005 meeting will be about 10-12% comparative in content, a high amount for a general physiology congress. DCPB members were encouraged to support this meeting and the hard work done to increase the comparative content. This content will include symposia (about 12), featured topics (about 5), contributed papers, and satellite symposia (e.g., on Bioinspired Engineering at Caltech 2 days prior to IUPS). The Krogh Lecture will be given by Roy Weber. A final program will be made in February or March with a call for papers. Nora reported that the DCPB Executive Committee requested $5000 from SICB to help with IUPS planning and $10,000 for student travel and other aspects of the meeting itself, but that the SICB Finance Committee approved only $2000 for planning so far. Nora noted that IUPS ties into the new SICB mission of fostering an international presence for the society, which includes promoting participation of foreign students (who often have difficulties in attending US meetings). Also, SICB should support this rare occurrence of IUPS being held in the USA.

A motion was made by Peter DeFur to call again for $5000 from SICB for the planning of IUPS 2005. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

John Wingfield, President of SICB, dropped in to report on the ongoing SICB Strategic Planning. He is requesting ideas on the society-wide issues of diversity, conservation, outreach to Central and South America. He reported that there is a possibility of holding an SICB meeting in Mexico. Finally, he noted that this New Orleans meeting had over 1500 attendees.

David Goldstein reported on the APS (American Physiological Society) comparative meeting to be held in 2006, noting that DCPB needs to work closely with APS because this meeting is a collaborative project. The deadline for symposia ideas is April 1. He also noted that the upcoming Experimental Biology 2004 meeting has a good comparative component.

Jim Hicks (editor of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, PBZ) reported that the journal has a new manager, Andrea Canfield. The 2003 level of submission (190) was similar to 2002, with 60% from outside the USA, and with a 51% acceptance rate. Turnaround dropped from 82 to 70 days between 2002 and 2003. Publication schedule is still problematical with the University of Chicago Press.

Nora reported that Pat Walsh and Tom Mommsen, editors of CPB (Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology) could not attend the business meeting. However, they did submit a written report on the journal, as follows:

1. Submissions Statistics:
2003 total submissions=771 manuscripts
Acceptances/Rejections for first half of 2003
# MS Total MS %
- desk-rejections 82 424 19.3
- rejections after review 43 424 10.1
Therefore total direct rejection rate is 29.5%

#MS Total MS %
- major problems- not returned by authors 54 424 12.7
- moderate problems - not returned 11 424 2.6
Therefore total indirect rejection rate is 15.3%
Overall rejection rate is 44.8%
Average reviewing time: 3.4 weeks
Reviewers involved in reviewing process: 1341

Overall conclusion is that CBP referees continue to maintain high standards in their reviewing. Increased desk rejection rate by Editors and Editorial Board has decreased use of valuable referee time on questionable papers. Overall rate of manuscript submission remains about the same. We do wish to encourage SICB members with toxicology as part of their research programs to consider publishing in CBP Part C as manuscript flow there is a little lower than Parts A or B, and we can fasttrack manuscripts for more rapid publication. Also, we have a separate subheading for Comparative Genomics, Protemics, Functional Genomics papers. Once papers are accepted in general, our time to publication is 14-18 weeks.

2. We expect some turnover in the Editorial Board this coming year. Since the initital appointment term of an EB member is 3 years, we want to turnover about 1/3 of the board each year so that the whole board does not turnover all at once. This year we will rotate several members off and will be looking especially for expertise in the following areas due to increased manuscript flow in these areas:

Avian Physiology, Toxicology, Nutrition, Development
Fish Nutrition, Aquaculture
Mammalian (grazing) nutrition
Biomechanics, hydrodynamics, functional morphoplogy, locomotory power
Marine Mammal Physiology
Developmental Biology, especially inverts
Immunology

Pathology, Apoptosis
Insect Physiology/Endocrinology
Toxicology:

Cyt P450, antioxidants
Endocrine Disruption and "Normal" Endocrinology
Mammalian Toxicology

Natural Products/Toxins/Venoms
Enzyme/Protein Biochem (Digestive Enzymes, Serum Proteins)
Molecular Biology
Genomics/Bioinformatics

Major duties of EB members are to suggest referees for papers in their areas of expertise, and to advise the Editors on papers where ajudication between conflicting referee reports is required. Manuscript flow is kept to less than 1 per month on average, and in many cases is far lower (e.g., three per year).

We welcome nominations to the EB by SICB DCPB officers and members.

3. Several Scientific Symposia are slated for publication in 2004, and organizers of SICB symposia are encouraged to contact the Editors with ideas for publication of future symposia. However, the number of slots is limited as we do not wish to slow down the publication rate of primary manuscripts.

4. We expect that the switch to fully electronic review will be complete by March 2004.


Nora reported on the best student papers for 2003. Dave Tapley organized the judging at this 2004 meeting. Nora then presented a proposal from the SICB Executive Committee and Program Officer to change contributed talks from 20 to 15 minutes to allow synchronization with the 30-minute symposium talks. There was considerable discussion on this issue, with some members noting that 15 minutes does not give much chance to develop concepts for audience members outside a narrow field, while others noted that this change would allow more students to give talks. There was no general consensus.

Nora finally welcomed Donna Wolcott as the incoming Chair of DCPB. Donna thanked the division, and the meeting was adjourned.




ELECTION OF OFFICERS

We are holding elections for DCPB Chair and Program Officer. Electronic ballots will be distributed during the summer. Please be sure to vote. Biographies of the candidates are below:

DCPB Elections

Candidates for Chair

Joe B. Williams

Current Position: Associate Professor, Ohio State University

Education: B.A., David Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1970; M.A., Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1974: Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. 1977; Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 1980-1982

Professional Experience: isiting Instructor in Biology at University of Illinois, 1976; Assistant Professor, Division of Natural Science, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, 1977-1979; Postdoctoral Fellow University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1980-1982; Associate Professor, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, 1982-1986; Visiting Research Fellow University of Western Australia, Perth,Western Australia, 1986; Research Fellow University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 1986-1989; C.S.I.R. Fellow University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1988-1994; Assistant Professor Ohio State University, 1994-1998

SICB Activities: 6 posters, 6 oral presentations, symposium speaker for SICB symposium "Taking Physiology to the Field". 16 papers published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 1 paper published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Other Memberships: Ecological Society of America, American Ornithologists Union, Cooper Ornithological Society.

Research Interests: Research in our laboratory is generally concerned with both pattern and process of physiological adaptation of animals, especially vertebrates. Because studies on animals living in harsh environments often provide insights into the constraints and mechanisms driving physiological adjustment, we concentrate much of our work in regions of climatic extremes, especially deserts. Much of our work has revolved around attempts to understand the factors that influence daily energy and water requirements because these together are fundamental requisites for life and likely candidates for the action of natural selection. Recently we have begun an examination of the influence of lipids in the skin of birds on cutaneous water loss. Tropics vs temperate

Statement of Goals: The SICB has as one of its goals to facilitate "Integrative Biology" among its members. I think that we need to highlight this goal, and to insure that members of the DCPB have the opportunity to exchange ideas with other members in far different fields of endeavor from their own.




Patrick J. Walsh

Current Position: Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.

Education: Ph.D., Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, 1981; B.S., Biology and Chemistry, University of Miami, 1975.

Professional Experience: Director, NIEHS Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, University of Miami, 1999-present; Co-Editor-In-Chief, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 2001-present; Division Chair, Marine Biology and Fisheries, University of Miami, 1991-1995; Assistant and Associate Professor, University of Miami, 1984-1992; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, 1983-84; Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, 1981-1983.

SICB Activities: Member since 1983; Student presentation judge for DCPB; Numerous contributed presentations.

Other Memberships: AAAS (Fellow, 1995); Sigma Xi; Society for Experimental Biology; American Physiological Society; Canadian Society of Zoologists; Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; Editorial Board, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 1997-present; Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), Committee on Oceans and Human Health, 2003-present.

Research Interests: Comparative and evolutionary aspects of the physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of aquatic animals, especially marine fish, mollusks, crustaceans and cnidarians, and especially nitrogen metabolism and excretion; physiology and biochemistry of xenobiotic metabolism; biochemical and molecular genetics of populations.

Statement of Goals: While I have been a rank and file member of ASZ/SICB for a number of years, I would like to try to contribute more to the society. As DCPB Chair, I want to try to accomplish several things: (1) ascertain the priorities of the division members as to what issues DCPB should pursue; (2) work with other DCPB officers to continue the high quality of scientific symposia at the annual SICB meeting and at international meetings; (3) foster communication between DCPB and other international comparative societies; (4) foster communications between DCPB and funding agencies (e.g., NSF, NIH, etc.) to try to enhance funding opportunities for comparative research; (5) encourage senior DCPB members to continue to mentor our student, postdoctoral and junior-faculty division members; (6) learn new things and have fun.




Candidates for Program Officer

Kimberly A. Hammond

Current Position: Associate Professor of Biology, University of California, Riverside

Education: Ph.D., Dept. of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 1989; M.A., Dept. of Biology, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, 1983; B.S., Dept. of Zoology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 1978

Professional Experience: Post Doctoral: Department of Physiology; UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles CA. 1990-1994

SICB Activities: Member Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Affairs Committee, 1989-1992; Member-at-Large (Society Wide) and Executive Committee, 2000-2003.

Other Memberships: Ecological Society of America; Sigma Xi; Current President of the Riverside Chapter: Comparative Nutrition Society: American Physiological Society

Research Interests: I am interested in how anatomical and physiological capacities meet environmental demands. Animals often meet demands by changing organ size and organ capacity. This approach demands an appreciation of both mechanistic physiology and ecology. I study animals at all stages of development, concentrating on the effects of environmental demands in utero and during adulthood. At present I work primarily on physiological acclimation and adaptation to high altitude.

Statement of Goals: I have two sets of goals. One involves the distribution between symposia, posters and talks at the annual meetings, and the other involves maintaining an integrative thread that will allow sessions on different, but closely related topics, to be accessible. Talks allow for presentations with the dynamics of a group discussion. Posters allow for one-on-one discussion and a longer "look" at the data. Both are very important venues and neither type of presentation should be de-emphasized. I would work hard to promote a distribution of presentations that brings us all together in BOTH venues. At any scientific meeting, it is critical to maintain a cohesive set of presentations that will compliment symposia talks. However, I would also like to allow for presenters to bring new ideas and connections between fields to the table. An example would be to blend traditional "developmental biology" talks (traditionally very cell and molecular) with integrative physiology research that is developmental in nature. I will work hard to find creative ways to do this.


Gretchen E. Hofmann

Current Position: Assistant Professor and Worster Scholar, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Education: BS, University of Wyoming, 1987; MS University of Colorado, Boulder, 1988; PhD University of Colorado, Boulder, 1992

Professional Experience: Assistant Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2002-present; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Arizona State University, 1999-2002; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Univ. of New Mexico, 1997-1999; NSF Marine Biotechnology Postdoctoral Fellow, Oregon State University and Stanford University, 1994-1996; Postdoctoral Research Fellow Oregon State University, 1992-1994

SICB Activities: Member since 1992. Routine attendance at annual meetings, missing some due to travel to the Antarctic. Co-organized two SICB symposia: the biology of heat-shock proteins (with Martin Feder) at the Denver meeting in 1999 and the Bartholomew Symposium in New Orleans in 2004. Participated in 1 other SICB symposium in the ecological physiology of the rocky intertidal zone. Graduate students and post-docs from the lab attend meetings and present their research.

Other Memberships: AAAS, Western Society of Naturalists

Research Interests: My research focuses on the physiology and comparative biochemistry of marine invertebrates and fish in an ecological context. I am particularly interested in temperature biology and have studied the expression and function of heat-shock proteins in natural populations of marine ectotherms. Although the techniques employed in my lab are biochemical and molecular, my research integrates these approaches with broader ecological question such as addressing the factors that contribute to setting species' range limits in the marine ecosystem.

Statement of Goals: My interest in serving as DCPB Program Officer lies in my past and present experiences with SICB, and my interest in the future of our field. As a student attendee to SICB meetings, I met scientists such as Jeff Hazel - who scared me a bit at that time - but who later became my mentor as a colleague. I first met my postdoctoral supervisor, George Somero, at a SICB meeting. These contacts and the opportunity to talk with the finest in our field were, in hindsight, invaluable to my future path in academics. In the present, as I bring my own students to the annual meetings, I am more committed than ever to preserve and enhance such opportunities for the future crop of comparative physiologists. (You know who you are.) Finally, as an ever greater diversity of biologists becomes interested in organismal biology and recognizes the power of comparative approaches, we have an opportunity to expand our field and interact with researchers in other divisions and with those from areas that have not been traditionally represented within SICB. One of my goals as DCPB Program Officer would be to focus on new areas of overlap with other fields and to emphasize how our area of study is strengthened by such interactions.






Message from the Graduate Student/Postdoc Representative

Joanna Joyner Matos

Hello DCPB student members! The 2004 Annual Meeting in New Orleans was a great success, both for the DCPB and for student members of SICB. There were more students attending and presenting at the meeting than at any SICB meeting in recent memory. SICB generously provided housing to a large number of us and the student activities were very fun. DCPB members were kept busy by interesting several interesting symposia, especially the symposium honoring George A. Bartholomew.

Do not forget that the Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research grant proposal is due March 15. This program funds the purchase of specific equipment necessary to undertake the proposed research project and travel to a field site. http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/index.shtml

If you like thinking ahead, there are several large grant/fellowship opportunities due early in the fall, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, EPA STAR proposal, SICB Grant-in-Aid of Research and Graduate Student Travel Fellowship, and the Sigma Xi Grant-in Aid of Research. Details of all of these programs are available on the respective web sites.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at jjoyner@zoo.ufl.edu

Good luck with your studies and research!





The George A. Bartholomew Award Competition

The Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry solicits applications and nominations for the 2004 George A. Bartholomew Award-an annual prize given to a young investigator for distinguished contributions to comparative physiology and biochemistry or to related fields of functional and integrative biology. Eligible candidates are those who have completed their doctorate within the past seven (7) years. Additional information about the award is a available on the SICB website (http://www.sicb.org/grants/bartholomew.php3). Candidates may apply directly or be nominated: both types of candidates will be evaluated equivalently. Applicants should submit a short description of their work, three (3) reprints, and a curriculum vita and also request three letters of recommendation. Nominators must arrange for these same materials (except that only two additional letters of recommendation are required) to be submitted to the Committee. All materials should submitted electronically in pdf format to the Chair of the Selection Committee Dr. W. Ross Ellington, Department of Biological Science, Florida State University (email address: elling@bio.fsu.edu). Deadline for receipt of all materials is Wednesday, 1 September 2004. The winner will present a Plenary Lecture at the 2005 Annual Meeting in San Diego.


The 2003 George A. Bartholomew Recipient: Jason Podrabsky

Jason Podrabsky graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Oregon State University in 1993. Jason was first exposed to the world of comparative physiology at OSU by Dr. George Somero during a course in Marine Biology at Hatfield Marine Science Center. This experience triggered a profound revelation that caused him to abandon his aspirations of becoming a wealthy physician with practices in the Puget Sound and Baja California, for the age-old pursuit of knowledge of fish physiology. Ever since that day he has remained a devout comparative physiologist. After spending some time as a technician in Dr. Somero's lab he abandoned the rain and gloom (and athlete's foot) of Oregon for the blue skies and mountains (and altitude sickness) of Boulder, Colorado. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology under the direction of Dr. Steve Hand at the University of Colorado. Jason's dissertation focused on the bioenergetics of diapause in the annual killifish Austrofundulus limnaeus. Having been land-locked for long enough, he decided to return to George Somero's lab, but this time in the much more hospitable climes of Hopkins Marine Station (HMS) in Pacific Grove California. There he enjoyed being the only person working on a freshwater fish at a marine station, and for his efforts was awarded honorary marine biologist status. During his stay at HMS, Jason developed a cDNA microarray for A. limnaeus and used this resource to investigate changes in gene expression associated with diurnal temperature cycling in fish. After three years of living in paradise, he often found himself sitting on the rocks at HMS with his buddies Eric Sanford and Jonathon Stillman, daydreaming of those rainy Oregon winters. His day dreams soon (too soon?) became reality when he accepted a job in his natal state of Oregon at Portland State University in 2003. Current projects in Jason's lab at PSU include, exploring changes in gene expression during entry and exit from diapause and during exposure to anoxia in A. limnaeus, and environmental gene regulation in salt creek desert pupfish.




Link to officer list on DCPB page