SICB newsletter 04-2003

The Toronto meetings were excellent meetings and there was strong representation from our division. The highlight of the meeting was the outstanding presentation by Hubert Vaudry as the second annual Howard Bern Lecturer. We will be announcing the third annual Howard Bern Lecturer for the New Orleans meeting in a few weeks but it is not too late to submit nominations to me if you have not already done so. There are several signs of the continuing strength of our division. One sign is that there were a number of outstanding presentations at the meetings by students and the student award winners are announced below. Thanks to Rosemary Knapp and her committee for taking on the difficult job of deciding among so many great presentations. A second sign of the division's strength is that we continue to attract strong candidates for officer positions in the division. These candidates are also announced below. Please take the time to study the biographies and to cast your vote. If you are interested in serving on committees for the division or society or in being considered for future officer elections, please let me know. Thanks to Anne McNabb and her nominating committee for an excellent slate of candidates that ensures the future of the division is in good hands.

Please remember that we now have a divisional mailing list and can distribute emails to the entire DCE membership. If you have an appropriate announcement such as an upcoming meeting, a job opening or funding opportunities to announce, you just need to send them to the secretary, Jim Carr, and he will see they get distributed.

As most of you are probably aware, I am the new program officer for DCE. I thank Michael Moore for his confidence in my abilities. I also want to thank Miles Orchinik for his excellent service to DCE as the previous program officer.

Symposia for the New Orleans Meeting. January, 2004
Plans are well under way for the next SICB meeting in New Orleans, January 4-8, 2004. There are several symposia that should be of interest to DCE members. First, DCE is sponsoring a symposium organized by Robert Stevenson and Shea R. Tuberty entitled "EcoPhysiology and Conservation: The contribution of Endocrinology and Immunology". This one-and-a-half day symposium is designed to integrate the perspectives of environmental/stress physiology with reproductive failure, population extinctions and habitat degradation. Speakers will attempt to bring endocrine physiology of vertebrates and invertebrates into the discussion of species distribution, environmental contamination, and conservation issues.

In addition, there are three SICB-wide symposia that should be of interest to DCE members. These are:

R. Scott Winters: The Integration of Comparative Genomics and Ecological/ Evolutionary Studies
Raymond B. Huey: Integrative Biology: A Symposium Honoring George A. Bartholomew
Robert Dudley and Michael Dickinson: In Vino Veritas: The Comparative Biology of Ethanol Consumption

Request for Symposia Proposals for the San Diego Meeting in January, 2005.
Plans are underway for the SICB Meeting in San Diego, January 4-8, 2005. We are now requesting symposia proposals for this meeting. Symposia are a major draw for our annual meeting and can be extremely rewarding for the organizers as well. Symposium papers are often published together in an issue of Integrative and Comparative Biology (formerly called American Zoologist). The deadline for receipt of symposia proposals is August 15, 2003, so please start developing your ideas and talking with your colleagues about possibilities. If you have an idea for a symposium, please do not hesitate to contact me (selcer@duq.edu). More general information and the symposium proposal submittal forms can be found on the main page of the SICB website. Just click on the button labeled "San Diego 2005 Symposia Submittal".

Minutes of the DCE Business Meeting
Toronto, Canada
January 6, 2003

The meeting was called to order by DCE Chair Michael Moore at 5:15 pm. Mike introduced outgoing SICB president Marvalee Wake, who thanked the attendees for their participation in the business meeting and reiterated the call for service in the society and invited everyone to attend the SICB business meeting. Marvalee introduced incoming SICB President John Wingfield and SICB treasurer Brett Burke.

Mike introduced the current DCE officers and mentioned that Miles Orchinik would be leaving the office of DCE Program Officer. Kyle Selcer will take over as Program Officer immediately after the 2003 Toronto meeting. The minutes from the 2002 DCE Business Meeting were approved.

Bob Dores (Editor in Chief, USA) updated the membership on the status of General and Comparative Endocrinology. Approximately 243 manuscripts were submitted in 2002, and this number is consistent with the last 4 years. The transition of the journal to a new publisher has been smooth for the most part, although the long-standing Academic Press database for the journal crashed during the summer of 2002 but has now been restored.

Miles Orchinik announced that DCE had a total of 60 abstracts, including 34 oral presentations and 26 posters, at the 2003 Toronto. This compared to 42 oral presentations and 35 posters at the 2002 Anaheim meeting. With the current system for topic-based sessions, presenters must pick DCE as their first choice in order for talk to be scheduled with other DCE talks. Miles announced plans for a DCE-sponsored symposia at the 2004 meeting in New Orleans entitled "EcoPhysiology and Conservation: The Contribution of Endocrinology and Immunology." This symposium will be organized by Rob Stevenson and Shea Tuberty and will integrate the perspectives of environmental/stress physiology with reproductive failure, population extinctions and habitat degradation. Miles called for symposia ides for the upcoming 2005 SICB meeting in San Diego.

Michael Moore introduced Diane Witt as the new NSF Program Officer for Neuroendocrinology and Behavioral Neuroscience. Diane encouraged everyone to submit proposals to the Neuroendocrinology Program and made a call for ideas regarding leading edge trends in neuroendocrinology and behavioral neuroscience to support growth of the neuroendocrinology program in the 2005 and 2006 budget periods.

Michael Moore encouraged DCE members to get nominations for DCE officers to Anne McNabb, chair of the nominations committee. Mike also reminded everyone to submit nominations for the 2004 Bern Distinguished Lecture. Mike updated DCE members on the SICB Executive Committee meeting earlier in the week. SICB is in excellent financial condition, with $1.5 million dollars in assets. Mike also mentioned that DCE continues to lose members, as the current membership is 200 compared to 700 DCE members 15 years ago.

STUDENT AWARDS
The Aubrey Gorbman Award for best oral presentation went to co-winners Anna Greenwood (Stanford University, "Electrical properties of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons as a function of reproductive status", co-author: R Fernald), and Katrina Salvante (Simon Fraser University, "Temperature-dependent reproductive and behavioral plasticity in breeding birds", co-authors: RL Walzem, TD Williams). The best poster presentation was awarded to Haruka Wada (University of Texas-Austin, "Stress and development: the role of corticosteroid binding globulin in relating free corticosterone levels in nestling and fledgling white-crowned sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha", co-authors: TP Hahn, CW Breuner) with honorable mentions going to Neelakanteswar Aluru (University of Waterloo, Canada, "a-Naphthoflavone impacts interregnal corticosteroidogenesis in rainbow trout", co-author: MM Vijayan) and Oliver Love (Simon Fraser University, "Modulation of corticosterone in birds: effects of breeding stage, season and relationship to nest abandonment", co-authors: F Vezina, TD Williams).

Special thanks to the Best Student Paper committee: Rosemary Knapp (chair), Creagh Breuner, Sabrina Burmeister, Sheng Li, Matt Lovern, Maria Pereyra, Cathy Propper and Keith Sockman. This is a time consuming but very important task and we all greatly appreciate your efforts!

UPCOMING MEETINGS
An International Symposium on Amphibian and Reptilian Endocrinology and Neurobiology will be held November 4-6, 2003, at Cheju National University Park on Jeju Island, Korea. This symposium will address all aspects of amphibian and reptilian endocrinology and neurobiology, particularly the fields of reproduction, development, and conservation biology. It will consist of oral presentations and poster sessions open to all participants. Contact the conference chair, Dr Hyuk B. Kwon (kwonhb@chonnam.ac.kr), for further information.

The 15th International Congress of Comparative Endocrinology will be organized by Burk and Associates and will be held May 23-28, 2005 in Boston. Check the website (http://www.bu.edu/ICCE15/boston.html) for details.

Current Position: Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology; Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Education: B.S., Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 1984; Ph.D., Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 1989.

Professional Experience: Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada 1989-1990; NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Cancer Research Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley 1990-1993; Lecturer, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley 1992; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1994-2000; Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Rennes, France 1996; Assistant Research Scientist, Reproductive Sciences Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1996-present; Excellence in Research Award, College of LS&A, The University of Michigan 1998; Associate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2000-present; Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2002-present; Visiting Professor, Laboratoire de Physiologie Generale et Comparee, Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France 2002; Editor, General and Comparative Endocrinology 2001-present; Secretary, International Federation of Comparative Endocrine Societies 2001-present.

SICB Activities: SICB member since 1985; Local organizing committee, Annual ASZ Meeting, San Francisco, CA 1987; DCE Representative to the Postdoctoral/Graduate Student Affairs Committee 1991-1993; DCE Nominating committee 1996; DCE Secretary 1999-2001; Co-organizer, Symposium on Amphibian Metamorphosis SICB annual meeting Chicago, IL 2001.

Other Memberships: Society for Neuroscience, Endocrine Society, American Neuroendocrine Society, AAAS.

Research Interests: Developmental neuroendocrinology, environmental endocrinology, evolutionary endocrinology. My research program currently focuses on two primary problems in developmental neuroendocrinology: 1) the neuroendocrine control of amphibian metamorphosis and 2) the molecular biology of thyroid and steroid hormone action in brain development.

Goals Statement: Members of DCE are truly integrative biologists, and often spearhead collaborations among participating divisions within SICB. As chair of DCE I will foster and extend such collaborations, especially by promoting and organizing jointly sponsored symposia. Advances in molecular biology have transformed all areas of the life sciences including comparative endocrinology. I will work to recruit members working at the cutting edge of molecular and cellular endocrinology and help promote and organize symposia that focus on these areas. A major challenge to maintaining the vitality of our division and the society as a whole is to recruit new members. Towards meeting this goal I will organize a membership drive and follow carefully our membership and recruitment efforts. I will provide reports to the membership regarding recruitment and establish a means to recognize successful recruiting efforts. I will continue to work to increase the visibility of our field by representing our discipline both nationally and internationally at meetings of the Society for Neuroscience, Endocrine Society, European Society of Comparative Endocrinologists, and International Federation of Comparative Endocrine Societies (IFCES). As the current secretary of IFCES I am charged with maintaining the finances and the organizational structure of this important international society. I would bring this valuable international experience to the DCE chair position, and continue to establish and strengthen ties among DCE and the participating international comparative endocrine societies.

Current Position: James A. Meier Professor, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND and Director, North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)

Education: A.B., Zoology, Humboldt State University, 1980; M.A., Biology, Humboldt State University, 1982; Ph.D., Zoology, University of California--Berkeley, 1985.

Professional Experience: Assistant Professor of Zoology, North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, ND., 1985-1991; Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Zoology, NDSU, 1986-1990; Associate Professor of Zoology, NDSU, 1991-1997; Director, Regulatory Biosciences Center, NDSU, 1991-2000; Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo, Ocean Research Institute, Japan, 1994; Excellence in Research Award, NDSU, 1996; Professor of Zoology, NDSU, 1997-present; Visiting Professor, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 1998; James A. Meier Professor, NDSU, 1999-present; Associate Editor, General and Comparative Endocrinology, 2001-present; Associate Editor, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 2002- present.

SICB Activities: SICB member since 1982; Organizer, Midwest Regional Conference on Comparative Endocrinology, 1989; DCE Nominating Committee 1990-1991 & 1994 (Chair); Chair, DCE Best Student Paper Award Committee, 1991-1993; Chair, Graduate Student-Postdoctoral Affairs Committee, 1994-1996; DCE Program Officer 1996-1999; Symposium co-organizer, A Tribute to Erika Plisetskaya: New Insights on the Function and Evolution of Gastroenteropancreatic Hormones, 1999.

Other Memberships: AAAS, American Fisheries Society, Endocrine Society, North Dakota Academy of Science (President, 1999-2000), Sigma Xi ( NDSU Chapter President, 1993).

Research Interests: Hormonal regulation of growth, development, and metabolism in vertebrate animals. My current research examines the function and evolution of the somatostatin signaling system.

Goal Statement: As the main association of comparative endocrinologists in North America, DCE should strive to make the annual SICB meeting a premier gathering for the field. We also should continue and strengthen our commitment to the professional development of students and postdoctorals. These goals can be realized by offering a diverse and relevant scientific program, including topical symposia and mini-symposia as well as workshops that address methods and approaches in the field. We also must expand means to support student travel and enhance opportunities for "networking" with established scientists at the meeting.

Candidates for DCE Secretary

Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences & Marine Biology Program, California State University at Long Beach (http://www.csulb.edu/depts/endo)

Education: A.B., Zoology, University of California Berkeley, 1986; M.A. Endocrinology, U.C. Berkeley, 1988; Ph.D. Endocrinology, U.C. Berkeley, 1991.

Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Fellow, Devel. Genetics & Mol. Biol., Case Western Reserve University Medical School, Cleveland, OH, 1992-1993; Postdoctoral Fellow, Endocrinology, Oregon Health Science University, Portland, OR, 1993-1994; Assistant Professor, California State University at Long Beach, 1995-2000; Associate Professor, CSULB, 2001-present. Editorial Boards (J. Endocrinol.; Amer.J.Physiol.-R); grant panels (NSF, USDA).

SICB Activities: First annual meeting was 1988 A.S.Z., San Francisco and I have attended all but three (while postdoc) since then. Each year, I bring 3 student presenters to the annual meeting. Chair, Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC), 1998-2000 (this post is responsible for organizing 3 major events at meetings, including the popular Student/Postdoc Workshop); reappointed Chair, SPDAC, 2001-2004. Judge, Aubrey Gorman Award for Best Student Paper in Comparative Endocrinology, 1999 annual meeting. DCE Symposium Organizer, 2002, Beyond Carrier Proteins: Integrative and Evolutionary Roles of Hormone-binding Protein, published in a special issue of Journal of Endocrinology highlighting SICB-DCE symposium (Oct. 2002, vol. 175, http://journals.endocrinology.org/joe/175/0001/1750001.pdf).

Other Memberships: Amer. Fisheries Soc.; Amer. Soc. Ichthyologists & Herpetologists; Southern Calif. Acad. Sci.; Sigma Xi.

Research Interests: Comparative endocrinology of insulin and insulin-like peptides; metabolic hormone regulation in fish (e.g., goby IDDM); insulin-regulated glucose transporter (GLUT) molecular & physiological characterization in fish; growth regulation by IGFs, IGF receptors, and IGFBPs in fish and other (reptilian, murine) models; impacts of stress and xenobiotics on growth, metabolism, and reproduction in marine fish species.

Goals Statement: While I admit to early indoctrination by my mentors Howard Bern and Karl Nicoll, there is another key reason I am committed to SICB as my primary professional membership. There is no equivalent society in which students & postdocs are afforded such an excellent opportunity to present their science to, and intermingle with, the very best scientists of our field. As a faculty with research students, I view SICB meetings as a venue that fosters their development and ultimate success. Additionally, our division, DCE, is an important gathering and focal point, or home, for comparative endocrinology as a field. As DCE Secretary, my major goals will be the following: 1. To disseminate up-to-date information on upcoming events, conferences and relevant funding opportunities of specific interest to DCE members; 2. To increase the importance of our Representative to the Student Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC), particularly in terms of disseminating information to DCE student & postdoc members to promote their involvement (e.g., contribution of article from SPDAC Rep to the Newsletter; inclusion of a 'S-PD report' at DCE Business Meeting; regular communications via email); 3. To promote interaction and collaboration among DCE colleagues and their research programs, which in part should be accomplished by including on http://www.SICB.org DCE members' laboratory website links; 4. To otherwise promote the strengths and interests of SICB and its type of science.

Current Position: Associate Professor of Biology, Tufts University, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental and Population Health, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine

Education: BA in Biology, Swarthmore College, 1988; MS in Biology, Stanford University, 1992; PhD in Biology, Stanford University, 1993

Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Washington, 1993-1996; Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Tufts University, 1996-2002; Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Tufts University, 2002-present; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Population Health, Tufts University, School of Veterinary Medicine, 1999-present; Served as grant reviewer on the National Science Foundation Neuroendocrinology Panel (IBN)

SICB Activities: Member since 1996; Judge for "Best Student Paper" awards committee for DCE at 1998 meeting; Chaired "Best Student Paper" awards committee for DCE at 2001 meeting.

Other Memberships: American Physiological Society; Cooper Ornithological Society; Sigma Xi; Society for Neuroscience; Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Research Interests: My research focuses on understanding the vertebrate stress response. Specifically, I am interested in understanding how glucocorticoids interact with other hormonal, physiological, and behavioral systems in creating an integrated stress response that allows wild animals to survive in their native habitats.

Goal Statement: I feel that SICB, and especially DCE, serves an important role in promoting integrative and comparative science. Even in this age of the human genome project, the comparative approach continues to be valuable in attacking many problems in endocrinology. For this reason, I would like to work to support and publicize our national and regional meetings so that comparative endocrinology continues to thrive.

Division of Comparative Endocrinology (DCE): 2003 Spring Newsletter

Candidates for DCE Secretary