MECHANISMS SPECIALTY SECTION

SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY

ANNUAL REPORT

2002/2003

I. Introduction

Officers for the year of this report (2002-2003) and for the current year (2003-2004) are shown below:

2002-20032003-2004

PresidentTerry MonksRobin Goldstein

Vice-PresidentRobin GoldsteinSerrine Lau

Vice-President ElectSerrine LauDaniel Liebler

Secretary/TreasurerGary RankinGary Rankin

CouncilorsJose ManautouMike Aleo

Mike AleoJohn Richburg

Past PresidentDavid RossTerry Monks

Committees for 2002-2003:

Noiminations: Jose Manautou (Chair)

Mike Aleo

David Ross

Annual Meeting Symposium: Robin Goldstein for 2003 Annual Meeting

Carl C. Smith Graduate Student Awards

Chair: Mike Aleo

Screening Committee:Michael Hughes

Raymond Novak

Donald Robertson

Judging Committee:Gary Carlson

Dean Jones

Joan Tarloff

II. Activities

Summary of the Mechanisms Specialty Section Business Meeting

The Annual Business Meeting of the Mechanisms Specialty Section was held in Ballroom I of the SaltPalaceConvention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday, March 10, 2003. The reception began at 6:00 PM and President Terry Monks called the Business Meeting to order at 6:30 PM. He welcomed approximately 150 attendees to the meeting, and then called on the Secretary/Treasurer to make his report.

Secretary/Treasurer Gary Rankin reported that as of the January 31, 2003 financial report received from SOT headquarters it was estimated that the net assets for the Mechanisms SS at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2003) would be $16,901 based on a beginning balance (July 1, 2002) of $11,973 plus dues ($4,167) and interest ($805) and minus expenses to date ($43). He pointed out that this accounting did not include meeting income or expenses for the annual meeting, plaques, SOT staff labor time or non-labor expenses. Based on SOT estimates for this income and expenses, Gary calculated net assets at the end of this fiscal year to be $17,108.52. There was a lengthy discussion as to what to do with the growing balance in the Mechanisms account. Ideas for use of this money included giving travel awards to students and transferring part of the balance to the Carl C. Smith Award Fund. President Terry Monks indicated that members of the Executive Committee would consider all ideas later this year and determine the best way to utilize these funds. Gary also discussed the balance for the Carl C. Smith Fund. He estimated that the balance should be ~$37,500, but that he couldn’t be sure as detailed accounting had yet to be presented by SOT Headquarters. He thanked all donors to the Carl C. Smith Fund and encouraged continued member support of this Mechanisms Specialty Section program.

Vice President Robin Goldstein provided an update on the Continuing Education Courses, Workshops and Symposia sponsored or co-sponsored by the Mechanisms Specialty Section for the March 9-13, 2003 SOT Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. A total of eighteen proposals were submitted and nine were approved for presentation. These programs included:

Continuing Education Courses

Unfolding the Secrets in Culturing Brain Cells: Theory, Techniques, and Beyond

Timothy J. Shafer and Wei ZhengSunday, 8:15 AM

Genomic and Proteomic Array Formats on the Cutting-Edge

Mary Jane CunninghamSunday, 1:15 PM

Workshop Sessions

Dose-Dependent Transitions in Toxic Mechanisms

William Slikker, Jr. and Kendall B. WallaceWednesday, 1:30 PM

Vanilloid Receptors: Mediators of Respiratory Injury

Garold S. Yost and John B. MorrisWednesday, 1:30 PM

Symposia

Understanding Mechanisms of Toxicity of Immunosuppressive Drugs to Improve and Broaden the Scope of Their Use

Uwe Christians and Raymond NovakMonday, 9:30 AM

Free Radicals in the Toxicity of Alcohols

Ronald P. Mason and John L. LemastersMonday, 1:30 PM

Stress Activated Signal Transduction Pathways

Qin M. Chen and Jeffery A. JohnsonTuesday, 8:30 AM

Innovations in Toxicological Sciences: Beyond Genomics: Image Analysis and Computational Biology

Kenneth S. Ramos and Cheryl L. WalkerWednesday, 8:30 AM

Innovation in Applied Toxicology: Genomic and proteomic Analysis of Surrogate Tissues for Assessing Toxic Exposures and Disease States

David J. Dix and John C. RockettWednesday, 1:30 PM

Vice-President Elect Serrine Lau encouraged everyone to consider submitting a Continuing Education Course, Workshop or Symposium proposal for the 2004 Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD. She indicated that the deadline for submission was April 15th, 2003 and that an on-line submission process to SOT had been instituted. She reviewed the guidelines for submission and indicated that Continuing Education speakers would receive $500 for their presentations

Terry Monks announced the results of the recent election for Vice-President Elect and Councilor of the Mechanisms Specialty Section. He recognized Dan Liebler as the new Vice-President and John Richburg as the new Councilor. He also thanked Judy Bolton and Tim Miller for their willingness to be candidates for these positions. He indicated that a Student Councilor would be elected to the Executive Committee during the next election and that to be considered for this position, names should be submitted to Councilor Mike Aleo who will Chair the Nominating Committee.

Terry Monks presented a plaque of appreciation to previous and outgoing Officers of the Mechanisms Specialty Section David Ross (Past President) and Jose Manautou (Senior Councilor).

Terry Monks announced that the Carl C. Smith Awards would be presented. He thanked all of the members for their support of this important Mechanisms Specialty Section activity and acknowledged the generous support of Taylor & Francis. He indicated that Taylor and Francis made a $500 contribution to the Carl C. Smith Fund and has provided subscription gifts for the top three awardees. Corey Gray, a representative of Taylor & Francis was recognized. Terry then briefly reviewed the history of the Carl C. Smith Awards and acknowledged the continuing contributions of Mrs. Tee Smith.

Mike Aleo, who Chaired the selection process, then reviewed the criteria for the Carl C. Smith Award competition. He indicated that of the seventeen submitted applications, ten were selected for recognition. Mike thanked the both sets of judges for all of their hard work and acknowledged how difficult it was to pick the winners because of the excellence of the applications. He indicated that plaques of appreciation would be sent to Final Judges in the near future.

Screening Judges

Dr. Michael F. HughesDr. Raymond Novak

US EPA/NHEERL/PKBWayneStateUniversity

Research Triangle Park, NC27711Detroit, MI48201-2654

Dr. Donald G. Robertson

Pfizer Global Research

Ann Arbor, MI48105-1047

Final Judges

Dr. Gary P. CarlsonDr. Dean P. Jones

PurdueUniversityEmoryUniversity

School of Health SciencesDepartment of Biochemistry

Civil EngineeringBuildingRollinsResearchCenter

550 Stadium Mall Drive1510 Clifton Road

West Lafayette, IN47907-2051Atlanta, GA30322

Dr. Joan B. Tarloff

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

600 South 43rd Street

Philadelphia, PA19104

The following awards were presented by Mike Aleo and Terry Monks with assistance from Corey Gray of Taylor & Francis for the First, Second and Third Place winners:

FIRST PLACE

PALLAVI B. LIMAYE, U.M. Apte, T.J. Bucci. A. Warbritton and H.M. Mehendale. Department of Toxicology, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA. “WHY DOES INJURY PROGRESS EVEN AFTER TOXICANT IS GONE? A NOVEL MECHANISM.”

SECOND PLACE

JOHN E. REICHARD, M. S Taylor and D.R. Petersen. University of ColoradoHealthsciencesCenter, Denver, CO. “INVOLVEMENT OF PHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL 3-KINASE IN HEPATIC STELLATE CELL ACTIVATION AND ARE-REGULATED GENE INDUCTION.”

THIRD PLACE

KINARM KO and R.E. Peterson. School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. “2,3,7,8-TETRACHLORODIBENZO-p-DIOXIN (TCDD) INHIBITS PROSTATIC EPITHELIAL BUD FORMATION IN THE UROGENITAL SINUS (UGS) OF C57BL/6J MICE WITHOUT INHIBITING ANDROGEN SIGNALING.”

HONORABLE MENTION

(Listed Alphabetically)

NICOLE C. BROWN, M. Nagarkatti and P. Nagarkatti. Departments of Microbiology/Immunology and Pharmacology/Toxicology, MedicalCollege of Virginia, VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity, Richmond, VA. “CROSS-TALK BETWEEN DEATH RECEPTOR-MEDIATED AND MITOCHONDRIAL PATHWAYS OF APOPTOSIS BY DES IN JURKAY CELLS.”

JING DONG, S. Ramachandiran, K. Tikoo, S.S. Lau and T.J. Monks.Center for Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. “THE COORDINATE ACTIVATION OF ERK AND p38 MAPK IS REQUIRED FOR HISTONE H3 PHOSPHORYLATION IN RESPONSE TO ROS-INDUCED DNA DAMAGE.”

MARC T. HOLDERMAN, C. Partridge, R. Mouneimne and K.S. Ramos. Center for Environmental and Rural Health, TexasA & MUniversity, College Station, TX. “EXPRESSION AND LOCALIZATION OF P70 ALBUMIN PRECURSOR PROTEIN AND PHI AP3 IN OXIDATIVELY STRESSED VASCULAR SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS.”

ZHE SOPHIE JIA, M.D. Person, J. Shen, S.C. Hensley, J.L. Stevens, T.J. Monks and S.S. Lau. Center for Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. “ROLE OF BIP/GRP78 IN 11-DEOXY-16,16-DIMETHYL PROSTAGLANDIN E MEDIATED CYTOPROTECTION IN RENAL EPITHELIAL CELLS.”

DONALD KIRKPATRICK, R.R. Vaillancourt, Z.E. Derbyshire and A.J. Gandolfi. Superfund Basic Research Program, Center for Toxicology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. “INCREASED UBIQUINATION OF THE KINASE TAK1 FOLLOWING As (III) EXPOSURE IN HEK293 CELLS.”

VISHAL S. VAIDYA, K. Shankar, D. Dixon, E.A. Lock and H.M. Mehendale. Department of Toxicology, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA. “MECHANISMS OF STIMULATED TISSUE REPAIR IN SURVIVAL FROM ACUTE RENAL TUBULAR NECROSIS: ROLE OF MAPK PATHWAY.”

YI YANG, Y. Chen, M.Z. Dieter, H.G. Shertzer, D.W. Nebert and T.P. Dalton. Center for Environmental Genetics and Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. “INITIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE GLUTAMATE-CYSTEINE LIGASE MODIFIED SUBUNIT Gclm(-/-) KNOCKOUT MOUSE: NOVEL MODEL SYSTEM FOR A SEVERELY COMPROMISED OXIDATIVE STRESS RESPONSE.”

Terry Monks presented Gary Rankin with a gift of appreciation for his service as Secretary/Treasurer during the past year. Terry asked if there was any other business, but no business was brought forth from the membership.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.

III. Financial Status (07/01/02 – 06/30/03)

Revenue:

Dues$3,480

Meeting Registration$4,324

Interest$ 800

Total Income:$8,604

Expenses:

Executive Meeting$ 248

Misc.$ 55

Reception (Bus. Meet.)$3,475

Total Expenses $3,778

Excess of revenue over expenses $4,827

Net Assets Beginning of Year (07/01/02)$11, 973

Net Assets at End of Year(06/30/03)$16,799

These numbers are based on the May 31, 2003 financial report provided by the Society of Toxicology. It should be noted that the July 31, 2003 financial report states that the beginning balance for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2003 was $16, 831. This may reflect an interest deposit not reflected on the May 31, 2003 report. However, the exact nature of the additional $32 in revenue is unclear and is being explored.

Carl C. Smith Award Fund Balance:

SOT has reported that the Mechanisms Specialty Section has assets of $61, 394 as of July, 2003. Based on a Mechanisms General Fund balance of $16, 799, the Carl Smith Fund balance would be $44,595 as of June 30, 2003. A separate balance for the Carl Smith Award Fund is not currently provided, so this figure is an estimate.

IV. Future Plans

In 2003-2004 the Mechanisms Specialty Section will:

  1. Elect the first Student Councilor in the history of the Mechanisms Specialty Section.
  2. Promote excellence by the development of high quality symposia, workshops and CE courses for the upcoming annual meetings in Baltimore and New Orleans.
  3. Actively support and strengthen the Carl C. Smith graduate student award by encouraging submissions of applications for this award.
  4. Promote more student involvement in the Mechanisms Specialty Section.
  5. Work to improve the accounting and funding of the Carl C. Smith Award Fund.
  6. Work to update and improve the SOT web site information for the Mechanisms Specialty Section.

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