FELASA 2010, Helsinki (Finland), June 14-17
Next week, on June 14-17, will be held the FELASA 2010 meeting in Helsinki (Finland), devoted to “New Paradigms in Laboratory Animal Science”. This meeting is co-sponsored by ISTT. Current ISTT Treasurer, Belen Pintado, co-chairs a workshop on “New generation GMOs from a laboratory animal perspective“.
World Map and links to transgenic facilities from the ISTT web site
The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) web site includes a list of transgenic laboratories and facilities located around the world. In addition, the web page now features a Google Maps script that indicates the geographical location of each of the transgenic facilities listed. If your facility is not yet included in this web page, please contact us (email: istt@transtechsociety.org) and we will include it right away. Thanks for your collaboration.
TT2010 meeting report published in Transgenic Research
The scientific report corresponding to the 9th Transgenic Technology meeting (TT2010), recently held in Berlin, Germany, at the MDC, in March 22-24, 2010 has been published, as online first article (DOI 10.1007/s11248-010-9397-2, published online, 24 April 2010), in the scientific journal Transgenic Research, associated to ISTT. This meeting report has been prepared by Thom Saunders (Univ. Michigan, Ann Harbor, MI, USA) and Peter Sobieszczuk (Univ. Miami, FL, USA). Thom and Peter will be the organizers of the next 10th Transgenic Technology meeting (TT2011), to be held in Miami, Florida, on October 24-26, 2011.
Transgenic Research
Scand-FELASA 2010 meeting
The next FELASA (the Federation of Laboratory Animal Science Associations) meeting, a joint FELASA/Scand-LAS symposium, entitled “New paradigms in Laboratory Animal Science” is co-sponsored by the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT). This combined meeting will be held in Helsinki, Finland, on June 14-17, 2010. The meeting includes a symposium on “New generation GMOs: refinement in procedures“, co-organized by Belén Pintado, current ISTT Treasurer.
ISTT reaches 400 members registered
The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) has reached today 400 members registered. After a most succesful 9th Transgenic Technology meeting, TT2010, held in Berlin a couple of weeks ago, attended by more than 450 participants and setting a new record for this meeting series, today we have reached the number of 400 members that have subscribed to our Society, four years after it was founded, in January 2006, in Madrid (Spain) with a lot of hope, work and committement by a short list of excited pioneers, but also with trust on a great community of colleagues, interested in animal transgenesis, involved in the production and/or the analysis of them, that we always thought will come along, as it has been the case. Congratulations to everyone and thanks a lot to all ISTT members for their support to this Society.
Selected Talks from the TT2010 meeting available from the ISTT web site
Some of the talks presented at the past TT2010 meeting are now available for visualization from the members-only area of the ISTT web site, a section restricted to ISTT members. As many as 14 presentations have been already contributed by the respective invited speakers, who kindly agreed to share their talks for ISTT members use. If you would like to browse these presentations and you are not yet a member of ISTT we warmly invite you to join our Society. To register as ISTT member, please visit the JOIN section and follow the indications provided.
The TT2010 meeting at the MDC Conference Centre-Berlin Buch
The TT2010 meeting is over. More than 460 registered participants (about half of them members of ISTT) attended the past 9th Transgenic Technology meeting, organized by the ISTT, at the MDC, in Berlin-Buch, Germany. The conference itself (March 22-24) was followed by two dedicated workshops on “Colony Management Database Solutions” (March 25) and a practical “Hands-on” course on basic techniques in animal transgenesis (March 25-26). Prof. A. Francis Stewart was awarded the 7th ISTT Prize, sponsored by genOway, for his outstanding contributions in the field of transgenic technologies. He delivered a delightful talk on his work on site-specific recombinases and recombineering over the past 20 years, delineating all the tools his lab has been providing to the scientific comunity that have become central for most post-genomic era applications.
Prof. A. Francis Stewart awarded the 7th ISTT Prize
Boris Jerchow, Chair of the TT2010 Organizing Committee, and his team must be congratulated for all their dedication and hard work over the past months that resulted in a lively and enjoyable meeting. The conference was full of discussions and, thanks to the careful talks prepared by all invited speakers, everybody could learn many different aspects of animal transgenesis at different levels, from basic technical or fundamental issues, to more ellaborated and sophysticated scientific applications. Berlin was a great venue for the TT2010 meeting. Such a cosmopolitan city, rich in history, events and locations, was a wonderful complement for social and cultural sightseeing besides the scientific and technical expectations of the TT2010 meeting itself.
Boris Jerchow, Chair of the TT2010 Meeting
Now the TT2010 meeting is over. But ISTT has already started preparing the next forthcoming TT meeting, TT2011, that will be held on October 24-26, 2011, in Miami (Florida, USA), organized by Peter Sobieszczuk and Thom Saunders. All information regarding the TT2011 meeting will be available at the official web site.
ISTT embryo handling device
In Berlin, at the next TT2010 meeting, at the ISTT booth, we will be distributing, as a compliment for all ISTT members attending this conference, the ISTT embryo handling device, a useful tool for mouth pipetting and handling embryos, that can be easily assembled from standard labware parts, along with the corresponding ordering & assembly instructions for those of you willing to prepare new or additional devices. This device is helpful because the firm glass Pasteur pipet provides support for the hand of the technician performing implants. As well, on the rare occasions where too much media is sucked into the implant/transfer needle, the rubber tip can be carefully removed, and additional media sucked into the open end of the Pasteur pipet to recover embryos. The ISTT embryo handling devices have been kindly assembled by Jan Parker-Thornburg (MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA). There will be additional ordering & assembly instructions at the ISTT booth, for all delegates attending the TT2010 meeting. The instructions document can also be found and downloaded from the members-only section of the ISTT web site.
Program and abstracts of the TT2010 meeting published in Transgenic Research
The program and abstracts of the forthcoming 9th Transgenic Technology meeting (TT2010), to be held in Berlin, at the MDC, on March 22-24, 2010, have been just published in the April issue (19:2) of the scientific journal Transgenic Research, associated to the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT). All participants registered to attend the TT2010 meeting will receive a complimentary copy of this issue of the journal in Berlin. All ISTT members are entitled for the free access to browse and download this and other articles published in Transgenic Research through the privileged entry point available from within the members-only section of the ISTT web site.
2010 ISTT Elections
In 2010, and according to ISTT bylaws, we have to renew some members of the ISTT Executive Commitee (Council), whose term of service is due on December 31st, 2010:
ISTT President: Lluis Montoliu
ISTT Secretary: Carlisle Landel
ISTT Treasurer: Belen Pintado
ISTT Council Members: Sarah Johnson, Jan Parker-Thornburg, Shirley Pease
The Nominations Committee has been contacting potential candidates and requesting their willingness to participate in the current election process. Accordingly, ISTT Officers and Council Members proposed as candidates are:
ISTT President 2011-2014, 1 candidate: Lluis Montoliu
ISTT Secretary 2011-2014, 1 candidate: Carlisle Landel
ISTT Treasurer 2011-2014, 1 candidate: Manuel Sanchez-Martin
ISTT Council Members 2011-2014 (3 seats available/5 candidates), Mary-Ann Haskings, Jan Parker-Thornburg, Shirley Pease, Marian van Roon and Elizabeth Williams
Non-honorarium ISTT Members with voting rights are those that have already renewed in 2010 or have requested 2010 ISTT Membership renewal. To vote, please visit the members-only section of the ISTT web site.