2000 NATIONAL DROSOPHILA BOARD MEETING

 

March 22, 2000

Doubletree Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA

 

AGENDA

INTRODUCTION, APPROVAL OF THE 1999 MINUTES	2:00 - 2:10 PM
MEETINGS AND FINANCES:	2:10 - 3:30
2000 PROGRAM COMMITTEE                         (Pam Geyer, Lori Wallrath)	2:10 - 2:30
SANDLER LECTURER COMMITTEE (Bill Saxton)	2:30 - 2:35
2001 PROGRAM COMMITTEE (Dave Deitcher)	2:35 - 2:40
GSA COORDINATOR (Marsha Ryan)	2:40 - 3:00
TREASURER (Steve Mount)	3:00 - 3:20
BOARD DISCUSSION OF MEETINGS AND FINANCES	3:20 - 3:35
BOARD MEMBERSHIP AND ELECTIONS	3:35 - 3:45
COMMUNITY RESOURCES:	3:45 - 5:20
STOCK CENTER ADVISORY COMMITTEE                         (Hugo Bellen)	3:45 - 3:55
BLOOMINGTON STOCK CENTER (Kevin Cook)	3:55 - 4:10
DIS (Jim Thompson)	4:10 - 4:15
BERKELEY GENOME PROJECT (Gerry Rubin)	4:15 - 4:30
FLYBASE (Bill Gelbart)	4:30 - 4:45
NIH SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY RESOURCES                         (Bill Gelbart, Laurie Tompkins,)	4:45 - 5:00
BOARD DISCUSSION OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES	5:00 - 5:20
OTHER BUSINESS:	5:20 - 6:00
a) Status of women in the fly community                          (Terry Orr-Weaver)	5:20 - 5:40
b) Status of P element license (Larry Goldstein)	5:40 - 5:45
c) Press release on the completion of the genome	5:45 - 6:00

DRAFT MINUTES / REPORTS

 

1. SUMMARY OF 2000 MINUTES

 

 

2. APPROVAL OF THE 1999 MINUTES

 

A motion to approve the minutes of the 1999 Board Meeting, as posted on Flybase by past president Larry Goldstein, was proposed and approved.

 

 

3.  REPORT OF THE 2000 PROGRAM COMMITTEE (Pam Geyer, Lori Wallrath)

 

Plenary Speakers - Eleven plenary speakers were invited for plenary talks, leaving one slot for a business meeting. An updated List of Speakers is appended to this report that includes the year 2000 invited speakers.

 

Abstract Submission- Abstracts were solicited under fourteen areas of primary research interest.  This represents an expanded list from the 1999 meeting, including the more specific topics of RNA Processing, Localization, and Translation; Cytoskeleton Assembly and Dynamics; and Signal Transduction and Apoptosis.  The list of 2000 topics is appended to the end of this report, including number of abstracts submitted in each area.  In total, 802 requests were made. There were 397 requests for slide presentations for 144 available slots, allowing accommodation of approximately 35% of the requests.

 

            The most popular submission topics were Pattern Formation and Signal Transduction.  This suggests that the future organizers may want to refine these topic areas to make them more specific, thereby facilitating the organization of slide and poster sessions into more related areas.

 

            Some topic areas, notably Transposable Elements; RNA Processing, Localization and Translation and Techniques, received such a small number of abstract submissions that a separate slide session was not justified. Abstracts submitted to the topic Transposable Elements were merged with those in Chromosome Structure and Function, while abstracts submitted to RNA Processing, Localization and Translation were redistributed among several sessions.  To accommodate abstracts submitted under Techniques, a workshop was organized and these abstracts were considered for presentation at this workshop.  It is recommended that the Conference maintain a highly visible technique workshop which will allow selection of critical development for Drosophila research. 

 

Workshops - There were 9 workshops organized.  The title and moderators of each workshop are appended to the end of this report.  Organization of the workshops was done early to allow publication of the schedule of speakers in the Abstract book.  This strategy should increase visibility of the workshops among participants.  Additionally, workshop presentations were cross-referenced with poster or slide abstracts, if the corresponding presentation covered the workshop topic. 

 

Programmatic Changes-  Several changes made to the general format of the program.

 

1. To streamline abstracts submission, a new list of key words was developed to facilitate sorting of poster and slide presentations into related themes.  It is recommended that the new organizers continue to refine this list.  Within each of the 14 primary research interest topics, a space was reserved for authors to submit new key words, however this was not used in an effective way. It is recommended that the new description in the Call for Abstracts encourage authors to identify new words, if the subtopics do not specifically identify their research area.

 

2.  Abstract submissions were accompanied by a request for the author to classify their presentation preference.  This system was in lieu of the existing default procedure that assigned all abstracts a poster space, if the abstract was not selected for a slide presentation.  The goal of the new system was to avoid having empty poster spaces.  Authors were asked to choose between slide only, slide or poster, poster only.  Unfortunately, there appeared to be some confusion concerning whether a person requesting a slide only presentation actually understood that their presentation would not be given poster space. It is recommended that additional language be included in the Call for Abstracts to clarify this system.

 

3. Abstract books were mailed to those requesting a copy prior to the meeting.  This practice adds pressure to the submission deadline, as the abstract book needs to be sent to the publisher at an earlier date.  The GSA office reports that approximately 30% of participants requested the abstract book be mailed. 

 

4. The schedule of opening night events was changed slightly.  A request from Thom Kaufman for time to make an award presentation was accommodated.  Additionally, in response to criticisms that the opening night activities were very too long, the Historical Speaker was allotted a 45 minute presentation and the Sandler Presentation was limited to 35 minutes.  It is recommended that future organizers adhere to these shorter time limitations, to allay criticisms that there is not enough time available for the mixer. 

 

Future Considerations and Organization of the Meeting - The abstract submission date was November 8.  The Genetics Society chose this date based upon their commitments and scheduling of other research meetings, whose participant number far exceeds that of the Drosophila Conference.  This early date was problematic, as the Drosophila community was not prepared.  This resulted in the low response and required that the deadline for abstract submission be extended by one week.  This accommodation substantially improved submission numbers. 

 

            For next year, GSA requests a similar submission deadline, stating that they cannot accommodate a date later than November 15. It is recommended that the early submission date be accompanied by a reminder email distributed to the fly community, to prevent difficulties similar to those that arose this year.  This warning email could be distributed one week prior to the submission deadline. 

 

            A second consideration for future meetings is the issue of company sponsorship.  One pharmaceutical company inquired about possible funding of an event during the Drosophila meeting.  This possibility was not pursued, as the mechanism by the company sponsorship could be advertised was not clear.  Additionally, there was some concern over favoritism shown to one particular company.  It is recommended that the Board establish a procedure so that the next organizing committee can pursue company sponsorship.  These moneys could defray costs associated with renting some of the projection equipment and perhaps even provide some coffee breaks.  This idea was strongly supported by the Board, and it was recommended that next year's organizers pursue company sponsorship rigorously. 

 

            Finally, it should be noted that several plenary speakers, workshop organizers and session moderators were under the impression that the Drosophila community would pay for their travel, housing and registration costs.  It is recommended that in any correspondence with these individuals include a statement that the Drosophila Conference does not have money to defray these costs.

 

I. Updated Plenary Speaker List

 

Susan Abmayr                      1995

Kathryn Anderson            1999

Deborah Andrew               1997

Chip Aquadro                      1994

Spyros Artavanis              1994

Bruce Baker                           1996

Utpal Banerjee                    1997

Amy Bejsovec     2000

Phil Beachy                         1998

Hugo Bellen                          1997

Celeste Berg                          1994

Marianne Bienz                  1996

Seth Blair                              1997

Nancy Bonini     2000

Juan Botas                               1999

Vivian Budnik  2000

Ross Cagan                             1998

John Carlson                          1999

Sean Carroll                         1995

Tom Cline                               2000

Claire Cronmiller             1995

Rob Denell                             1999

Michael Dickinson           1995

Chris Doe                               1996

Bruce Edgar                           1997

Martin Feder                        1998

Janice Fischer                       1998

Bill Gelbart                          1994

Pam Geyer                              1996

David Glover     2000

Iswar Hariharan               1998

Tom Hayes                             1995

Ulrike Heberlein               1996

Ulrike Heberlein               1998

Martin Heisenberb            1998

Dave Hogness                      1999

Joan Hooper                           1995

Wayne Johnson  2000

Rebecca Kellum                  1999

Christian Klambt             1998

Mitzi Kuroda                       1997

Paul Lasko                             1999

Cathy Laurie                       1997

Maria Leptin                        1994

Bob Levis                                1997

Haifan Lin                             1995

Susan Lindquist 2000

Dennis McKearin               1996

Mike McKeown 1996

Jon Minden                              1999

Roel Nusse                             1997

David O'Brochta              1997

Terry Orr-Weaver            1996

Mark Peifer                           1997

Trudy MacKay  2000

Nipam Patel                        2000

Norbert Perrimon               1999

Leslie Pick                             1994

Pernille Rorth                     1995

Gerry Rubin                           1998

H. Ruohola-Baker            1999

Helen Salz                             1994

Babis Savakis                     1995

Paul Schedl                           1998

Gerold Schubiger               1996

John Sedat                              2000

Amita Sehgal                      1996

Allen Shearn                        1994

Marla Sokolowski            1998

Ruth Steward                      1996

Bill Sullivan                        1996

John Sved                                1997

John Tamkun       2000

Barbara Taylor                   1996

Bill Theurkauf                    1994

Tim Tully                                1995

Steve Wasserman              1996

Kristi Wharton                                    1994

Eric Wieschaus 1996

Ting Wu                                   1997

Tian Xu                   1997

Susan Zusman                       1998

 

II. Areas of Primary Research Interest

	Slide Request	Poster	Total
Cell Cycle	24	20	44
Chromosome Structure and Function	33	41	74
Cytoskeleton Assembly and Dynamics	17	21	38
Gametogenesis	37	36	73
Neural Development	35	39	74
Neural Physiology and Behavior	32	32	64
Organogenesis and Muscle Development	19	28	47
Pattern Formation	62	66	128
Populations and Evolution	28	17	45
RNA Processing Localization and Translation	16	16	32
Signal Transduction and Apoptosis	56	50	106
Techniques	11	2	13
Transcriptional Regulation	18	27	45
Transposable Elements and DNA Repair	9	10	19

 

III. Keywords

 

IV. Workshops.

 

Workshop Title	Moderator
Ecdysone Workshop	Broadus, Julie
The Sequence of the Drosophila Genome	Celniker, Sue
Telomere Structure and Function	Mason, Jim
Resources in the Post-Genomic World: A Community Forum	Tompkins, Laurie
Stem and Cells and Asymmetric Division	Lin, Haifan
Technical Advances	Carthew, Richard
RNA	Lopez, A. Javier
Drosophila Immunity	Hoffmann, Jules
Drosophila Research in Drug Discovery	Carroll, Pamela

 

 

4. REPORT OF THE SANDLER LECTURER COMMITTEE (Bill Saxton)

 

I.  2000 Sandler Award Committee

                        Amy Bejsovec

                        Tom Cline

                        Joe Duffy

                        Chris Field

                        Janice Fischer

                        Scott Hawley

                        Bill Saxton (Chair)

                        Bill Sullivan (1999 Chair)

 

II.  Applications.

 

            A.  Applications consisted of

         &