Message from the Executive Officer

September 2001

Dear SDB Member,

We hope that last week's terrorist attacks have not caused too much suffering to you and your loved ones. Our deepest sympathy goes to all the affected families (worldwide) and our thanks to all the rescuers that risked, or died in the attempts to save the thousands of lives that were lost in these abominable acts. As most of the rest of the world, we condemn these irrational practices by fanatics, and ask that the authorities act with wisdom in their pursuit of justice.

On a brighter side, I am happy to report that our last annual meeting, the 60th, held in July at the University of Washington in Seattle, attracted an all time high of 869 participants (excluding the International Congress in 1997), with 158 coming from outside of the United States of America. Canada (41), United Kingdom (31) and Germany (30) sent the most participants. The other participating countries were: Argentina (1), Australia (7), Austria (3), Brazil (4), Finland (2), France (3), China (1), Hungary (1), India (3), Israel (6), Italy (1), Japan (8), Mexico (1), Norway (1), Puerto Rico (6), Singapore (1), South Korea (1), Sweden (1), Switzerland (3), Taiwan (1) and The Netherlands (1). The three states with most representatives were: Washington (93), California (91) and Massachusetts (71). A record total of 593 abstracts were submitted, of which 490 were poster presentations. The 556 abstracts received by the deadline were published in July 1 issue of Developmental Biology. The poster competition winners are listed on the "Past Meetings" section of this Website. The next meeting will be held in Madison, WI, as President Sean Carroll mentioned in his message.

It is interesting to note that both SDB awards this year were given, by coincidence, to pioneers in both the cloning and embryonic stem cell areas, currently hot topics with the public and the U.S. legislators. The E.G. Conklin Medal was awarded to Sir John Gurdon and the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dame Anne McLaren, both at the University of Cambridge, Wellcome/CRC Institute, U.K. The open session on cloning and embryonic stem cells generated a lot of discussion and a subcommittee was formed to prepare a position statement. This paper needs revision because of President Bush's decision on limited funding for existing stem cell lines. You will hear from us at a later date on this issue. Meanwhile, the Web section "Focus on Stem Cells" gives you a flavor of the complexity of the situation.

I want to personally show my appreciation to the local organizing committee and the UW student volunteers for their help at the meeting. They are the ones who helped make the meeting seamless to the participants. Thanks to: David Kimelman, Celeste Berg, Billie Swalla, Phil Soriano, Chris Bjornson, Shaw-Ree Chen, Wilson Clements, Linda Enns, Denise Ferkey, Rachel French, Guy Hamilton, Sarah Hallagan, Isabelle Henry, René Hoch, Karen James,Ujwal Pyati, Jared Ragland, Brneda Schumpert, Anne Sustar, Michelle Tallquist, Dave Tran, Carole Weaver and Darren Williams. We can't forget the artists who provided the beautiful and ingenious design for the poster and the T-shirts - Nadia Rosenthal of Massachusetts General Hospital, and the colorful cover for the Meeting Program - Muse Davis and Billie Swalla of University of Washington. Thanks to all.

Best wishes to you all.

Ida