Vasculata 2017
Chicago, IL
July 24-27, 2017
Abstract deadline extended to June 15
October 15-19, 2017
Abstract deadline: Aug 1
20th IVBM
Helsinki, Finland
June 3-7, 2018
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Diamond Level
Welcome Reception Host
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Send a Message to Congress
As Congress begins to negotiate the federal budget for fiscal year 2018 (FY18), the austerity level "sequestration" budget caps established under the 2011 Budget Control Act are once again in force after a partial, two year reprieve. Unless Congress negotiates another agreement to lift these draconian caps, the FY18 budget for non-defense agencies and programs will be constrained to a level even lower than in FY17. Under that kind of stifling spending limit, Congress simply cannot fulfill its responsibility for advancing the health and wellbeing of the American people, including continuing to rebuild the long-neglected budget of the NIH, equipping the CDC to combat deadly infectious health threats and ensuring our other health and research agencies meet their respective missions.
If we want agencies like the CDC, FDA, and AHRQ to continue protecting the public health and agencies like NIH and NSF to continue driving innovation and scientific progress, they - and we - need relief from the sequestration budget caps. Now is the time to ensure that we can continue the progress that we have made over the last several years in securing America's scientific global leadership.
More information is in the June 1 letter from Mary Woolley, President and CEO of Research!America, can be found at: http://www.navbo.org/resources/advocate
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NAVBO Deadlines to Watch For
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Vasculata Abstract Submission Deadline Extended!
NAVBO Council Elections
Vote by June 30
(restricted to regular members in good standing)
Meritorious Award Nominations
Vascular Biology 2017
Abstract deadline - August 1
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The Lab of Dr. Pierre-Yves von der Weid
This month we are highlighting the lab of Dr. Pierre-Yves von der Weid, who is an Associate
Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Calgary. Find out more about Dr. von der Weid and his lab at
http://www.navbo.org/membership/members-labs/616-lab062017.
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Experimental Elegance Illuminates Nature's Complexity
This spring, Princeton University President Emerita and eminent molecular biologist Shirley M. Tilghman has taught a new freshman seminar, "What Makes a Great Experiment?" Each week, Tilghman selects for class discussion, often accompanied by other leading scientists, a paper she feels is thoughtfully and creatively designed and written for publication. Quoted in a Princeton news release, Dr. Tilghman notes: "My goal with the class is to explore with students - not all of whom are likely to be science concentrators - how scientific discovery happens...[t]oo often, science classes become a series of facts to be memorized without any understanding of how that knowledge has been generated. I am also trying to impart a sense of the aesthetic beauty of conducting good science - how beautiful a great experiment can be."
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The European Society for Microcirculation (ESM) presented Dr. Ralf Adams with its 2017 Malpighi Award, given in recognition of Dr. Adams's outstanding international reputation in microcirculation research. Professor Adams, of the Department of Tissue Morphogenesis in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine and member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Münster, received the Malpighi Award medal at the ESM-EVBO 2017 Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, May 29-June 1, 2017. Congratulations, Dr. Adams!
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Welcome to our New Members:
Ashik Ahmed Abdul Pari, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Zaki Al-Yafeai, LSU Health Science Center-Shreveport
Yuqi Cai, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Satish Casie Chetty, Cincinnati Children's Hospital / University of Cincinnati
Colin Castleberry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Rafael Czepielewski, Washington University in St. Louis
Matthew Detter, Duke University
Yingye Fang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
James Herts, University of Illinois at Chicago
Xian Li, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Sanjeeva Metikala, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Christopher Schafer, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Jennifer Schumacher, Cincinnati Children's Hospital
David Vereide, Morgridge Institute for Research
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Recent Publications by NAVBO Members
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| Integrative meta-modeling identifies endocytic vesicles, late endosome and the nucleus as the cellular compartments primarily directing RTK signaling
Integrative Biology
Recently, intracellular receptor signaling has been identified as a key component mediating cell responses for various receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). However, the extent each endocytic compartment (endocytic vesicle, early endosome, recycling endosome, late endosome, lysosome and nucleus) contributes to receptor signaling has not been quantified. Read more qFlow Cytometry-Based Receptoromic Screening: A High-Throughput Quantification Approach Informing Biomarker Selection and Nanosensor Development
Methods in Molecular Biology
Nanosensor-based detection of biomarkers can improve medical diagnosis; however, a critical factor in nanosensor development is deciding which biomarker to target, as most diseases present several biomarkers. Biomarker-targeting decisions can be informed via an understanding of biomarker expression. Read more Elderly Patient-Derived Endothelial Cells for Vascularization of Engineered Muscle
Molecular Therapy
In vitro prevascularization of engineered tissue constructs promises to enhance their clinical applicability. The authors hypothesize that adult endothelial cells (ECs), isolated from limb veins of elderly patients, bear the vasculogenic properties required to form vascular networks in vitro that can later integrate with the host vasculature upon implantation. Read more Engineering Vascularized Flaps Using Adipose-Derived Microvascular EC and MSC
Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Human adipose-derived microvascular endothelial cells (HAMEC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been shown to bear angiogenic and vasculogenic capabilities. The authors hypothesize that co-culturing HAMEC:MSC on a porous biodegradable scaffold in vitro, later implanted as a graft around femoral blood vessels in a rat, will result in its vascularization by host vessels, creating a functional vascular flap that can effectively treat a range of large full-thickness soft tissue defects. Read more Altered feto-placental vascularization, feto-placental malperfusion, and fetal growth restriction in mice with Egfl7 loss-of-function
Development
EGFL7 is a secreted, angiogenic factor produced by embryonic endothelial cells. To understand its role in placental development, we established a novel Egfl7 knockout mouse. The mutant mice have gross defects in chorioallantoic branching morphogenesis and placental vascular patterning. Read more |
Indirect Costs under the Microscope?
In mid-May, the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services held a hearing focused on the NIH and advances in biomedical research. NIH Director Francis Collins and the Directors of individual NIH Institutes, including NHLBI Director Gary Gibbons, were present to testify to the need to support increased funding for NIH, to accelerate lifesaving biomedical research and recruit and retain young researchers in the pipeline. Subcommittee members expressed concern about ongoing budgetary battles and their effects on the NIH. Later in the month, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a joint Research and Technology Subcommittee and Oversight Subcommittee hearing on examining the overhead costs of research. During the hearing, participants discussed factors and considerations that reflect the diverse indirect cost rates negotiated between institutions and the federal government related to research supported by agencies including the NIH and NSF, noting that negotiated rates do not allow some institutions to cover all of the costs to support cutting-edge research programs.
Performance Evaluations Tied to Equity Efforts?
A new policy at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will require all faculty and staff members to work toward equity, diversity and inclusion, with the results factored into their evaluations. Big-budget diversity initiatives on a number of campuses have drawn praise and skepticism in recent years. What if there was a more efficient, inexpensive way for institutions to live up to their diversity and inclusion goals? UW- Eau Claire may have one. "After 30 years in administration, I don't have much tolerance for window dressing or lip service. If you're going to put a value out there, you need to do something with it," said Chancellor James Schmidt in Inside Higher Ed. Schmidt champions the new policy requiring that all periodic evaluations of staff and faculty members -- including tenure and promotion decisions -- consider the employee's contributions to equity, diversity and inclusion on campus.
Staff Scientists Vital to the Research Enterprise
In a comment in Nature Journal, Steven Hyman, MD, of the Broad Institute argues that independent professionals advance science in ways faculty-run labs cannot, and that such positions keep talented people in research. He highlights new organizational principles being implemented in labs at HHMI, Salk, and elsewhere, noting that this has taken not only access to resources but a willingness to overcome cultural norms in science. He writes, "Although traditional academic labs have been and continue to be very productive, research institutions should look critically and creatively at their staffing... If adopted judiciously, these positions would enable institutions to take on projects of unprecedented scope and scale."
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Contacting Your Representatives Can Make a Difference for Science
If you are a U.S. citizen, let your U.S. representatives hear from you and encourage them to be advocating for science. There are many methods by which to reach out - from attending meetings or personal visits to congressional offices, to doing something as simple as writing a postcard. Be sure to reach out to your district and state representatives. Now, in addition to funding the NIH budget and other federal biomedical research budgets, scientists must clearly express how other policies impact scientific collaboration, a key component in the scientific process.
For more information on public policy affecting the scientific community and ways that you can help, please visit NAVBO's Advocacy page - www.navbo.org/resources/advocate
Here are links to organizations that encourage, support and aid science advocates:
Coalition for the Life Sciences
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
Research!America
If you are aware of other groups, please let us know and we will post them in future newsletter issues (send to info@navbo.org).
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