January 2010 – LEGACY ISTT blog

2010 ISTT Elections for Officers and Council Members

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.

From fibroblasts to neurons without ES or iPS cells

Efficient induction of neurons from perinatal tail-tip fibroblasts. Figure 2 from article: Direct conversion of fibroblasts to functional neurons by defined factors, by Thomas Vierbuchen, Austin Ostermeier, Zhiping P. Pang, Yuko Kokubu, Thomas C. Südhof & Marius Wernig. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature, advance online publication, 27 january 2010 (doi:10.1038/nature08797)

Today, Nature publishes an interesting article by Vierbuchen et al. where authors demonstrate that only three transcription factors (Ascl1, Brn2 (also called Pou3f2) and Myt1l) suffice to efficiently convert mouse embryonic and postnatal fibroblasts into functional neurons in vitro. The resulting neuronal cells appear to be functional in vitro and are called induced Neurons, or iN cells, and, most importantly, have been obtained without involving the use of ES cells or iPS cells, therefore avoiding the pluripotent stem cell step and, hence, avoiding the potential risk of tumorigenicity associated with the use of stem cell-derived neuronal cells. Further experiments would be required to validate this innovative approach in vivo and its potential relevance for human cell therapies in regenerative medicine.

Registration for the TT2010 meeting has been closed

Registration for attending the next TT2010 meeting is no longer possible. We thank for your interest. We have reached the maximum number of participants that are allowed at the MDC venue. If you have any question, comments or doubts, please contact the TT2010 Registration Office at tt2010@transtechsociety.org.

TT2010 Organizing Committee

Berlin, 28 January 2010

Updated preliminary agenda of the TT2010 Meeting

An updated preliminary agenda for the forthcoming 9th Transgenic Technology meeting, TT2010, to be held at MDC in Berlin (Germany), on March 22-24, 2010, has been released. This updated program includes all scheduled sessions and the short oral presentations selected among the submitted abstracts. The planned programs for the workshops, associated to this meeting and scheduled for March 25-26, are also specified. Additional information can be found at the TT2010 meeting web site.

Transgenic-List Archive now available from the ISTT web server (members-only section)

Archive of tg-list messages now available from ISTT web server

The archived messages distributed since 1996 by the transgenic-list, the official list of ISTT, created in July 1996 by Peter Sobieszczuk, and the reference channel for discussing any scientific or technical issues related to the generation and the analysis of transgenic animals and transgenic research in general, are now available for ISTT Members from the members-only section of the ISTT web site. All messages have been converted to a MySQL database that will be regularly updated and can be searched, through a set of convenient searchengines, by date, author, email address, subject and content of the messages, using both independently all these parameters or in a combined format. The archive contains more than 17000 messages that have been posted since 1996 and represents the widest and most complete compilation of topics, issues, troubles and common questions and answers related to transgenic research, worth consulting before attempting to ask a new question and a very good resource of information for anyone starting to work in this field.

Happy fourth anniversary ISTT!

Happy Birthday ISTT! Four years ago, on January 18th, 2006, the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) was formally registered in Madrid, according to the Spanish law for non-profitmaking associations.

The foundation occurred only a few months after the initial discussions, triggered at the TT2005 meeting, hold in Barcelona and organized by Lluis Montoliu. Nelson Khoo, Johannes Wilbertz and Lluis Montoliu decided to put forward the initiative after several successful Transgenic Technology meetings, mostly organized by Johannes and his colleagues in Sweden. In 2006, in Madrid, six persons acted as founders of the new Society: Belen Pintado, Francina Langa, MCarmen Muñoz, Sagrario Ortega, Anna Pujol and myself. All six founder members have continued registered as ISTT Members during these past years.

Four years and two additional TT meetings later (TT2007, in Brisbane, organized by Elizabeth Williams; TT2008, in Toronto, organized by Kristina Nagy, Marina Gertsenstein and Andras Nagy) we have more than 400 members registered from all over the world. The number of members has been increasing, year after year, in a progressive manner, thus demonstrating the success of the initiative and all the interest generated. Thanks to all ISTT Members and ISTT sponsors over these four years for having contributed to the success of this Society.

Looking forward to meeting you all in Berlin, at the TT2010 meeting (March 22-24, 2010).

TT2010 meeting: January 17, deadline for “Early registration at reduced fees”

TT2010 Early Registration at reduced fee

Deadline for registering to attend the TT2010 Meeting at early reduced fees is January 17, 2010. Please, visit the TT2010 meeting Registration page to benefit for a reduced fee early registration. January 17, 2010 is also the last day to submitting your expression of interest to attend the hands-on workshop on Basic Techniques in Animal Transgenesis.

2010 ISTT Calendar

Here you can download a free 2010 ISTT calendar. This calendar highlights the most important deadlines of the International Society for Transgenic Technologies and ISTT events of 2010, namely the TT2010 meeting, to be held in Berlin, Germany, on March 22-24, 2010. The 2010 ISTT calendar is illustrated with pictures provided by ISTT members and belonging to the collection of ISTT pictures.

This free public version in in low resolution (950 Kb, 100 dpi). A higher resolution version (98 Mb, 300 dpi) of this calendar is available for ISTT Members. This calendar was initially made using a free service provided in this web page and further modifying the output file.

New Annual ISTT Membership Fees

You can now register or renew your 2010 ISTT Membership

Happy New Year!. The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) starts in 2010 its fifth year of life. Requests for ISTT Memberships Renewals and new Registrations are being accepted from the ISTT web page. During the first four years of our short history we have maintained the same annual membership fees. For 2010, we have decided to slightly increase them, to compensate the higher expenses and subcontracted services that ISTT currently requires for its normal operation. This increase was approved in the last Annual ISTT General Assembly, held on November 17, 2009 at the ISTT Chat room.

New Annual ISTT Membership Fees: Ordinary and Corporate membership fees will cost now 70 Euros, whereas Technician/Student membership fees will cost now 35 Euros. We appreciate your collaboration and understanding and kindly invite you all to register or renew your 2010 ISTT Membership through the JOIN section of the ISTT web site.