American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology /International Society for Gravitational Physiology Meeting

ANNUAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

15 June 2011

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of ASGSB President Marshall Porterfield and ISGP Chairman Peter Norsk, we are delighted and excited to invite you to a joint annual meeting of the Amercian Society for Gravitational and Space Biology (ASGSB) with those of the International Society for Gravitational Physiology (ISGP). This will be the 27th Annual meeting of the ASGSB and the ISGP’s 32nd Annual meeting, but only the second time the two societies have met together.

The 2011 ASGSB/ISGP meeting will be held November 2 – 6, 2011 in San Jose, California USA. It will convene at the Sainte Claire Hotel, which a well-appointed, comfortable “grand” hotel, conveniently situated in the Historic District of San Jose, an area replete with parks, museums, cafes and restaurants and other amenities. The Sainte Claire is welcoming us with very attractive room rates, starting at $129 per night (plus taxes, of course). The hotel is three miles (4.8 km) from the San Jose Airport and about 15 minutes from NASA’s Ames Research Center, which is the hub of scientific studies in fundamental space biology, human factors research, hypergravity facilities, and other exciting programs. On Wednesday, November 2nd, we will offer tours of the Ames Research Center for interested conferees. Students are especially encouraged to visit this NASA center.

The meeting itself will be rich and varied, because it will combine the scientific, technological, and educational activities of both societies. We expect to see a wide range of approaches and learn about activities and opportunities in space and gravitational life sciences arising around the world (and beyond, of course). This is an auspicious year for life scientists interested in gravity and space effects. The Space Shuttle program is completing its 30-year epic. The International Space Station is shifting to a new balance of operations, relying on Russian transporters and with a new non-governmental organization stepping up to run the U.S. science enterprise on the ISS. The meeting program will reflect all this and more. Consider this year’s morning symposia, in which:

There will be reports and discussion of exciting new data featuring Changes in Host Immunity and Microbial Virulence that Result from Spaceflight, led by Sharmila Bhattacharya (NASA-Ames Research Center) and Mark Ott (NASA-Johnson Spaceflight Center).

You can revel in up-to-date overviews of fundamental research on Plasticity in the Gravistatic Vertebrate Inner Ear: Insights from Development and Evolution, chaired by Bernd Fritzsch, now at the University of Iowa.

You will get a glimpse of some bio-technolgical directions carrying us to the future with Tissue Engineering and Synthetic Biology in Microgravity, chaired by Marshall Porterfield (Purdue University) and David Wolf (NASA-Johnson Spaceflight Center)

Then, on Sunday, November 6th, to celebrate our some of our accomplishments at this end-of-an-era, there will be a day-long symposium, presenting A History of Life Sciences Accomplishments in the Space Shuttle Program, organized by Charles Fuller (Univeristy of California, Davis), the ISGP’s local host.

The days and early evenings will be filled with topical paper sessions, poster sessions, educational forums, technology updates, and many occasions for informal interactions and discussions with new friends and old – all of whom share interests and passions in space, gravity and the life sciences. It promises to be “heaven on Earth”.

Oh, both the ASGSB and the ISGP will conduct their annual business meetings, committee meetings, editorial get-togethers, and strategic planning sessions.

And of course we’ll eat and drink together repeatedly, but no meal will be more enjoyable than the ASGSB/ISGP Banquet on Friday night, featuring awards and cheers for one another, as well as a Significant Speaker to regale us all together.

We will bring you more information about the meeting, its content and organization, but this preliminary report was designed to whet your appetite and to invite you to submit an abstract to the 2011 ASGSB/ISGP Annual Conference.

We look forward to seeing you in San Jose, California – November 2 – 6th.

Best wishes,

Jeffrey R. Alberts ASGSB Program Organizer

Charles A. Fuller ISGP Program Organizer