AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTRETARIAT MINUTES
CHICAGO, HYATT REGENCY, RIVERWALK
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2001
The meeting began with a continental breakfast at 6:30 AM. Guenter Grethe, Secretary-General, called the meeting to order at 7:04 AM.
Action from the meeting:
Meeting Summary:
Introductions and attendance list circulation were rapidly dispensed with and the meeting started.
The minutes of the last meeting in San Diego were approved as presented by the Secretary-Treasurer.
Graham Swift presented the treasurers report indicating a current balance of $6571.20 indicating a drop of $1964.71 from the San Diego meeting due to an ACS charge of $1964.71 for services provided to the secretariat at the last ACS meeting. Guenter Grethe, the organizer of the symposium, which resulted in the charges, challenged this figure. Guenter and Graham will resolve this issue with the ACS.
There was no report from Andy Berks, the web manager due to his excused absence. However, Guenter indicated that the site was up and functioning well. Reminding everyone that the site contains minutes of past meetings and most of the information on future programming.
Guenter discussed the success of the San Diego meeting and noted a few issues for resolution. A major issue is the cost of separates which is high and the need for continuing them. After some discussion, the value of separates was accepted, but the number will be reduced and available only at the meetings. The full program with abstract will be included on the website.
Planning for future meetings is well in hand. The Boston meeting in 2002, fall, titled Biotechnology for a Sustainable Environment will include Molecular Recognition, Self Assembly, Renewable Resources, Biopolymer Engineering, Enzymes in Polymer and Organic Synthesis, Green Chemistry, and Biomacromolecules. Divisions and the Macromolecular Secretariat have been supportive and several sponsored and cosponsored programs will be offered. Planning and program should be complete, Kaplan, Swift, Goodwin, and Russell, by early 2002.
Sharon Vercelloti, who would like to have a least one co-organizer, is organizing the program for 2003 in the spring in New Orleans. The symposium is titled
Biotechnology in the Service of Health and a list of topics is on the website. CINF committed to at least one half-day session titled "Information Challenges in Pharmacogenomics" organized by Osman Guner.
In 2004 at the Philadelphia fall meeting, the secretariat will organize a symposium on Genomics and Proteomics for the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Food Industries. John W. Kozarich has agreed to be one of the organizers.
Several key topics were discussed for the San Diego meeting in the spring of 2005 including, marine biotechnology, life in extreme environments, enzyme catalysis, directed evolution, biological reactions in extreme environments and biomimetics. These were tied together with a proposed title of Biological Chemistry in Extreme Environments. No organizer was identified.
No planning was done for the 2006 meeting which be in San Francisco, but members were asked to consider topics for discussion at the next meeting ACS meeting in Orlando in the Spring of 2002.
All the planned symposia will be circulate to divisions for support, comments and approval.
The final discussion of the meeting centered on the recent, and first time, Annual Review assessment of the Secretariat. Obviously there are some misunderstandings on the interpretation of the information submitted and it will take time to develop a reasonable method of information gathering and evaluation. Some of the reviewers comments were conflicting and considered inappropriate by Guenter and the committee. A response from Graham and Guenter will be sent to the ACS. This is a reminder to us that we have to develop a more detailed report for 2001.
The meeting closed at 8:38 AM
Respectfully,
Graham Swift
Attendees:
Guenter Grethe (CINF), Graham Swift (PMSE), Richard Wolfenden (BIOL), John Kozarick (BIOL), Buddy Ratner (POLY), Anna Wilson (CHED), Kathryn Uhrich (POLY), John Finley (ACFD), Kevin Edgar (CELL), Ted Mill (ENVR), Wayne Brouillette (MEDI), Fred Heineken (BIOT), Rob Hoffman (ORGN), Stan S. Hall (ORGN), Lisa Nash (PETR), Sharon Vercellotti (SCHB), and Mimi Sen (guest)