ESACP Newsletters
Dear Colleagues,
ESACP Activities
The visible ESACP activities since the memorable meeting in Grenoble
in 1994 and since the CYTO95 conference in Southampton together with the
Royal Microscopic Society (RMS) in 1995 have been limited, except for the
continuously updated presence on the
Internet,
the completion and publication of the consensus report on
DNA image cytometry
and the efforts to achieve a similar document
for
DNA flow cytometry.
A substantial amount of work has gone, although initially invisible,
into the preparation of the the 5th ESACP congress in Oslo, May 25-30,
1997.
Words of welcome!
Cytometry is used in an increasing number of biomedical fields, such as
pathology, cell biology, immunology, biotechnology, molecular biology &
genetics. New techniques, like CGH and in situ PCR as well as basic flow
and image cytometry techniques are continuously improved. The combination
of the old and the new creates further potentials such as telepathology.
The 5th ESACP Congress will focus on new concepts and potentials emerging
from these technologies especially in view of understanding and interfering
with the mechanisms of cellular disease processes. Overview lectures,
tutorials and practical demonstrations, both by scientists and commercial
vendors will address the various aspects.
The European Society for Analytical Cellular Pathology (ESACP) has previously
arranged four successful international congresses. The 5th ESACP Congress
in Oslo during May 25-29, 1997 will follow and extend the organisational
structures of the 4th congress in Grenoble 1994 with key lectures, plenary
& parallel sessions, tutorials & workshops, poster sessions, as well as a
major exhibition. The 5th Congress will also focus on clinical aspects,
especially in oncology. It will furthermore host the general assembly of
ESACP, at a time where important new organisational structures for the
European cytometry field are being discussed.This will definitely constitute
a main topic in informal meetings during the congress as well as at the
general assembly.
Finally, a word about the congress venue - Holmenkollen and Oslo. We are
convinced that whether attending the congress as a participant, exhibitor or
accompanying person, you will enjoy Oslo, the capital of Norway situated
between the fjords, the mountains and the deep forests. On behalf of the
organizers, we welcome you to the 5th Congress of ESACP, and look forward
to see you in Oslo in May 1997!
(H.Danielsen, A.Reith
5th ESACP Congress Organizers)
ACP-Journal
The ACP journal thanks to the continued effort of the editor and to the
continued influx of high quality manuscripts did quite well with a rise of
the impact index to 1.72 which advances it to a remarkable nr.17 within
a group of 64 journals after its relatively short existence since 1989.
Starting on Jan.1, 1997, ACP will be published by
IOS Press,
Amsterdam. This transition will provide a significant cost reduction of
15% for the ESACP membership.
We want to thank Elsevier Science Publishers at this point for the continued
support during the initial years of ACP publication. We want to mention
especially Philippe Terheggen and Adri van der Avoird who were always open
to our problems and suggestions.
ACP-Editor
The Journal of Analytical Cellular Pathology is wealthy. The Impact factor is
above 1.7 and among the best for the journals of the same age. This Impact
Factor puts the journal in the first third of the journals in the same
category. The submission rate is slightly increasing and reaches about 65
papers per year. The average quality of the submitted articles is also
increasing so that the rejection rate can be kept constant while improving
the overall scientific and medical quality. Unfortunately, the average
reviewing time is increasing and the revision time also in spite of reminders sent to
reviewers and authors on a regular basis.
It has been decided that the Journal of Analytical Cellular Pathology will
move from ELSEVIER to IOS Press, working on the behalf of ELSEVIER during
one year and a half. After this period of time, the ESACP will decide to
continue or not with the new publisher. Taking advantage of this change,
the journal will soon be available in electronic form. It will be the
opportunity to redesign the reviewing process taking into account the
internet-intranet technology. In doing so, a significant improvement of the
reviewing time is expected. The new reviewing process through the web will
most likely be ready by mid 1997. All these changes will contribute to keep
the Journal of Analytical Cellular pathology on the cutting edge of cytometry
and histometry.
(G.Brugal)
ACP-Publisher
Founded in 1987, IOS Press is a scientific-technical-medical publisher with
headquarters in Amsterdam.
Its main publishing forms are books, journals and electronic versions thereof.
In 1997 IOS Press publishes 30 journals and 70 new book titles. Around one
third of these are in medical/pharmacological areas. Einar H.Fredriksson is
director/owner and worked 18 years with North-Holland/Elsevier before
starting IOS Press. Similar to the arrangements made for Analytical Cellular
Pathology, IOS Press has taken over several of its most successful journals
from Elsevier Science. All IOS Press journals are typeset with LATEX and\
prepared for future electronic publishing alongside with paper based editions.
ACP is expected to be available electronically from Volume 13, 1997.
(E.H.Fredriksson)
ACP-Issues 1993/94/95/96
The ESACP membership office has been contacted by several ESACP members
who either were not invoiced or inadvertantly did not regulate
the subscription payments to Elsevier Publishers in earlier years.
ACP for one or several of the above indicated years is still deliverable.
Please contact the ESACP Membership Office (address indicated below).
Upon payment of the subscription to the ESACP bank account (93: 205DM,
94: 205DM, 95: 222DM, 96: 218DM), Elsevier will kindly
send the corresponding ACP issues.
ESACP Membership Dues 1997
The annual ESACP membership dues will decrease from 245dfl in 1996 to about
208dfl which corresponds to 185DM in 1997. The dues are now indicated in DM
because ESACP will collect the dues in 1997 on its own to avoid the VAT
payments of 1996. Please complete the enclosed membership renewal form
and sent it to the ESACP Membership Office in Munich either accompanied by
a Eurocheque issued in DM for European members or by providing the
credit card information and your signature (Euro/Mastercard, Visa, American
Express). We ask you to use Eurocheques within Europe to avoid credit card
charges for the ESACP account. The ESACP bank account is: 571 548 701,
Deutsche Bank, München, BLZ: 700 700 10. If you send
cheques, be sure to enclose a notice on your identity.
Otherwise we may be unable to book the payment correctly.
Future of ESACP
ESACP membership has remained stagnant for a while and has even decreased.
One of the reasons for this development is the relatively narrow focus of
the society in the histo- and cytopathological area. The ACP journal on the
other hand reaches a significant number of additional readers from the
image and flow cytometric community. This explains the increase of the
impact factor. As a consequence of this, the question emerges how can the
structure of the image and flow cytometry oriented community be adapted to
the present scientific requirements in Europe?
As an interesting recent phenomenon, a significant number of national
cytometric societies have emerged in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,
Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal/Spain, Switzerland, UK as well as
European Working Groups on Clinical Cell Analysis, Molecular Biology
and 3D Imaging.
Although important aspects of the flow and image cytometric field are
very well addressed by the national societites or by the working groups,
several essential aspects at the European level remain insufficiently
covered at present. Amongst these are:
- - development of a critical mass for the definition and development of new
research focuses in cytometry at the European level
- - applications for research grants in the different funding programs of the
EU
- - organization of focus meetings for the advancement of leading edge
research as well as for the implementation of consensuses at the transition
from basic to applied sciences in areas like:
- - Clinical Cytometry
- - Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
- - Telepathology
- - Ecology
- - Multiparameter Data Analysis
- - Telelearning
- - interaction with EU authorities e.g. European health or standardisation offices
- - forum for the dissemination of Working Group achievements
EFCS/EUCS Foundation
The concepts for the formation of a European Federation or Union of
Cytometric Societies (EFCS/EUCS) have recently emerged from these
considerations. Based on an initial position paper by
G.Valet,
the ESACP officers have contacted the various national cytometric societies
to explore the interest in this idea. Following positive comments by the
membership of the Danish, German, French and UK cytometric societies as
well as encouragement by additional societies, the ESACP executive committee
including the ACP editor propose to pursue this idea.
The central question for ESACP concerns its further development. Two
principal developments seem realistic:
- 1. ESACP continues to exist as one of the societies adhering to EFCS/EUCS, with
activities in the European image analysis and telepathology area.
- 2. ESACP disappears as separate entity by fusion of ESACP members into the newly
established EFCS/EUCS
The ESACP officers and council are at this point very interested in your ideas, so
please inform us about your opinion.
An Internet site will be established which will continuously inform on the results
of a discussion forum concerning the foundation of EFCS/EUCS. This forum consists
of all presidents and past presidents of European national cytometric societies, European
past presidents and president elect of ISAC, speakers of European Working Groups
as well as ESACP officers and 5th ESACP congress organizers. There will be a
link from the
ESACP Internet
www-site to this new www-site. So, please check the ESACP www-site from time
to time to remain informed on the events.
It is the intention of the ESAC officers to advance the preparations for
EFCS/EUCS foundation at the 5th ESACP congress in Oslo next year.
Adress changes, Telephone and Fax numbers, E-mail Addresses
We would like to ask all ESACP members to indicate these
informations on the membership renewal form for incorporation
into the new ESACP membership directory being presently prepared.
With best regards
G.Valet A.Böcking G.Brugal
Pr-Elect President ACP-Editor
