Minorities Affairs Committee Workshop (MAC): Writing for Publication
David Asai, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Michael Leibowitz, UMDNJ, University of California, Davis

This workshop (geared toward postdocs and junior faculty) focused on how to publish a scientific paper, including planning collaborations and designing experiments, knowing when you are ready to publish, selecting the appropriate journal, assigning authorship order and acknowledgment credit, and preparing and editing the manuscript and manuscript submission. The review process was also presented, including responsibilities of editors and reviewers, conflict of interest, how to respond to reviews, and resubmission vs. submission to another journal.

Minorities Affairs Committee - New Challenges and Old Obstacles 101
Franklin Carrero-Martinez, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Anthony DePass, Long Island University
Deborah Harmon Hines, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Michelle Juarez, University of California, San Diego
Stefan Kirchanski, Venable LLP

This presentation (geared toward undergraduate and graduate students) was aimed at motivating students to maximize and take proprietorship of their graduate school experiences by highlighting the trials and tribulations underlying the various stages of the academic pipeline. Distinguished panelists at different stages of their academic careers (postdoc, assistant professor, full professor, and alternative science career professional) share their experiences.

2011 ASCB Workshop Offered by the Women in Cell Biology (WICB) Committee
Biotechnology - Careers for Cell Biologists?
Harvey Lodish, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Amy Gelina, SomaLogic, Inc.
Leslie Leinwand, University of Colorado
Navi Mehra, N30 Pharmaceuticals
James H. Sabry, Genentech, Inc.
Supported by a grant from the Office of Research on Women’s Health, NIH, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund

A panel of five cell biologists working in different areas of biotech and pharma shared their experiences in a nonacademic world.

2011 ASCB Keynote Symposium

Molecules and Systems: Our Quest for a Physiology of the Cell
Marc Kirschner, Harvard Medical School
Supported by Genentech, Inc.

2011 ASCB E.E. Just Lecture
Jerry C. Guyden, City College of New York
Sponsored by the ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee

Thymic Nurse Cell Function: The “Proto-Thymus”?

2011 ASCB Keith R. Porter Lecture
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Navigating the Cellular Landscape with New Optical Probes, Imaging Strategies, and Technical Innovations.

Conversations with Cell Biologists
Kathryn L. Wilson, Johns Hopkins Medical School, moderated the “talk show” with three guests:
- Magdalena Bezanilla, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who devised a reverse engineering protocol for the moss, Physcomitrella patens, establishing a powerful new model organism for plant cytoskeletal proteins
- Christine Jacobs-Wagner, Yale University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who found the missing third element of the prokaryotic cytoskeleton, an IF-like protein that she dubbed crescentin
- Dyche Mullins, University of California, San Francisco, who recognized the importance of the characteristic 70-degree angle of the Arp2/3 protein complex at the leading edge for cell motility
Sponsored by the ASCB Public Information Committee
Supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH

Discovery is the name of the game in cell biology but what is it like to make a significant breakthrough at the bench early in your career? Three ASCB members who had such a “Eureka” moment as young postdocs or newly minted junior faculty explore the “inner game” of scientific discovery in this taped conversation before a live audience.

Planning Ahead as a Student/Postdoc: What You Can and Should Be Doing Now to Ensure Success on the Job Market in a Few Years
Moderator: Tony Koleske, Yale University
Panelists: Malcolm Campbell, Professor, Davidson College; Jenny Frederick, McDougal Graduate Career Center, Yale University; Ann Miller, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan; James Sabry, Vice President, Genentech; Katie Ullman, Professor, University of Utah
Sponsored by the ASCB Education Committee

Want to plan ahead? Experts from both academia and industry led a discussion of what qualifications, skills, and strategies current postdocs (even those just beginning) should develop and adopt to position them to enter the academic or industrial job market and garner those coveted interviews in a few year’s time. They also offered advice on how to prepare for and conduct oneself during a job interview, including preparing a research statement, job talk, teaching a mock class, and doing homework before the visit.

2011 ASCB E.B. Wilson Medal Presentations and Address

E.B. Wilson, MBL, and the Physical Properties of Protoplasm. Gary Borisy, Marine Biological Laboratory

Mitosis Futures: The Past is Prologue. J. Richard McIntosh,  University of Colorado, Boulder

Molecular Motors: Where Do We Go From Here? James Spudich, Stanford University