Minutes of the January 29, 1999 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at BioReliance, 9630 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD. The meeting was called to order at 10:10 am by Chairman Bob Przygoda. Members of the Board in attendance were Bob Przygoda, Richard San, Russell DuFrain, Dan Benz, Robin Leonard, and Kerry Dearfield. Peggy Guzzie was absent due to a prior commitment.
Secretary's Report
Robin Leonard read the minutes of
the last meeting. With a few minor changes,
the minutes were approved.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain presented the Treasurer's
report and handed a summary sheet to each
Board member. The income as reported is
accurate, although some reconciliation
of registration fees and membership fees
remains to be completed following his
receiving an updated membership list from
Dave Mallon. The balance as of 12/30/98
was $27,748.38, with accounts payable
of $3,246.04 to the University of Delaware
for Fall meeting expenses, and $20.00
to the State of Delaware for the Association's
incorporation fee. Association assets
are then $24,482.34.
All the speakers from the Fall meeting
have been paid except for the British
speaker, who has not submitted an invoice.
Russ agreed to send him an e-mail reminding
him that we need to close out the 1998
books, and need his invoice. The Association
is still expecting an invoice from the
law firm that handles the Delaware incorporation
for about $160.
The Board agreed to go to a fiscal year
(January 1 - December 31) reporting schedule
for reconciled financial reports, with
complete reports being presented to the
Board following each meeting of the Association
(Spring and Fall).
The Board approved the purchase of staggered
Certificates of Deposit with approximately
half of the Association funds, not to
exceed $12,000.
Appropriate bank forms were signed by
the Association officers to provide signature
authority on the GTA account.
Newsletter
John DeLuca has requested the
names and addresses of the Board members
and the minutes from the last Board meeting
for publication in the April Newsletter.
He also needs a draft agenda for the Spring
meeting and the abstracts of the presentations
by the end of March. Robin will provide
the names and addresses and the minutes;
Richard and Russ will provide the draft
agenda. John is also requesting any articles
that the Board members would like to see
included in the Newsletter.
John is in the process of generating the
new Membership Directory. It was agreed
that some coordination between John, the
Secretary, and Dave Mallon, Membership
Chair, would be beneficial. In addition,
a master membership list will be available
at the registration desk at the May meeting
for people to check their addresses and
phone numbers. There was some discussion
as to whether a printed membership directory
was still necessary given the availability
of an electronic directory being possible
on the GTA Web site. It was agreed that
the printed directory will be continued
for now, and issues of confidentiality
would be examined before the decision
is made to upload the directory onto the
Web.
Membership Chairman
Dave Mallon has requested that the
Board seek another GTA member to assume
the responsibilities of Membership Chairman.
The Board will seek volunteers at the
Spring meeting. It was agreed that both
the Membership Chairman and the Newsletter
Editor attend the Spring and Fall Board
meetings, and be available by phone for
the Winter and Summer Board meetings.
GTA 1999 Spring Meeting
The 1999 Spring Meeting will be organized
by Richard San and Russell DuFrain. It
will be held at Clayton Hall, University
of Delaware, Newark, DE on May 20, 1999.
Richard and Russ submitted a draft list
of topics and potential speakers under
the working title: "Chip Technology: New
Approaches to Toxicology, Medical Diagnostics,
Analytical Chemistry and Agricultural
Testing." The topics proposed are gene
regulation, microfluidics, medical diagnostics,
cancer diagnostics, new approaches to
carcinogenicity testing, and agricultural
testing. It was agreed to target the end
of February for a finalized agenda and
list of speakers.
Some discussion was held about the best
distribution of speakers' slots and breaks,
and a more organized approach to identifying
those needing a vegetarian lunch was proposed
and adopted. The Registration form will
contain 3 new items: 1) request for change
of address; 2) source of information about
the meeting; and 3) request for vegetarian
lunch. Green tickets, to be prepared by
Robin Leonard, will be available at the
Registration desk to be picked up with
badges for those requesting vegetarian
meals. The serving staff will be instructed
to only serve those lunches to those holding
green tickets.
Robin will try to purchase stock rainbow
paper from a general office supply store,
and send this to Richard and Russell.
Dan will post a preliminary announcement
of the meeting on the GTA site and in
the AGT Newsletter.
Student Sponsorship
The GTA did not select a student for
sponsorship in 1999. Kerry asked the EMS
for a list of student submissions from
the membership area of the GTA, and there
were none. It was agreed that the GTA
will not sponsor a student to the EMS
in 1999. The Board agreed to offer one
faculty and up to three student registrations
for both the Spring and Fall 1999 meetings
to Bryn Mawr College, Thomas Jefferson
University, Rutgers University, and the
University of Delaware. Robin will be
the contact for Bryn Mawr, Thomas Jefferson,
and the University of Delaware. Bob will
contact the appropriate faculty at Rutgers.
Communications with Other
Societies
The Board agreed to sponsor the Student
Opening Program at the 1999 EMS meeting
for a cost of $500.00. The Board expressed
this decision to Bob Young, and told him
that, funds permitting, we would like
to continue this sponsorship in the future.
Dan Benz will call the 1999 student program
director and let her know of this decision.
It was agreed that Bob Przygoda will be
primary contact with MASOT (Mid-Atlantic
Society of Toxicology); Dan will be the
primary contact for AGT and GEMS.
There was discussion about whether the
Newsletter ought to go completely
electronic. The decision is that for now,
the GTA will offer members a choice of
having the Newsletter mailed or
sent electronically. Information about
both EMS, GTA, and other related societies
can be obtained at www.ems-us.org. As
Webmaster for the site, Dan Benz requests
that submissions for that site not include
tabs, indents, or columns for formatting.
Corporate Sponsorship
Robin will make some changes to the
corporate sponsorship letter, and include
a note to the effect that the GTA sponsors
student participation at the EMS meeting,
as well as the Student Opening Program.
Responses will be directed to the secretary.
The revised letter will be emailed to
the other members of the Board for approval.
Following approval of the letter, Dave
Mallon will provide a list of corporations
that have GTA members and Robin will attempt
to identify the appropriate persons to
whom to send the letters.
Survey Status
Bob said the survey has not been finished,
and additional resources may be needed
from Society membership to complete this
task. Bob will contact the editor of Environmental
and Molecular Mutagenesis to see if
any suggestions are forthcoming.
Fall 1999 Meeting
Some discussion on possible topics
for Fall 1999 were held. Possibilities
include gene expression, DNA damage and
repair, and breakthroughs in telomere
research. There was interest in developing
a meeting around mechanism vs.
mode of action, but it was agreed that
that might be a topic very suited to the
Spring 2000 meeting, as it would have
significant regulatory implications. The
issue of hiring a company to package and
sell meeting proceedings was rejected,
particularly in sight of our having our
agenda and abstracts on the GTA Web site.
Russell will contact the company representative
and let her know the decision.
Next Meeting
The next GTA Board meeting will be
held following the Spring Meeting on May
20, 1999, at Clayton Hall, University
of Delaware.
At 3:15 pm a motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin C. Leonard, Secretary
Minutes of the May 20, 1999 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at Clayton Hall, Univ. of DE, Newark DE. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bob Przygoda. Members of the Board in attendance were Bob Przygoda, Richard San, Russell DuFrain, Peggy Guzzie, Robin Leonard, and Kerry Dearfield. Dan Benz was absent due to a prior commitment. A special guest, Dr. Raghu Nath (Covance) attended the first hour of the meeting.
Special
Discussion
Raghu Nath from Covance asked to attend
the beginning of the Board meeting in order
to offer a proposal for the Fall 1999 meeting.
Covance and CanTox have planned a meeting
on DNA adducts and propose to hold this
in conjunction with the GTA. The structure
would be as planned, but would have a larger
audience. Covance and CanTox will put up
some funds. They have planned two days of
meetings: the first day would be the usual
GTA format, and the 2nd day would involve
only the Expert Panel that would be convened
to write a consensus report. The meeting
would offer a good mix of research and regulatory
topics. Specifics discussed included the
following:
- Earl Nestman of CanTox will be program chairman.
- Speakers' transportation will be covered by Covance/CanTox.
- Registration will cover the conference room and lunch.
- GTA could cover one night's accommodation for speakers, if needed.
- GTA will do flyers of the meeting to additional lists.
Raghu will attend the Summer
Board meeting at Haskell Laboratory to further
discuss the logistics of the meeting. His
phone number is 703/893-5400, ext. 5270.
The motion was made and carried to develop
the Fall 1999 meeting around the Covance/CanTox
proposal for a collaborative effort.
The Board agreed that Robin Leonard should
arrange a block of rooms at the MacIntosh
for the Fall meeting shortly after the Summer
Board meeting, and that a preliminary notice
should be sent to members and "friends"
regarding reservations this summer.
GTA 1999 Future Meetings
Peggy Guzzie suggested that the Board
consider lunch discussions at future meetings,
but there was a general consensus that the
membership found the informal socializing
at lunch and during the breaks to be very
valuable for professional contacts and relationships.
Peggy and Albert Li (InVitro Technologies,
Baltimore) will develop the Fall 2000 program,
to be held October 19, 2000 at Clayton Hall.
Kerry Dearfield will develop the Spring
2000 meeting around mechanism of toxicity/mode
of action. This meeting will be held May
18, 2000 at Clayton Hall.
Secretary's Report
The minutes of the last meeting were
approved. The draft minutes for future meetings
will be sent via e-mail to the Board members
for approval.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain presented the Treasurer's
report and handed a summary sheet to each
Board member. The final balance for the
Association is $22,624.12.
Newsletter
Peggy Guzzie agreed to solicit a Newsletter
Chairperson from her group. John DeLuca
will be invited to attend the Summer Board
meeting in order to effect the transition
to the new Chairperson.
Membership Chairman
Andrea Ham (DuPont Pharmaceuticals)
will be the new Membership chairperson.
She will attend the Summer Board meeting,
along with Dave Mallon in order to effect
the transition. The Board agreed to re-visit
the issue of an electronic membership directory
when security issues around the Website
are resolved.
Student Sponsorship
Sponsorship of an EMS student was tabled
until the summer Board meeting.
The GTA will continue to sponsor the EMS
Student/Young Investigator Poster Session
and Reception.
Corporate Sponsorship
Board members were requested to come
to the Summer Board meeting with suggestions
for the corporate audience that the Association
should target for sponsorship.
Robin will make some changes to the corporate
sponsorship letter, and include a note to
the effect that the GTA sponsors student
participation at the EMS meeting, as well
as the Student Opening Program. Responses
will be directed to the Secretary. The revised
letter will be e-mailed to the other members
of the Board for approval. Following approval
of the letter, Dave Mallon will provide
a list of corporations that have GTA members.
Next Meeting
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
July 29, 1999 at the Haskell Laboratory
for Toxicology and Industrial Medicine,
Newark, DE from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin C. Leonard, Secretary
Minutes of the May 20, 1999 General Business Meeting of the Genetic Toxicology Association
The meeting was held in Clayton
Hall, University of Delaware, and called
to order by President Robert Przygoda. The
Treasurer, Russell DuFrain, reported that
as of 5/18/99, the Association’s account
held $22,624.12. In the absence of minutes
from the Business Meeting held at the Fall
1998 Meeting, Secretary Robin Leonard said
that summary minutes of the Business Meetings
would be kept beginning with this meeting.
As her Board term expires this November,
she will try to organize the electronic
files of minutes, lists, and contacts used
over the past four years for the new Secretary.
Bob Przygoda reminded the membership that
the Newsletter is an integral part
of the Association’s communications
strategy, and is very helpful to the Board
with regard to timelines and contacts. John
DeLuca, who has edited the Newsletter
most successfully for several years, has
asked to be replaced. The Membership Chairman,
Dave Mallon, is also retiring after a long
stint. He will turn over to the new Membership
Chair the software he uses to manage the
lists and labels. Bob asked the members
to consider volunteering for these two vital
positions.
Board member Kerry Dearfield summarized
the Board’s new efforts to improve
student outreach. He described the Association’s
sponsorship of the EMS Student/New Investigator
Poster Session and Reception; the Board’s
decision to provide a student award to attend
the EMS and give a presentation at the next
GTA meeting; the reduced Registration for
students at GTA meetings; and the offer
of GTA meeting scholarships for university
professors and accompanying students. Kerry
requested all Association members to do
student outreach.
In the absence of Webmaster, Dan Benz, Kerry
described the Website and provided the address.
We are a sub-site of the EMS Web site.
The Fall Meeting will be held October 21,
1999 at Clayton Hall, University of Delaware.
Three possible topics were proposed: gene
expression, DNA damage/repair, and breakthroughs
in telomere research. The members expressed
most interest in the latter two topics.
The meeting was closed by the President,
who reminded the members that the success
of the organization depends on volunteers.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin C. Leonard, Secretary
Minutes of the July 29, 1999 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at Haskell Laboratory, Newark, Delaware. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Bob Przygoda. Members of the Board in attendance were Bob Przygoda, Richard San, Peggy Guzzie, Robin Leonard, Dan Benz, and Kerry Dearfield. Russell DuFrain was absent due to sickness. Other attendees (partial attendance) were Brian Myhr (Covance; Fall program coordinator), John DeLuca (Merck; outgoing Newsletter editor), Darlynea McCluskey (Pfizer, incoming Newsletter editor), Dave Mallon (Reckitt and Coleman; outgoing Membership chairperson), and Andrea Ham (DuPont Pharmaceuticals; incoming Membership chairperson.)
Secretary's Report
With a few minor changes, the summary
from the Spring business meeting was approved.
The minutes from the Spring Board meeting
were also approved. The approved minutes and
the business meeting summary will be posted
to the GTA Website.
Treasurer's Report
In the absence of the Treasurer, no Treasurer's
report was presented. An e-mail from the Treasurer
to the Secretary indicated that he would try
to get estimates of the cost of the Fall meeting
to the meeting organizers by early next week.
Newsletter
John DeLuca gave Darlynea McCluskey
the files accumulated during his tenure as
Newsletter Editor. The expectations
of the Editor were outlined for the benefit
of Darlynea and the Board. These are:
- Attend the Board meetings as a reporter to the membership
- Compile, edit, and mail the Newsletter to the membership twice a year.
- Provide a summary of recent GTA activities/decisions for the EMS Newsletter twice a year
- Obtain the speakers' abstracts from the meeting organizers for publication in the Newsletter
- Work with the Membership Chairperson to get the pre-meeting one-page flyer mailed to members and Friends, and the Newsletter mailed to members. The return address of the flyer and the Newsletter should be the Membership Chairperson. Registrations should be directed to the Treasurer.
- Work with Dan Benz to get important material posted to the Website.
John and Darlynea worked in
committee so that more detail could be addressed
on the specific tasks.
The issue of archives was raised. Board members
agreed to ask former Officers of the Association
about files or other material that should
be maintained in one place, and to try and
acquire that material. Mike Farrow at one
point was in charge of the archives and might
have knowledge about the current status of
them. Bob and Kerry will try to contact Mike.
Alexandra Ventura is another possible useful
contact, as she had worked with the archives
in the past. Dan will try to contact her daughter.
The idea that an Archivist should be elected
from the membership was raised, but not resolved.
The suggestion was also made that important
documents be maintained on the Website, including
photographs from meetings. Dan Benz will explore
this possibility.
Membership
Dave Mallon handed over to Andrea Ham
several of the files pertaining to membership,
including some information on software and
the list of the "Friends of the GTA". Dave
stated that the tasks facing the Membership
Chairman were too extensive for one person
to handle effectively, and offered to continue
for an unspecified transition period the management
of the primary membership list. This was agreed
to by the Board members. Dave still has not
received the Spring meeting registration information,
but at this time, his records indicate 83
paid-up members.
For the benefit of the Board and Andrea, Dave
outlined the primary tasks of the Membership
Chairperson. These are:
- Assist the Treasurer at meeting Registration so that Registration and Membership dues could be tracked and recorded.
- Update the Membership brochure contents. Copies of the current brochure were distributed to the Board for their markup and comment. These will be returned by September 15. Robin Leonard volunteered to assist Andrea with the editing and formatting of the brochure. Dan Benz volunteered to take the copy to the printer in Maryland. This brochure will be used to recruit new members at the Fall meeting.
- Arrange for the printing of the paper Directory. The Board agreed that a new Directory will be published in 2000.
- Send the dunning* letters to members with unpaid dues. Dave questioned the inherent value of this activity, as most members paid their membership dues with registration fees.
- Maintain electronic mailing lists (Kerry will send the lists he has to the membership chair).
- Prepare mailing labels when needed.
- Coordinate and maintain corporate sponsorship.
The Board requested that Dave
and Andrea make a proposal to the Board at
the Fall meeting concerning the best way to
transition the software for Membership list
maintenance to something that would be in
common use among the membership and could
handle the multiple types of tasks involved
(selection of sub-lists, generating labels,
tracking dues paid, tracking meeting attendance).
They agreed to do this.
Dave stated that he believed that the Membership
Chairperson's time would be better spent recruiting
new members rather than researching software,
but the Board stated that it is important
that the logistics and procedures for maintaining
the membership records be as efficient as
possible, and in a form easily transitioned
to new Membership chairs. Dave asked about
everything being maintained on the Web site.
The Board reiterated its decision to postpone
the Directory being solely electronic
pending resolution of security issues.
The Board voted to have a special recognition
at the Fall Business meeting of John DeLuca
and Dave Mallon for their long commitment
and hard work for the GTA in their respective
positions.
GTA Future Meetings
Fall 1999
Brian Myhr (Covance) presented to the
Board the status of planning for the Fall
meeting, to be a joint meeting with the Covance/CanTox
workshop on DNA adducts. Brian distributed
the preliminary announcement flyer, already
printed by Covance. A larger informational
brochure will be mailed by the first of September
with hotel information, directions, and a
registration form. The Board requested that
Bob Przygoda and Russ DuFrain review the brochure
prior to mailing.
Brian said that the current estimate for expenses
was $15,000. He recommended that the registration
fees be increased to $80.00 for members and
$120.00 for non-members for the first day.
Registration as an observer for the Expert
Panel on the second day would be $50.00, regardless
of GTA status.
The Board expressed considerable reservation
about the effect of that increase on attendance,
and pointed out that we usually average about
$5000 expenses for these meetings. Even if
the meeting were unusually well-attended despite
the somewhat narrow focus of the topic, the
Association cannot afford to be liable for
that level of expense. The Board reminded
Brian that acceptance of the original proposal
for a joint meeting was predicated on significant
corporate sponsorship being obtained by the
Covance/CanTox organizers.*
After much discussion, the following items
were agreed to:
- Advance registration for the first day will be $50.00 for members, $100.00 for non-members, and $30.00 for students. A 20% penalty will be attached to member and non-member on-site registration. No penalty will be attached to students.
- Registration as an observer for the second day will be $100.00 for everyone.
- GTA will handle logistics for the meeting, paying conference center expenses, reimbursing speakers for travel and one night of hotel, and collecting registrations and corporate contributions.
- GTA will not be responsible for additional panelists' costs.
- GTA will commit to support at a cap of $6,000. Any profit from the meeting will be retained by GTA.
- If a minimum of $10,000 in corporate sponsorship has not been received by September 1, the GTA reserves the right to curtail the meeting to one day and pay only the expenses of the four main speakers and the Conference Center charges for the one day.
It was agreed that the size
of the Expert Panel as listed in the preliminary
flyer indicated that a larger room would be
necessary on day two, and that the Board would
ask Russ to try and arrange that.
Robin will look into other hotels available
in the Newark area, and try to book some additional
rooms, as well as the McIntosh. Since this
meeting is two days duration, it is felt that
more people will require an overnight.
Spring 2000
Kerry Dearfield will develop the Spring
2000 meeting around mechanism of toxicity/mode
of action. This meeting will be held May 18,
2000 at Clayton Hall. Robin Leonard will contact
Matt Bogdanffy of Haskell Laboratory and ask
if he would like to participate, based on
his work with AIHC in that area.
Fall 2000
Peggy Guzzie and Albert Li (InVitro Technologies,
Baltimore) will develop the Fall 2000 program,
to be held October 19, 2000 at Clayton Hall.
The topic will be alternative metabolic systems
for genetic toxicology testing.
The Board agreed to co-sponsor an AGT workshop
on the development of FDA formats for submissions.
The Association's only obligation will be
to provide a mailing list of members and Friends
to the meeting organizers. The workshop will
not occur before summer of 2000, will not
conflict with the GTA Spring or Fall meetings,
and will not financially obligate the Association
in any way.
Student Sponsorship
Sponsorship of an EMS student will be
pursued again this year. Kerry will contact
Sheila Galloway of EMS and ask to see abstracts
submitted by students from our geographic
area. If the Board identifies a student that
it wishes to sponsor for attendance at EMS
and the subsequent GTA meeting, a decision
will be made as to the level of support. Options
include $500; $1000; or transportation, room,
and per diem.
The GTA will continue to sponsor the EMS Student/Young
Investigator Poster Session and Reception.
University outreach will be concentrated on
the University of Delaware for the immediate
future.
Corporate Sponsorship
Changes were recommended to the corporate
sponsorship letter that will be incorporated.
Andrea will get lists of corporate contacts
from the appropriate EMS committee chairpersons.
The letters will go out in mid-September and
will include a copy of the meeting flyer.
Website
Dan Benz reported that the highest number
of hits was 300, and agreed to set up archive
files for the minutes, meeting programs, meeting
abstracts, and Newsletters.
Agenda for Fall 1999 Business
Meeting
The following agenda for the Fall Business
Meeting was drafted:
- Election of two new Board members. The Board will present a slate of candidates, and a request for nominations from the floor will be made. Each candidate will be given a few moments to introduce themselves to the membership and "campaign".
- Treasurer's Report
- Secretary's Report summary of last business meeting, results of university and corporate outreach, corporate recognition
- Recognition of new and outgoing Committee Chairs
- Summary of current membership
It was agreed to announce the winners of the election to the Board right after lunch.
Next Meeting
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
October 21, 1999 at Clayton Hall, Univ. of
DE, following the Fall meeting. The Treasurer
will be asked to secure a small meeting room
at the conference center.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved
to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin C. Leonard, Secretary
* According to the 1981 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the origin of this word is unknown.
Minutes of the October 21, 1999 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at the
John M. Clayton Hall Conference Center at
the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.
The meeting was called to order following
the end of the first day of the Fall GTA
Meeting. As Chairman Bob Przygoda and Secretary
Robin Leonard were rotating off the Board,
Richard San was elected the new Chairman
and Gerry DeVito was elected Secretary.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Kerry Dearfield, Russ DuFrain,
Peggy Guzzie, and Richard San. Bob Przygoda
and Robin Leonard were unable to attend.
Also in attendance were Andrea Ham (Membership
Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor). The newly elected Board members,
Gerry DeVito (Schering-Plough Research Institute)
and Vijay Reddy (Merck Research Laboratories)
were welcomed.
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the July
29, 1999 Summer Board Meeting were distributed
and accepted. In Robin Leonard's absence,
Richard San distributed the Secretary's
Report on her behalf. According to this
report Robin plans to organize the electronic
files of meeting minutes and lists and to
approach former Board members for archive
materials.
The approved Board Meeting minutes and the
Business Meeting summary will be posted
to the GTA Web site. Dan Benz will produce
the Business Meeting report.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain presented his Treasurer's
report. The Current Bank Balance for the
Association as of October 1, 1999 was $24,870.41.
This number increased as of October 21,
1999 due to on-site registrations and Membership
Dues payments during the on-going Fall Meeting.
Russ stated that the registration by mail
deadline for the Spring Meeting will be
May 5, 2000. The advance flyer should reach
everyone no later than mid-March.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey, Newsletter
Editor, agreed with Kerry Dearfield that
a deadline for entries into the Newsletter
would aid in getting the mailings out in
a timely fashion. The Board decided on a
deadline for the Spring Newsletter
of April 15, 2000 in order to mail prior
to the Spring GTA Meeting scheduled for
May 18, 2000. The deadline for entries into
the next EMS Newsletter is November
12, 1999, therefore the summary of the Fall
GTA Meeting will need to be received before
then.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, discussed some
updates to the site. We now have 9 Web pages,
the colors have changed and the site can
be reached from the EMS home page. Dan also
mentioned the number of hits the GTA home
page (over 600) and the meeting information
page (over 100) had received since March
of this year. The site has almost unlimited
space so Dan is looking for ideas to best
utilize it. Some ideas discussed were: information
on the next meeting as it becomes available,
soliciting of topics for future meetings
as well as speakers, and having direct links
to the membership. An on-line registration
form for meeting attendance would allow
people to register early and then pay the
registration fee(s) at the meeting. This
would serve to give us a better estimate
of how many people plan on attending a particular
meeting.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, is in
the process of finalizing the e-mail database
of the membership. Announcements of upcoming
meetings will be sent out to all current
members and Friends via e-mail.
The revised GTA Membership Directory will
be available by the next Fall Meeting.
Andrea distributed a copy of the updated
recruitment brochure and the Board made
some recommendations for further updates.
Richard San will update the list of interesting
past meetings of the Association, which
is included in the brochure. Kerry Dearfield
stated that at the last EMS Board Meeting
it was decided by the Public Relations &
Communications Committee that EMS would
support a Booth at SOT and other relevant
scientific meetings. GTA is invited to have
their brochures present at these Booths.
Dan Benz will get cost estimates for printing
2000 copies of the revised brochure.
GTA Future Meetings
Spring 2000
Kerry Dearfield is developing the Spring
2000 meeting to be entitled Mechanisms
of Toxicity/Modes of Action. Matt Bogdanffy
of Haskell Laboratory will co-chair the
meeting, which will take place May 18, 2000
at Clayton Hall. In keeping with a regulatory
theme for the Spring meetings, Kerry will
make contacts through EPA and other regulatory
agencies as well as industry for speakers.
Risk assessment will also be a strong theme
of the meeting.
Fall 2000
Peggy Guzzie and Albert Li will develop
the Fall 2000 program, to be held Thursday
October 12, 2000 at Clayton Hall. The topic
will be metabolic activation systems for
genetic toxicology testing.
The Board had agreed to co-sponsor an AGT
workshop on the development of FDA formats
for submissions that will take place after
the summer of 2000. Andrea Ham will provide
a mailing list of members and Friends to
the meeting organizers.
Kerry Dearfield asked Andrea Ham to contact
Robin Leonard to see if she would continue
her role as liaison between the McIntosh
Motor Inn and GTA. The Embassy Suites Hotel
will also be added to the list of places
to stay while attending a GTA Meeting.
Student Sponsorship
Sponsorship of an EMS Student Award
recipient will be pursued again this year.
The Board decided that if one of the top
student entries identified by EMS is from
our region (east coast) the GTA would sponsor
that individual to attend the EMS Meeting
in New Orleans, LA. The level of support
would be $1000.
The GTA will again sponsor the EMS Student/Young
Investigator Poster Session and Reception
to be held on Saturday April 8, 2000 in
New Orleans. Richard San will check with
Bob Young as to when he needs the check
for $500.00 from us.
Kerry Dearfield nominated Vijay Reddy to
handle the University Outreach efforts.
He will identify regional universities and
attempt to contact science professors. GTA
allows professors and several of their graduate
students to attend a GTA meeting free of
charge. Vijay will also draft a letter to
students to be put on the Web inviting them
to learn more about GTA membership.
Corporate Sponsorship
It was recommended that a person from
the membership be asked to handle Corporate
Sponsorships and Exhibitors. Kerry Dearfield
will speak with Linda Bowers who handles
this for EMS. Annual sponsorships could
be at the $500-1000 level. Sponsorships
could also be based on a particular meeting's
topic of interest.
Next Meeting
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
February 10, 2000 at BioReliance in Rockville,
MD. Richard San will schedule a conference
room at the site.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the October 21, 1999 General Business Meeting of the Genetic Toxicology Association
The meeting was called to
order by Council Member Richard San in Clayton
Hall, University of Delaware. Dr. San first
thanked Microbiology International for bringing
an exhibit to the meeting and urged the
meeting attendees to visit Microbiology
International's display. He then announced
the annual GTA elections at which two new
Council members would be elected to replace
Bob Przygoda and Robin Leonard who were
rotating off the Board this year. The nominees
for election were Albert Li, Laura Custer,
Gerry DeVito, and Vijay Reddy.
Treasurer Russel Dufrain reported that while
GTA had $22,624.12 in the bank as of May
18, 1999, the Society had earned $17,300
and spent $11,512 on today's meeting for
a net gain of $4948 leaving a balance of
$24,870.41 in the bank as of October 1,
1999.
The meeting attendees were then told that
the GTA Council had once again committed
$500 towards sponsoring the student/new
investigator sessions at the next EMS Annual
Meeting, and also $500 for a student travel
award for the EMS meeting [Note: this was
later changed to $1000]. In addition, as
an outreach to university professors and
students, GTA would be offering free admission
to students from local schools.
The Secretary reported that an effort has
begun to organize the archival materials
of GTA by gathering together the electronic
files of the society and also collecting
the written records of former Board Members.
The next GTA meeting (Spring 2000) will
be organized by Kerry Dearfield and Matt
Bogdanffy, and will be on the mechansim
of toxicity and the mode of action. The
Fall 2000 meeting will be organized by Peggy
Guzzie and Al Li and will be on alternative
metabolic systems. In further meeting news,
GTA has agreed to co-sponsor a meeting by
the Association of Government Toxicologists
on the format of genetic toxicology data
submissions.
Next, GTA recognized the years of service
of John DeLuca as Newsletter Editor and
David Mallon as Membership Chair and announced
that Darlynea McCluskey has taken over as
Editor while Andrea Ham was taking on the
Membership Chair job. Andrea stated that
there were currently 165 GTA members paid
through 1999 and that she was establishing
a new Microsoft Access-based database of
members which will keep track of active
members (who get the GTA Newsletter), the
larger "friends" list (who get the single
page meeting announcements), and e-mail
lists to be used for announcing meeting.
Andrea also promised a new Membership
Directory in 2000 and an updated GTA
Membership Brochure.
Finally Gerry DeVito and Vijay Reddy were
congratulated for being elected to the GTA
Board and Laura Custer and Al Li were thanked
for standing for election.