Minutes of the February 2, 2001 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at Covance Laboratories,
Vienna, Virginia. The Board thanks Greg
Erexson and Covance for their hospitality.
The meeting was called to order at approximately
9:20 a.m.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Anita Bigger, Gerry DeVito, Greg
Erexson, Peggy Guzzie and Vijay Reddy. Also
in attendance were Andrea Ham (Membership
Chair) and Jennifer Sasaki (Newsletter
Editor). Jennifer Sasaki and Jennifer Trowsdale
(not in attendance) will be attending to
editorship duties while Darlynea McCluskey
is on maternity leave. Russ DuFrain and
Leon Stankowski were unable to attend.
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the October
19, 2000 Board Meeting were distributed.
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights of
the minutes and the Board approved them.
Dan will post the approved minutes from
today’s meeting on the GTA Web site
and Jennifer will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain, Treasurer, was unable
to attend the Board meeting. Post Meeting
Note: Russ gave the following Treasury
information to Gerry at the EMS Meeting
in San Diego, California. Currently we have
$1662.89 in the checking account, $8315.22
in the savings account. The GTA also has
two CDs, one worth $10,042.66 and the other
worth $15,149.14. The interest bearing accounts
accumulated $796.43 in the year 2000. These
amounts have already been figured in to
the values listed here. The present total
assets come to $35,169.91. Russ also said
that he would still look into obtaining
a GTA credit/debit card, but for now would
continue to use his personal credit card
to make reservations for GTA purposes and
get reimbursed from the GTA accounts.
Newsletter
Jennifer Sasaki, interim Newsletter
Editor, discussed the Spring Newsletter.
Jennifer Sasaki and Jennifer Trowsdale will
be compiling submissions and coordinating
mailings (mid-April). The deadline for Newsletter
submissions is the end of March.
Items to be included will be Peggy’s
Letter from the President, the agenda for
the Spring Meeting, the dates for the Fall
Meeting, the Placement Service and the minutes
from today’s Board Meeting. Two new
items for this Newsletter will be
the Member Profile spotlighting a particular
member and their accomplishments/contributions
in the field of Genetic Toxicology and a
Student Update. Greg Erexson will prepare
a profile of Kerry Dearfield, and Vijay
Reddy will prepare an update on what has
been happening with our student sponsorship
and recruitment efforts.
Also to be included will be a note saying
that member e-mail address updates should
be sent to Andrea Ham so that she can send
passwords for the on-line Membership Directory.
Members can also indicate a change to their
e-mail address on the meeting registration
form and the membership renewal form.
Jennifer will send approximately 30 copies
of the GTA Spring Meeting flyers to Vijay
in early March for students. We will be
bringing approximately 100 flyers to both
the EMS and SOT Meetings for distribution.
Jennifer will send out the paper meeting
notice flyers approximately two months prior
to the Spring Meeting. Andrea will also
send a meeting notice via e-mail
a couple of weeks prior to the meeting.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, talked about the
Web site that is currently 22 pages with
counters on 11 of them. Dan stated that
we had over 1900 hits on the main page and
over 800 hits on the meeting registration
page.
Dan discussed the Membership Directory.
We are now using the same software as EMS
for our on-line GTA Membership Directory
and Dan has sent e-mails to members with
their passwords. As a reminder these passwords
are case sensitive. Dan said that there
had been some difficulties due to the switch
to NT but that they have been resolved.
Andrea will maintain the site and update
the member information as necessary.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that the mailing list which had been cut
down from about 1000 to approximately 700,
needs to be pared down even further. She
will cut that number down for the next mailing
by including only members who have paid
dues at some time since 1997.
Andrea mailed the printed GTA Membership
Directory to the members not in attendance
at the Fall 2000 Meeting.
Future GTA Meetings
Spring 2001
The date for the Spring Meeting is May
17, 2001 at Clayton Hall. The title for
the Spring Meeting will be Determining
Chemical Structure - Mutagenicity Relationships
Using Computational Toxicology. The
organizers are Dan and Gerry. The Board
members were very pleased with the agenda
that Dan had prepared. Some of the speakers
had not committed to the meeting at this
time. Dan will send an update e-mail to
the proposed speakers requesting their final
okay. Dan will send the more final agenda
to Jennifer by the 12th of this
month to be included in the Spring Meeting
flyers.
Dan will also send a letter to the speakers
and others asking if they would like to
sponsor a booth at the meeting. The booths
are $100 each. This information will also
be included in the Newsletter.
We discussed holding the dessert portion
of the luncheon in the exhibit area so that
attendees can see hands on demonstrations.
It was mentioned that the new version of
MultiCASE would be previewing at SOT.
Dan will contact Russ to ask about obtaining
a projector with multiple ports for laptops
for the Spring Meeting. We believe that
most speakers will be bringing their presentations
loaded on their own laptops.
We will plan a dinner for the evening prior
to the meeting for the speakers and Board
members who will be spending the night.
Andrea will make reservations at a local
restaurant. Speakers will stay at the Embassy
Suites and ask for the Dupont rate when
making their reservations.
Dan also mentioned the possibility of the
AGT cosponsoring this meeting. He will discuss
this at the upcoming AGT Council meeting
and get back to us.
Jennifer will e-mail the San Francisco Bay
area bioinformatics group about this meeting.
Fall 2001
The date for the Fall Meeting is October
18, 2001. A New Technologies - technique
oriented meeting possibly related to DNA
Damage and Repair, DNA methylation, and/or
Toxicogenomics was discussed. The organizers
are Vijay and Anita. Possible speakers mentioned
were Tom Stamato, Doug Brash, John Groopman,
John Essigmann, Don Coffey, Larry Thompson
and Bill Morgan.
Jennifer suggested that we ask junior investigators/scientists
to present posters of their work at this
meeting as well. Posters shown at EMS could
be presented again since the audience would
be different. A $100 award for the best
poster will be presented. The details will
be announced in the Newsletter. Andrea
will call Clayton Hall to check the cost
and availability of Poster Boards.
We will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary year in 2001. We decided to
have a special cake in place of the dessert
at an expanded lunch hour. We will have
it served in the Poster session area. Andrea
will check with Clayton Hall about this
and also some local bakeries.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy is continuing to contact
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to a free GTA meeting.
EMS Student Travel Award
We will sponsor our selected student,
Jason White to attend the EMS Meeting in
San Diego, CA. The award amount will be
$1000. Peggy sent him the formal letter
congratulating him and giving him the details
of his award. Vijay will contact Bill Morgan
to clarify the certificate and the check
presentation. We will also again be sponsoring
the Student/New Investigator Reception at
that meeting and all Board members are asked
to attend. Badges for Board members were
discussed and Dan will look into having
buttons made at the printer that we have
been using. These could also be given out
at the 25th anniversary celebration.
Our sponsorship of the reception needs to
be listed on the EMS Meeting Web site.
EMS Meeting
Dan will bring flyers for both the Spring
and Fall GTA Meetings to EMS. Andrea will
bring Membership brochures. We discussed
having a table for GTA, but decided to place
our information on the EMS table instead
as we have done in past. Jennifer will have
a poster made of the Spring Meeting Agenda
to display at the EMS meeting. Vijay will
present this poster at the EMS Student/New
Investigator Reception and Poster Session.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
on May 17, 2001 following the Spring Meeting
in Delaware.
The summer Board meeting will be held either on August 3 or 10, 2001 in Groton, Connecticut.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 2 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the May 17, 2001 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 at approximately 4:30
p.m.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Gerry DeVito, Greg Erexson, Peggy
Guzzie, Vijay Reddy and Leon Stankowski.
Also in attendance were Russ DuFrain (Treasurer),
and Andrea Ham (Membership Chair). Anita
Bigger and Jennifer Sasaki (Newsletter
Editor) were unable to attend.
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights
of the minutes and the Board approved them.
Dan will post the approved minutes from
today’s meeting on the GTA Web site
and Jennifer will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain, Treasurer, presented his
Treasurer’s report at the Business
Meeting. As of May 15, 2001 the total assets
come to $33,918.95. We will further discuss
obtaining a GTA credit/debit card at the
Summer Board Meeting. Andrea asked that
Russ send a letter to Dupont detailing Hillary
Sussman’s travel expenses to the Fall
2000 GTA Meeting, so that they can reimburse
the GTA for half.
Newsletter
Items to be included in the Fall
Newsletter will be Peggy’s
Letter from the Chair, the agenda and dates
for the Fall Meeting, the Placement Service
and the minutes from today’s Board
Meeting. The two new items included in the
Spring Newsletter, the Member Profile
and the Student Update, were well received.
Greg Erexson will prepare the next profile,
possibly of Jane Allen.
Also to be included will be a note saying
that member address updates, including e-mail
addresses, should be sent to Andrea Ham
so that she can send passwords for the On-line
Membership Directory. Members can also indicate
a change to their e-mail address on the
meeting registration form and the membership
renewal form.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, stated that we
had over 2300 hits on the main page of the
Web site and there were 43 online registrations
for today’s meeting.
Dan discussed the Membership Directory,
which is currently up and running on-line.
Dan had sent e-mails to all members with
their passwords through electronic mail,
but it seems some people are either having
problems getting access to the directory
or did not receive the e-mail. Andrea stated
that some e-mail addresses might not be
current. These can be updated through the
Web site. Andrea will now maintain the on-line
Directory and update the member information
as necessary.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that as of today’s meeting, there
are 291 members.
Future GTA Meetings
Spring 2001
The Spring Meeting held today titled
Determining Chemical Structure - Mutagenicity
Relationships Using Computational Toxicology
appeared to be a great success. The Board
members thanked the organizers, Dan and
Gerry. Dan reported that the cost for the
speakers’ expenses came to approximately
$1400.00.
Syntox sponsored a booth at the meeting
and the AGT co-sponsored the meeting.
Fall 2001
The date for the Fall Meeting has been
changed from October 18, 2001 to October
10, 2001. The official title will be Emerging
Technologies for Testing or Mechanistic
Understanding of Toxicity. The organizers
are Vijay and Anita. Vijay handed out a
draft meeting agenda for board review. Everyone
agreed that it was impressive. The group
suggested some minor changes. They will
send a letter asking the potential speakers
to participate very soon.
We will plan a junior investigator/scientist
Poster Session for this meeting. We agreed
that posters shown at EMS could be presented
again since the audience would be different.
A $100 award for the best poster will be
presented. The details will be announced
in the Newsletter. Russ or Andrea
will call Clayton Hall to check the cost
and availability of Poster Boards.
We will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary Year in 2001. We decided to
hold the celebration along with the Poster
Session in place of the afternoon break
and late afternoon talk. We will have a
special cake and possibly champagne. Andrea
will check with Clayton Hall about this
and also some local bakeries. Russ will
check with Clayton Hall about the cost of
serving a single glass of champagne per
person at this event. Soft drinks will also
be available.
Spring 2002
It was decided that Greg and Leon would
plan the next Spring meeting of the GTA.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy is continuing to contact
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to a free GTA Meeting.
Several students attended today’s
meeting and some became members as well.
We need to stress to potential student members
that by joining the GTA they would have
access to our placement service and by attending
meetings they could post there CV’s
and view job postings as well as meet with
potential employers.
EMS Student Travel Award
We sponsored our selected student, Jason
White to attend the EMS Meeting in San Diego,
CA. The award amount was $1000. We also
again sponsored the Student/New Investigator
Reception at that meeting and many of the
Board members attended. Jason attended today’s
meeting and will present his work at the
Fall GTA Meeting.
Business Meeting
The Spring 2001 Business Meeting was
held just prior to the lunch break at today’s
GTA Meeting. Peggy announced the topic for
the upcoming Fall Meeting and asked the
membership for suggestions of topics for
the next Spring Meeting. She also asked
people to think about possible nominations
for the Board. Elections will be held in
the Fall. Russ gave his Treasurer’s
report. Andrea updated us on the Membership.
Vijay gave an update on Student membership
and Dan gave a brief update on the Web site.
Details of each of these updates can be
found in the appropriate section of these
minutes.
Future Board Meetings
The summer GTA Board Meeting will be
held on August 10, 2001 at Pfizer in Groton,
Connecticut.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 6 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the August 10, 2001 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Genetic Toxicology Association thanks
Pfizer Inc. for their generosity in hosting
the GTA Summer 2001 Board of Directors Meeting
at their facility in Groton, Connecticut.
Many thanks go to Peggy Guzzie and Darlynea
McCluskey for arranging the meeting and
for their gracious hospitality.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Anita Bigger, Gerry DeVito, Peggy
Guzzie, Vijay Reddy and Leon Stankowski.
Also in attendance were Andrea Ham (Membership
Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor). Greg Erexson was unable to attend.
The meeting was called to order by Peggy
Guzzie, Chairman, at approximately 9:30
a.m. Peggy distributed the agenda for the
meeting.
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights
of the minutes and the Board approved them.
Dan will post the approved minutes from
today’s meeting on the GTA Web site
and Darlynea will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain could not attend the meeting.
No formal Treasurer’s report was available
at the time of the meeting. We received
an e-mail from Russ stating that the Treasury
was in good shape with approximately $34,000.00.
We will further discuss obtaining a GTA
credit/debit card at the Fall Board Meeting.
Newsletter
The deadline for the Fall Newsletter
will be the end of August/early September
in order to be mailed prior to the October
Meeting. Items to be included in the Newsletter
will be Peggy’s Letter from the Chair,
the final agenda for the Fall Meeting, the
minutes from today’s Board Meeting
and the Member Profile. Greg Erexson contacted
Jane Allen who has agreed to be the next
member to be profiled in the Newsletter.
Also to be included will be the details
of our 25th Anniversary Celebration.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, stated that we
had over 2581 hits on the main page of the
Web site. Since Dan will be rotating off
the Board this year he was unanimously voted
in as permanent Webmaster and he graciously
accepted.
Dan stated that he needs the details of
the upcoming meeting in order to post them
on the Web site. Vijay will e-mail them
to Dan.
Dan discussed the on-line Membership Directory.
He said that the EMS Directory would no
longer be password protected and asked if
we would like to follow suit with our directory
as well. The Board unanimously approved
this. Dan stated that he had given instructions
to Andrea who will now maintain the on-line
Membership Directory and update the member
information as necessary.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that there are currently 291 members but
this number will soon fall off to about
150 since 146 have not paid dues since 1999.
Approximately 300 copies of the Fall Newletter
will be sent out this time. Andrea will
compile a list of the members who have attended
meetings in the recent past and also break
down the list by students. This information
can be used for future Board nominations
and for student outreach.
Future GTA Meetings
Fall 2001
The date for the Fall Meeting is Wednesday
October 10th, 2001. The official
title is Emerging Technologies for Understanding
the Mechanisms of Genotoxicity. The
organizers are Vijay and Anita. We reviewed
the revised agenda for the meeting. The
group suggested some additional minor changes.
Anita will meet with Jim MacGregor to ask
if he could give an overview talk on new
technologies. Jason White, our EMS Travel
Award recipient, will also present a 20
minute talk at this meeting. The meeting
announcement will go out in about 2 weeks.
We will be holding a Poster Session at this
meeting. Prizes will be awarded for the
best current poster and the best vintage
poster, $50 for each. The details will be
announced in the meeting flyer and in the
Newsletter. Andrea is in contact
with Clayton Hall concerning the cost and
availability of Poster Boards. She will
also check to see if possibly DuPont could
lend the Poster Boards and we would pay
for their transportation to and from Clayton
Hall.
We will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary in 2001. We had decided to hold
the celebration along with the Poster Session
in place of the afternoon break and late
afternoon talk. Andrea will check with Clayton
Hall regarding the cake and champagne for
the celebration. Soft drinks and coffee
will also be available. Leon will check
with Linda Bowers at Covance about obtaining
special coffee mugs to commemorate our silver
anniversary year. It was suggested that
the GTA logo, 25 years and possibly 1976-2001
be put on the mug. We would need between
70 and 100 mugs. Leon will also check with
Kate Flanders about borrowing a CD-ROM camera
to take pictures during the celebration,
to be posted on our Web site.
We decided to have a buffet luncheon for
this meeting.
The election of two new Board members will
also take place at this meeting. Members
were asked to check with possible nominees
to see if they are interested in running
for the Board. Gerry will compile the ballots
prior to the meeting.
Spring 2002
Greg and Leon will plan the Spring meeting
of the GTA. A March/April time frame was
suggested due to the fact that the EMS meeting
will take place during late April/early
May next year. We will have to work around
the SOT meeting schedule which is March
17th to 21st, 2002.
Leon will check the topics for the EMS Workshops
being held in Japan this fall for possible
topics for the Spring meeting. Photomutagenicity
was also suggested as a possible topic and
David Kirkland was suggested as a potential
speaker on Transformation assays.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy is continuing to contact
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to a free GTA Meeting.
Several students attended the last meeting
and some became members. It was suggested
that we ask the students that attend a meeting
to voluntarily introduce themselves before
the lunch break so that members know who
they are and can reach out to them at lunch
or afternoon break. It was again mentioned
that we would like to have a non-voting
student on the Board.
Andrea will send an additional list of universities
in the Philadelphia/Delaware area to Vijay.
Anita suggested Hood College as a contact
possibility.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
We will continue to sponsor the Student/New
Investigator Reception and our Student Travel
Award Recipient for next year’s meeting.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
on October 10th, 2001 following
the Fall Meeting in Delaware.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the October 10, 2001 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Genetic Toxicology Association met following the Fall 2001 GTA Meeting at the John M. Clinton Hall Conference Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE.
Continuing Members of the Board in attendance were Anita Bigger, Greg Erexson, Vijay Reddy, and Leon Stankowski. All four welcomed newly elected Board Member Skip Wagner. Also in attendance were Andrea Ham (Membership Chair) and Russ DuFrain (Treasurer). Unable to attend were Board Members Gerry DeVito (Secretary), and newly-elected Krista Dobo. Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter Editor) and Dan Benz (Webmaster) also were unable to attend.
The meeting came to order at approximately 4:00 p.m. An agenda for the meeting was provided by outgoing Chair, Peggy Guzzie. Leon Stankowski volunteered to be Acting Secretary. By unanimous agreement of all present, Vijay Reddy was elected Chairman, and Gerry DeVito was re-elected Secretary.
Secretary's Report
Written minutes from the previous meeting
were provided by Gerry DeVito. The minutes
were reviewed and approved on the motion
of Anita Bigger, seconded by Vijay Reddy.
Dan Benz will post the approved minutes
from today’s meeting on the GTA Web
site, and Darlynea McCluskey will include
them in the next GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain next reviewed the Treasurer’s
report. Russ stated that the Treasury was
in good shape with approximately $35,000.00.
Two CDs will be maturing in the next few
months and no small effort will be required
to find replacements in the current 6% interest
range. Our checking account currently is
with Bank of America, but Russ is looking
into other alternatives for the near future.
It also was generally agreed that a GTA
credit/debit card is not required at the
present.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Web Master, was unable to
attend; no report was available.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor) also was unable to attend. However,
the deadline for the Spring Newsletter
will be early March in order to be mailed
by the end of March in time for the Spring
Meeting in May. Items to be included in
the Newsletter will include an agenda
for the Spring Meeting, the minutes from
today’s Board Meeting and the Member
Profile. Greg Erexson will contact more
of the founding members in the hope that
one will agree to be the next member to
be profiled in the Newsletter. Also
to be included will be the details of our
25th Anniversary Celebration.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that membership stands at 229 (current members
plus those paid through 2000). The on-line
Membership Directory also was discussed.
As yet there has been no change in our on-line
directory and passwords, pending a final
decision by the EMS (password protection
for that directory is currently under review).
GTA Meetings
Fall 2001 (today)
The other Board Members in attendance
thanked Vijay Reddy and Anita Bigger for
a job well done. Today’s meeting was
considered a success, with no complaints
heard. The speakers and topics were well
received. Abstracts of the talks will be
posted on the GTA Web site. Several posters
were presented, with $50 prizes awarded
for the best current poster and the best
vintage poster. We also celebrated our 25th
Anniversary, with cake and champagne for
the celebration. Soft drinks and coffee
also were available. Coffee mugs commemorating
our silver anniversary year were distributed
to the registrants. One gross of mugs (the
minimum order) were purchased with approximately
half used. It was suggested that a notice
be posted on our Web site offering the remainder
for sale. Also, Russ DuFrain stated he would
contact each of today’s unpaid no-shows
to request payment of the registration fee.
Spring 2002
Greg Erexson and Leon Stankowski will
plan the Spring meeting of the GTA. A date
of Wednesday, May 22, has been selected
based upon the timing of the EMS and SOT
meetings. Due to recent world events, a
series of updates from the IWGT in Japan
is no longer an option. It was suggested
that the IWGT actually be rescheduled here,
to coincide with the Spring meeting. This
will be discussed with David Kirkland and
other organizers of the IWGT. Other topics
suggested included the interrelationship
between cytotoxicity and mutagenicity, automated
or high throughput screening, or a series
of case studies involving "problem" compounds.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy will hand over responsibility
for this effort to Krista Dobo. The list
of universities receiving has increased
based upon the additional schools in the
Philadelphia/Delaware area provided by Andrea
Ham.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
There was a mix-up over sponsorship
of the Student/New Investigator Reception
at last year’s EMS meeting. Russ DuFrain
will contact the society and inform them
of or desire to be the sole sponsor for
the next one. Skip Wagner volunteered to
contact the society regarding applicants
for the Student Travel Award, so that we
can select one from our area to present
the GTA Travel Award for next year’s
meeting.
Request for Complimentary Membership
Andrea ham reported that she had received
a request for a waiver of membership dues
from a student/junior scientist in India.
By unanimous agreement, the request was
denied due to the distances involved and
a lack of desire to set a precedent.
Future Board Meeting
The Winter GTA Board meeting will be
held in late January or early February at
Merck, to be hosted by Vijay Reddy. Details
will be provided at a later date.
The meeting adjourned, on the motion of Leon Stankowski, at approximately 5:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Leon F. Stankowski, Jr., Acting Secretary