Online ASP Newsletter

Volume 25, Issue 2

April, 1996

Editor: Frank Gasparro

• ASP Nominees
  . . . President-Elect: Homer S. Black and Margaret L. Kripke
  . . . Secretary: Frances Noonan and Antony R. Young
  . . . Council:
  . . . . . . Ehud Ben-Hur, Jean Cadet, Rosalie K. Crouch,
  . . . . . . Peter M. Glazer, Joan E. Roberts and Gary B. Schuster
• Presidential Contest - Analysis
• Announcements
• Reminder - Search for new Newsletter Editor

PRESIDENT- ELECT

Homer S. Black
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Houston, Texas

Education and Appointments: B.Sc., Texas A & M University, 1956; M.Ed., Sam Houston State University, 1960; Ph.D. (Biochemistry), Louisiana State University, 1964; M.S. Admin. (Business), University of Houston, 1977. Currently Professor, Department of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, and Research Career Scientist and Director of the Photobiology Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, Texas.

Research Interests: Mechanism(s) of UV-induced cutaneous carcinogenesis, antioxidant-mediated chemoprevention, and dietary lipid modification of skin cancer expression.

ASP Activities: Served ASP between 1986-1994, first as Council Member, Chairman of the Finance Committee, and Treasurer. Chaired several proffered paper sessions at ASP meetings. Recipient of the first ASP Photon Award in 1994.

I had expressed, upon the end of my tenure as Treasurer in 1994, the view that the Society was then financially positioned to implement new directions that would better serve the membership and enrich our science. There have already been initiatives by the immediate past and present officers to do just that. Efforts have been undertaken to raise the Society's visibility, recognizing the expertise of our members as spokespersons on important national issues. The scientific quality of our annual programs has been enhanced. High school students and college undergraduates are being made aware of the science of Photobiology through updated pamphlets and the Internet. The Society has increased support for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to attend annual meetings. A recent initiative to establish a Photobiology Foundation, to serve future needs of our science, is underway. These are all important goals for the "vertical" development of the Society and I would continue to develop and nurture these initiatives. As President, I would encourage a second strategy directed to "horizontal" development. Although the Society aspires to serve the entire spectrum of "photobiology", it seems apparent that there are areas of science which involve, or impact, photochemistry and photobiology and yet are not represented or served by ASP.

I would work with the Membership Committee to devise strategies to encourage those scientists to join efforts with ASP. Second, I would seek the advice of the Editor and Publications Advisory Committee with regard to directions we should begin so that we may assure that our primary source of revenue, Photochemistry and Photobiology, is positioned to meet the rapid and dramatic changes that are occurring in the area of information dissemination. Ultimately, it is the corporate wisdom of the membership that determines the direction the Society takes, and I would be listening carefully.

Appointment: 1983-present, Professor and Chairman, Department of Immunology, Vivian L. Smith Chair in Immunology, Research Professor, Department of Dermatology, UT Medical School, Houston

Education: A.B. 1965, Bacteriology and Immunology, University of California, Berkeley; M.A. 1967, Bacteriology and Immunology, University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. 1970, Immunology, University of California, Berkeley; Postdoctoral 1970-1972, Ohio State University, Department of Microbiology

Research Interests: Photoimmunology, photocarcinogenesis

ASP Service: Councilor 1988-1990, Secretary-Treasurer 1990, Secretary 1991-1993; Publications Committee, 1995- present.

I have been very impressed with the results of the strategic planning efforts that have focused the Society's activities along thematic lines in the past few years. This strategy seems to have increased the involvement of the membership in governance and rebalanced the programmatic emphasis within the Society. As President, I would strongly support these new directions and follow up with an evaluation of the status and effectiveness of these initiatives. In addition, through my associations with various government agencies, I would work toward increasing the visibility of the ASP as a national resource for expertise on environmental issues related to photobiology.

Frances Noonan
Department of Dermatology
The George Washington University
Washington, DC

Education: BSc (Hons, Biochemistry) and PhD (Immunology), University of Queensland, Australia Appointment: Research Professor of Dermatology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC

Research Interests: Photoimmunology and Photocarcinogenesis; biologic mechanisms of action of urocanic acid isomers; genetic linkage studies on susceptibility to UV-induced immunosuppression.

ASP Service: Council Member 1994-1996. Public Affairs Committee Chair, 1996.

1995 Meeting Activities: Chair, Symposium "Photoimmunology"

Goals: My goals as Secretary of the ASP would be to facilitate the functioning of the Society by effectively carrying out the duties of this position. My overall interest within the Society is to encourage, and hopefully to expand research in Photobiology within the scientific community and to increase awareness of the importance of photobiology both in the general community at large and in policy makers and administrators.

Appointment: Senior Lecturer in Photobiology

Research: Effects of environmental UVR on human skin cells, especially DNA lesions, cytokine induction and immune function; photosensitization; photocarcinogenesis; photoageing; photoprotection

ASP Service: Member of Council (1993-1996); organizer of joint ASP/ESP symposium on UVA Photobiology at Atlanta meeting, June 1996

I am keen to continue to foster close relationships between the American and European Societies for Photobiology. The theme, DNA Photodamage and its Repair at the 6th ESP Congress in September 1995 was the first such joint venture. I hope that the ASP/ESP symposium in Atlanta on UVA Photobiology will be as successful and that joint events will become firm fixtures at future meetings of both Societies. Collaborative ASP/ESP textbook and electronic publications are also being discussed. The future of any science rests firmly with its youth which, despite my name, excludes me. Increasingly tight budgets present particular difficulties to young photobiologists who would benefit from meeting their trans-Atlantic colleagues. As secretary, I would also try to devise schemes to help such interchange.

Ehud Ben-Hur
Melville Biologics, Inc.
New York, New York

Ehud Ben-Hur, Director of the Virus Inactivation and Photobiology Laboratory, received his B.S. degree (1965) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his Ph.D. (1970) from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Ben-Hur's research interest is in photosensitization as applied to medicine. Specifically, he focused on phthalocyanines as photosensitizers for PDT of cancer and, more recently, for inactivation of viruses in blood. The latter work also encompasses psoralens. He is an Editor for Lasers in the Life Sciences as well as a regular reviewer for Photochemistry and Photobiology. If elected he will focus on enhancing the interaction between ASP and industry, to facilitate the transfer of scientific findings into medically used products.

Jean Cadet, Head, Laboratory of DNA Damage, received his PhD degree in chemistry (1973) from the University of Grenoble, France. His main research interests are aimed at understanding the effects of UV and ionizing radiations on nucleic acids including photosensitization processes (photodynamic agents, psoralens). More specifically, Dr. Cadet's activities deal with the determination of the mechanisms of formation of DNA damage together with the measurement base lesions and the evaluation of their biological role. Major goals would be to promote the interdisciplinary nature of photobiology and to favor interactions with other fields of research including those of radiation biology and oxidative stress. Past and current services for ASP involves Photobiology School Lecturer, Symposium Chairman and Associate Editor of the Journal.

Rosalie Crouch received her A.B. from Randolph-Macon Woman's College, her M.S. from Lehigh University and her Ph.D. from Einstein University. After postdoctoral studies with Koji Nakanishi at Columbia University, she joined the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina where she is now Professor of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry, Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Provost for Research. Her research interests are in the photobiology of rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin and is currently funded by NIH and DOE. She serves on the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Eye Institute and an NSF Advisory Panel. She will co-chair a symposium on Phototransduction at the 12th International Congress on Photobiology. For the ASP she serves as an Associate Editor for Photochemistry and Photobiology and will chair a symposium on Applications of Mass Spectroscopy to Problems in Photobiology and will present one of the Perspectives Lectures at the 1996 meeting. If elected to the Council, her goals will be to raise the visibility of the Society, to attract an increased number of scientists to the Society with particular emphasis on students and junior faculty, and to develop materials which will increase awareness among the developing scientists (middle school/high school level) of the excitement and challenges in the field of photobiology.

Peter Glazer, Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale, received his B.A. degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1979. He studied the biochemistry of cell signalling at the University of Oxford, where he received an M.Sc. in 1981. His further graduate work was done at Yale, where he received an M.D. and a Ph.D. in 1987 for studies on mutagenesis and DNA repair in mammalian cells. These studies included a close examination of UV mutagenesis in murine fibroblasts using shuttle vector technology based on the bacteriophage lambda, which he developed. This technology has more recently been applied to transgenic mice, and Dr. Glazer is currently engaged in studies of psoralen and UVA mutagenesis in the transgenic mouse model system. Recently, Dr. Glazer's research efforts have broadened to include the study of psoralen-conjugated oligonucleotides as research tools and possibly as therapeutic agents. His work has explored the potential utility of oligonucleotides which can bind to DNA in the major groove in a sequence-specific manner to form triple helices. By conjugating psoralen to these oligomers, the sequence- specificity of the triplex formation is conferred on the psoralen. This technology has provided a novel reagent to probe cellular DNA repair and mutagenesis pathways and has raised the possibility of genetic manipulation via triple helix-targeted mutagenesis. As a Councilor of the Society, Dr. Glazer would hope to expand interest in novel uses of photoreactive agents which he hopes would expand ASP's appeal to another group of scientists.

Appointment: Professor of Chemistry

Research: Photoneuroimmunology, Ocular Melanoma, Ocular Phototoxicity, Photoprotection Against Light Damage to the Skin and Eye (Porphyria, PDT and Direct Light Damage)

ASP Service: Member of Council (1989-1992); Chair: Grants and Awards Committee, Education Committee; Contributor: Photobiology Pamphlet; ASP Position Paper on Sun Exposure and Sunscreen Usage

As Councilor at Large, my major goals would include the following: 1) to continue and expand outreach programs for information about photochemistry/photobiology to the media, the Federal Government, interested industries and the general public. 2) to retain membership by carefully considering the needs and suggestions of present members in all of the new divisions. As my area of research crosses several fields, I am in a unique position to understand the disparate scientific interests of our uniquely interdisciplinary group. 3) to expand membership through collaborative workshops and forums with closely related groups (laser engineering and medical groups, radiation biologists, botanists, space and government agencies) 4) to encourage new younger members by continuing and expanding travel fellowships and mentor/ student/postdoctoral scientific and social events.

Gary B. Schuster received the Bachelor of Chemistry degree from Clarkson College of Technology in 1968 and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1971. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and a member of the chemistry faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign for twenty years. In 1994 Schuster moved to Georgia Institute of Technology where he is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Dean of Sciences. Schuster is the author of more than 185 publications. His research interests span a number of areas. He has worked in chemiluminescence and bioluminescence and proposed the chemically induced electron-exchange (CIEEL) mechanism. He has applied time-resolved spectral methods to the investigation of photoaffinity labeling agents - - nitrenes and carbenes in particular and he is investigating the photochemistry of anthraquinone derivatives for application to the controlled oxidative cleavage of DNA. Schuster also served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. He is currently an Associate Editor of Photochemistry and Photobiology. Schuster was awarded Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships and in 1994 he received a Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society. As a Councilor of the American Society for Photobiology, Schuster will work to assure that the Society supports its research, teaching and service missions in photobiology and photochemistry.

Red Hot Texas Political Debate Plagued with Inaccuracies!

Cessnas originating from enemy camps have been spotted over Houston. These may be the bow shots representing idiosyncratic politics in Texas - home of LBJ, Ross Perot and George Herbert Walker Bush (well it's kind of his home). Placards and billboards all around the spaghetti bowl network of highways that weave in and around Houston have been spotted with negative attack advertisements. Since this is a family publication, they can't be quoted here. One of the candidates has expressed a strong preference for a color that denotes the absence of light and has been captured on video tape saying that a change in bylaws will be passed saying that dark photochemistry is to be the preferred method in all research proposals submitted to the NIH in order to reduce indirect costs by eliminating the need for electricity to carry out experiments.

It looks as if the "oilmen" of Houston and the bankers of Dallas are financing these marketing-intensive campaigns. Furthermore, reports of unsavory political tricks have forced the ASP Council to take drastic emergency actions to insure that the Texas megabucks do not sway the election with their large number of electoral votes. Thus the secretariat has been instructed to divide the ballots into 5 groups - the Northeast, the Southeast, West/Southwest, Plains/Northwest and Texas - as they are received from the membership. Each region will have ten electoral votes. The candidate attaining the majority (51%) will be declared the victor. However, the votes from a given region may be disqualified if less than 30% of the eligible voters cast their ballots.

Of course there may be unforeseen pitfalls, thus the Society has formed a special committee - Geacintov, Girotti and Gasparro - the so-called three G's (but you won't be hearing any arias from them) - to deal with an electoral gridlock. The three G's have agreed to serve in a Troika presidency until the end of the century. At the November Council meeting, it was recognized that the politics surrounding the ASP presidential elections had grown bitter over the years. The emergency plan described above was devised during a special executive session. Furthermore, it was acknowledged that this unselfish dedication to duty could not go without reward. Thus the executive committee voted to fund three years of research in the Troika laboratories. Of course it is hoped that these drastic measures will not have to be implemented - so keep an eye out for your ASP ballot and mail it in by the deadline.

1997 - Silver Anniversary ASP

1997 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the ASP. Plans for the 1997 meeting in St. Louis (July 5-10) already include events to mark this special occasion. Fred Urbach has agreed to recruit speakers to highlight important events from 1972 and subsequent years. Now the NL invites you to submit your recollections in the form of brief articles, anecdotes etc. We will begin running these after this year's meeting in Atlanta (June 15-20).

The Forum on Women and Minorities of the ASP is sponsoring a mentor program. You need not be female nor in a minority group to participate. Just send your name, address, phone, e-mail address, area of interest, and whether you want to be a mentor or be mentored to:

Suzanne Wolford, Ph.D.

Corning Hazleton, Inc

P.O. Box 7545

Madison, WI 53707

or e-mail to: swolford+ahaztrxma%hazleton_wisconsin@MCImail.com

We'll match you up with a mentor or someone who wants a mentor. Note: those of you who volunteered to mentor last year and who were not matched up - you were not forgotten. We had more than enough volunteers last year, but please volunteer again if interested!

REMINDER

We are looking for a new Editor for the Newletter. Interested candidates are requested to send a letter to:

Frank Gasparro, PhD

Photobiology Laboratory/(FMB-08)

Yale University

Department of Vascular Surgery

333 Cedar Street

New Haven, CT 06510

Phone: (203) 785-6061

Fax: (203) 737-1618

E-Mail: GasparroFP@MASPO2.MAS.YALE.EDU or fotondoc@aol.com