The Electrophoresis Society NewsLetter - June, 1998 (Vol 4, No 1)

Message from the Society President

By Nancy Stellwagen, University of Iowa

GREETINGS to all members of the Electrophoresis Society

And my apologies for being so tardy in communicating with you. I started to write a newsletter several times during the past year, but something always happened to make the news in my half-finished newsletter obsolete. So I will try again to get you caught up with the affairs of the Society.

OFFICERS

First of all, there have been some changes in the officers of the Electrophoresis Society. Mike Harrington resigned as Vice-President and President-Elect, although he remains an active and committed member of the Society. Jim Selkirk has accepted the Vice-Presidency in his place; he will become President if confirmed by the electorate in the election preceding the next annual meeting.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The society has a new Executive Director, Joan Stevenson, The Abacus Group, 3338 Carlyle Terrace, Lafayette, CA 94549. (Tel. 925-284-7186, Fax: 925-283-5621, ccdsexec@email.msn.com). You should all have heard from her, since she sent out this year's renewal notices.

JOURNAL

As part of the breakup with Allen Marketing and Management, Allen Press declined to continue publishing our journal, Applied and Theoretical Electrophoresis. Therefore, Richard Leimgruber, our Editor-in-Chief, has been looking for a new publisher, so far without success.

In view of this fact, we decided to publish the Proceedings of the ICES meeting in the journal Electrophoresis, so as not to punish the authors by an inordinate delay in publication. A special issue primarily devoted to the papers submitted at the Seattle meeting, peer reviewed of course, should be published by the end of May. Several other manuscripts that had previously been submitted to ATE will also be published in Electrophoresis, again to expedite publication.

The publisher of Electrophoresis would like to encourage our memberes to subscribe to Electrophoresis on a regular basis. They are willing to offer a reduced personal subscription rate for our members of $195 per year (instead of the regular personal subscription price of $295). Note that personal subscriptions are only available to individuals whose institution has a full price subscription. Payments must be made by personal check, money order or credit card, and delivered to a home address. members who already have a subscription to Electrophoresis may renew at the reduced price. you must identify yourself as a member of the Electrophoresis Society to get this reduced subscription price.

ANNUAL MEETING

Because of all the turmoil surrounding the breakup with Allen Press, and the conflicting schedules of various people, we were unable to organize a general meeting of the Electrophoresis Society this spring. We are actively engaged in planning a meeting for the spring of 1999, and will update you on the plans as they become established. Any suggestions about topics you would like to see covered, the format of the meeting, exciting speakers, etc. should be sent to me at your earliest convenience; we will try to incorporate as many of the members' suggestions as possible in planning the meeting.

As mentioned in the last newsletter, I would like to include in the newsletter regular features on Electrophoresis Highlights and Hot Tips on Electrophoresis, gleaned either from personal experience or from the literature. As my contribution, I offer the following examples:

ELECTROPHORESIS HIGHLIGHTS

From my perspective, the big news in electrophoresis in the past several years is the number of papers that question the Ogston theory of pore size distribution as the theoretical basis of the electrophoretic separations observed in gels or sieving liquid polymers. A few of these papers, and VERY brief summaries, are cited below. Their common theme seems to be that the sieving medium exerts a specific influence on the observed mobilities.

Gary W. Slater, Hong L. Guo, Electrophoresis 17, 977-988; 1407-1415 (1996). "An exactly solvable Ogston model of gel electrophoresis: I. The role of the symmetry and randomness of the gel structure; II. Sieving through periodic gels." These theoretical papers come to the conclusion that gel mobilities are not proportional to the available free volume in the gel (as postulated by Ogston) because of the lack of connectivity of the pores and the influence of the type of gel structure on the observed mobilities.

B. Kozulic, Anal. Biochem. 231, 1-12 (1995). "Models of gel electrophoresis."
This author describes a phenomenological model for electrophoresis which postulates that gels do not have fixed pores but contain regions of high and low motional freedom that can be displaced more or less easily by the migrating macromolecules.

A. E. Barron, W. M. Sunada, H. W. Blanch, Electrophoresis 17, 744-757 (1996). "The effects of polymer properties on DNA separations by capillary electrophoresis in uncross-linked polymer solutions."
Similar DNA separations occur in ultradilute polymer solutions, orders of magnitude below the overlap concentration, and semidilute polymer solutions, suggesting that the separation mechanism in all sieving liquid polymers is based on the physical entanglement of the DNA molecules with the polymer chains.

HOT TIPS ON ELECTROPHORESIS

J. Crux-Reyes, K. J. Piller, L. N. Rushche, M. Mikherjee, B. Sollner-Webb, Biochemistry 37, 6059-6064. "Unexpected electrophoretic migration of RNA with different 3' termini causes a RNA sizing ambiguity that can be resolved using nuclease P1-generated sequencing ladders."
The title says it all.

FEEDBACK

Please let me know your opinions about the Electrophoresis Society, the annual meeting planned for Spring 1999, and/or the various features included in this newsletter. I plan to send out another newsletter in 3-4 months, which will include news about the Spring 1999 meeting, as well as features and meeting reviews submitted by the members. I look forwared to your input to the next newsletter.


Nancy Stellwagen
President, The Electrophoresis Society
Department of Biochemistry
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa  52242
FAX:  319-335-9570
email:  stellwg@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu

MEETING REVIEWS

The following reviews of the Seattle ICES meeting were written by Carol Giometti, Secretary, and Jim Selkirk, Vice President. I would be very interested in including short reviews about other meetings of interest to our members in future newsletters, if someone would take the initiative of writing one and sending it to me.

The 1997 meeting of the International Council of Electrophoresis Societies was attended by approximately 100 scientists from around the world who were interested in sharing and learning the most recent methods and applications in the fields of capillary, DNA, and protein electrophoresis, use of two-dimensional electrophoresis databases available on the World Wide Web, and electrophoresis trouble-shooting tips. Three and one-half days of scientific sessions followed, including opening lectures by Lee Hood (Global Genome Approaches), Lee Hartwell (Yeast Genetics and Cancer) and Vic Spitzer (The Visual Human). These opening lectures put the use of electrophoretic methods in the context of their current or future use in addressing major biochemical and biomedical issues.

By Carol Giometti

Scientific sessions included both platform and poster presentations covering all facets of electrophoresis including: protein identification, two-dimensional electrophoresis technologies, clinical applications of electrophoresis, analysis of post-translational modifications, separation of cells and particles, mobility shift assays, capillary electrophoresis, applications in cancer, genetics, evolution and biotechnology, instrumentation and methods, affinity electrophoresis, DNA electrophoresis, database presentations, and Proteome projects. Located in down town Seattle, within walking distance of the waterfront attractions, the meeting venue was outstancing. A banquet on Tillicum Island offered meeting participants the opportunity to savor the native American cuisine and culture while exchanging scientific ideas.

By Jim Selkirk

Members experienced the flavor of the native culture on a dinner excursion to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. We departed Seattle at dusk on a ferry that showed us some of the beautiful waters and coastline of the northwest. When we arrived at the island and walked up the hill toward the main building we were greeted with bowls of hot clam chowder and cups of steamed clams to whet our appetites for the banquet awaiting us. Inside there was a dinner of fresh grilled salmon with an accompanying assortment of vegetables and desserts. We then saw a colorful dream show entitled "Dance on the Wind" which unfolded for us wonderful legends of brave hunters and of the Gods the native Americans believed ruled the earth, the heavens, and the great ocean. The costumes, music and colorful stage settings were greatly enjoyed by all. After a pleasant evening we headed back on the ferry toward Seattle's lights visible on the horizon.

FUTURE MEETINGS

ICES'99 will be held in Tokyo, Japan, from May 25 to May 28, 1999. The program will cover basic and practical aspects of electrophoresis, including advances in electrophoretic techniques, electrophoresis in biology and medical sciences, and applications of electrophoretic techniques. The meeting will be held at Omiya Sonic City, located in the center of Omiya, one of the most important satellite cities of Tokyo.

WEBSITE

The latest news from the Electrophoresis Society can be obtained at our website: http://www-lecb.ncifcrf.gov/ESAB/

The Electrophoresis Society Officers

PRESIDENT
Nancy C. Stellwagen, PhD
University of Iowa, College of Medicine
Iowa City, IA

PRESIDENT-ELECT
James E. Selkirk, PhD
NIEHS
Research Triangle Park, NC

SECRETARY
Carol Giometti, PhD
Argonne NAtional Laboratory
Argonne, IL

TREASURER
Lawrenece I. Grossman, PhD
Wayne State Univ. School of Medicine
Detroid, MI

PAST-PRESENT
James E. Myrick, PhD
Center fo Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

EDITOR
Richard M. Leimbruger, PhD
Monsanto Company
St. Louis, MO

COUNCILOR
Kenneth D. Cole, PhD
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD

COUNCILOR
Nancy C. Kendrick, PhD
Kendrick Laboratories
Madison, WI

COUNCILOR
Frank A. Witzmann, PhD
Indiana-Univ.-Purdue Univ. at Columbus
Columbus, IN

COUNCILOR AND WEBMASTER
Peter F. Lemkin
National Cancer Institute
Frederick, MD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Joan Stevenson, Executive Director
The Abacus Group
3338 Carlyle Terrace
Lafayette, CA 94549
Tel. 925-284-7186
FAX: 925-283-5621
E-mail: ccdsexec@email.msn.com

$Date: 1999/07/28 20:10:44 $