NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Biomedical Scholars Program

Dear Colleague,

We would like to bring to your attention to the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Biomedical Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary, accelerated training program with some innovative features that may appeal to your top students. Since 2001, scientists at NIH have collaborated with colleagues in Oxford and Cambridge to create a partnership PhD training program spanning the full breadth of research in these institutions. Every student admitted to the program is fully funded for the length of training.

When compared with traditional U.S. PhD programs, the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge partnership is designed to significantly reduce the time it takes to earn the doctoral degree. Our partnership students generally earn their degrees in four years, and graduates are easily obtaining excellent post-doc positions, faculty appointments, and positions with biotech companies, to name a few of the opportunities awaiting these highly qualified individuals.

As we work to recruit the Class of 2010, we will be searching for highly self-directed students with significant research experience who are ready to focus on a particular dimension of biomedical research in their chosen fields of study. Each year, we receive applications from the nation’s top science students. Additionally, the NIH has cultivated agreements with the Rhodes Trust, the Marshall Commission, and the Churchill and Gates Cambridge scholarships, enabling these talented scholars to extend their master’s degree programs into a PhD with a U.S. lab component. The program is also compatible with the NIH MD/PhD Partnership Training Program, which offers funding for combined M.D./Ph.D. training in collaboration with over twenty U.S. medical schools participating in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). We have admitted numerous HHMI Scholars into the M.D./Ph.D. Program via the program’s Track 2 admissions pathway. For details about the M.D./Ph.D. options and training tracks, please consult http://gpp.nih.gov/Prospective/InstitutionalPartnerships/MSTPatNIH/ .

Students admitted to the program choose a research project from a pre-existing list of collaborations (see our web site for the list) or are free to design their own project, often bridging different disciplines. They write a detailed research proposal during their first summer in the program and begin their thesis research immediately. We require that Scholars spend two years at the NIH and two years in the UK, working in the labs of their chosen mentors. They earn the doctoral degree from whichever UK institution they select for their doctoral work.

The application deadline for 2010 is January 4^th, so please forward the email below and enclosed flyers to interested students. We would also greatly appreciate it if you would post the flyers at appropriate locations on campus.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. More information can be found at the program website (http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Prospective Student,

I am writing to tell you about a groundbreaking biomedical research doctoral program—the National Institutes of Health-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. This innovative program grew from the realization that the next generation of research scientists will increasingly need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches as they strive to produce high impact research outcomes whether basic or clinical.

This is an accelerated program, and students typically receive a doctoral degree in approximately four years. There is no standard curriculum or required coursework. Rather, each student pursues an individualized course of study in which thesis work is initiated at the beginning of the first year. The thesis project is carried out as a collaboration between two labs, with half the research undertaken at NIH and half at one of the UK universities and each student being mentored by a senior scientist at each location. The program takes advantage of the superb resources and training environments at Oxford, Cambridge, and the NIH, the world’s largest biomedical research facility, the main campus of which is located in Bethesda, Maryland where a diverse community of scientists conduct their research in over 1000 laboratories and the world’s largest clinical research center conducts more than 1000 clinical research protocols.

>From its first class that matriculated in 2001, NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars have achieved at the highest levels of biomedical research, publishing first-author papers in journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Graduates have gone on to do post-doctoral training in top academic institutions and industry labs, and a few have gone directly to faculty positions.

All students are fully funded by the NIH for the duration of their doctoral work at both research sites and receive a stipend, health insurance, and travel assistance. Through the NIH M.D./Ph.D Partnership Training Program, we also offer funding for combined M.D./Ph.D. training in collaboration with over twenty U.S. medical schools participating in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). This option may be of interest to those of you already enrolled in medical school point or applying to traditional MD/PhD programs this year. For details about the M.D./Ph.D. options and training tracks please consult http://gpp.nih.gov/Prospective/InstitutionalPartnerships/MSTPatNIH/ .

The application deadline for Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. candidates is January 4th, 2010. The free application is available online through the program website at http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov via the “Apply Now” button. On our web site you will find additional program details, FAQs, student biographies, descriptions of some of the exciting research projects underway, and more. We would also like to invite you to participate in a teleconference call to learn more about our programs. Please email us at oxcam@mail.nih.gov or mdphd@mail.nih.gov if you would like more information or would like to participate in a conference call.

Please take a look at the flyers through the links below and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. We hope to hear from you soon!

http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/documents/OXCAM2010Flyerwdeadline.pdf
http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/documents/MSTPflyer2010.pdf

All the best,


Michael Lenardo, M.D.

Program Director

NIH-Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program

Richard Siegel, M.D., Ph.D.

Program Director

NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program

Bridget Lampert, M.S. Ed

Managing Director
NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program
NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program
(301) 496-6083

7th BI-ANNUAL

2009 MINNESOTA WORKSHOPS

on

HIGH FIELD MR IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY

and MR IMAGING of BRAIN FUNCTION

OCTOBER 9-11, 2009

http://www.cmrr.umn.edu/workshops/Workshop_09/

CONFERENCE GOALS

The goal is to provide a forum to introduce and discuss the technical issues and applications of MRI/MRS conducted with high magnetic fields (>= 3 T). Presentations from experts in the major areas of high field MR research will discuss fundamental principles, methodology, and applications. After attending this workshop, individuals can expect to be well informed of the advantages and limitations of high field MR and will have acquired much of the basic knowledge necessary to undertake high field MR investigations.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has evolved into a widely used method for studying brain function and high magnetic fields continue to play an important role in obtaining improved functional maps. By bringing a group of recognized experts who are in the forefront of the field, this workshop will provide an in-depth overview of fMRI, including basic principles, underlying physiology, new developments and various applications. Designed as both an educational program and a scientific forum for the presentation of the state-of-the-art research, the workshop is intended for a wide spectrum of basic and clinical scientists including cognitive scientists, physicists, radiologists, neurologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists and others interested in the technical development and applications of fMRI.

TRAINING WORKSHOPS

The training courses are designed to provide attendees with hands-on experience. The courses are mainly targeted for individuals who are new to the field. Attendees participate in lab sessions designed to illustrate each topic covered in lectures. For trainees that will also attend the workshop, lectures are scheduled to provide an overview of the topics covered by workshop speakers.

fMRI TRAINING COURSE

Hands-on Training, October 6-8, 2009

fMRI Data Acquisition

1. Block-design fMRI data collection
2. Event-related experiments
3. Perfusion contrast
4. fMRI Data Processing
5. Data pre-processing
6. General Linear Model and Model-Free analyses
7. Analysis in commercially available packages

MULTI-CHANNEL TRANSMIT B1 MANIUPULATION AT HIGH

Hands-on Training, October 7-8, 2009

The following topics will be covered in lectures (morning sessions) and in-vivo demonstration at the scanner (afternoon sessions):

1. Fast multi-channel B1 mapping
2. Static B1 shim in small targets
3. Static B1 shim in large targets
4. Excitation k-space trajectories measurement
5. B1 homogenization within an axial slice ("spoke excitation k-space trajectories")
6. 2D parallel excitation ("Transmit SENSE")

A human 7 T Siemens system capable of static B1 shim on 16 channels (one transmitter RF shaping board) will be used to demonstrate topics 1, 2 and 3.

A human 9.4 T Varian system capable of independent parallel transmission on 8 channels (8 transmitter RF shaping boards) will be used to demonstrate topics 4, 5, and 6.

SPECTROSCOPY TRAINING COURSE Hands-on Training, October 7-8, 2009

The following topics will be covered in lectures, hands-on sessions, and demonstrations:

1. pulse sequences
2. shimming
3. data acquisition using Varian and Siemens scanners
4. processing
5. data analysis focusing on using LCModel

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Limited number of posters will be accepted for presentation, and the authors of selected posters will be additionally provided with an opportunity to give a short oral presentation. If you would like to present a poster at the workshop, please submit a one-page abstract via e-mail to deb@cmrr.umn.edu or mail to Deb Morgan, CMRR, 2021 6th ST SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. The abstract must be received by September 1, 2009.

fMRI TRAINING COURSE

OCTOBER 6-8, 2009

SPECTROSCOPY TRAINING COURSE

OCTOBER 7-8, 2009

MULTI-CHANNEL TRANSMIT B1 MAINIPULATION AT HIGH FIELD TRAINING COURSE

OCTOBER 7-8, 2009

CANMRDG Program
2009 Meeting
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Baxter International Inc., Deerfield, IL
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/canmrdg/

Dear NMR Colleagues,

This year’s final program for the CANMRDG on November 7 at the Baxter Campus in Deerfield Illinois is now posted on our website http://www.chem.purdue.edu/canmrdg/.
The meeting will be held in the Conference Center and begins at 8:15 am (The first Saturday on Central Standard Time!). Please note that prior Registration is required to enter the Baxter Campus. Directions, parking and hotel information are available as links on the website.

Once again we are delighted to welcome two outstanding NMR scientists as our keynote speakers:- Professor Cindy Larive (University of California Riverside) and Professor Jim Prestegard (University of Georgia; Director of the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center). In addition, we have had an overwhelming number of papers submitted by our community and this has produced a very full program – please note we will start at 8:15 and run until 5:30 with cooperation from the speakers.

Please thank our faithful sponsors for their continued support for the meeting – Bruker, Cambridge Isotopes Lab, ISOTEC-Sigma-Aldrich, Protasis, and Varian. Links to our sponsors’ web-sites are found on our home page. Without their support we could not hear from our fine keynote speakers.
A very special thank-you is also due to Joe Ray and Christina Szabo and the staff at Baxter for all their support and efforts in arranging the meeting details, and finding speakers. They have done a superb job.
Your attention is called to the following items so that the meeting can run smoothly.

1.Registration: The registration form on the web MUST be completed by Friday, October 30. for admission to the Baxter site. Their Security Guards require a list of attendees in advance. It will also assist the folks at Baxter to plan the meeting space and breaks.

2.Lunch: We will have a buffet style lunch on the Baxter site this year. The price is $20 per person. A special discount rate of $10 per person is available for students courtesy of a generous donation by a sponsor. Advance registration for lunch is essential for catering purposes. Please click the “Yes” button on the registration form on our website by Noon Friday, October 30 to guarantee your lunch. The lunch list will be updated each day on the CANMRDG web site between 4:30 and 5:00pm so you can check your lunch status. No registration means no food! Once again no shows will be requested to pay for unused meals.

3.Maps, Lodging & Parking Information: These can be found under the links on the web-site http://www.chem.purdue.edu/canmrdg/.

I look forward to seeing you on November 7. Don’t forget to register on the web by Oct 30
Any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me by email at grutzner@purdue.edu or call 765-494-5247 (afternoons).
Last-minute details and information regarding the Baxter site can be provided by Christina Szabo, christina_szabo@baxter.com.

Yours resonantly,
John B. Grutzner

Meeting Program

Chair: John Grutzner (Purdue University)
8:15 ‐ 8:30 Welcome: Norbert Riedel (Chief Scientific Officer, Baxter)
8:30 ‐ 8:50 Progress Toward Automatic Structure Verification Assisted by
Connectivity in Dual Microcoil NMR Ke Ruan (Pfizer Inc.)
8:50 ‐ 9:10 rNMR - Open Source Software for NMR Data Analysis
Seth Schommer (University of Wisconsin Madison)
9:10 ‐ 9:30 Universal Quantitations by NMR: Solvent Concentration Reference
and Receiving Efficiency Hauping Mo (Purdue University)
9:30 ‐ 9:50 Photodimerization of A-Trans-Cinnamic Acid: Domain Sizes in Irradiated
Single Crystals Sarah Mattler (Washington University St. Louis)
9:50 ‐ 10:05 Contribution of Long-Range Interactions to the Secondary Structure
of an Unfolded Globin Daria Fedyukina (University of Wisconsin Madison)
10:05 Coffee
Chair: Christina Szabo (Baxter)
10:30 ‐ 10:50 The Use of In Vitro Chemoselective Isotopic Tagging to Enhance
NMR-Based Metabolic Profiling Tao Ye (Purdue University)
10:50 ‐ 11:10 Global Metabolomics of Breast Cancer Cells Quincy Teng (US EPA)
11:10 ‐ 12:10 Keynote Lecture: Adventures in Mixture Analysis by NMR
Cynthia Larive (University of California Riverside)
12:15 Lunch
Chair: Joe Ray (Baxter)
1:30 ‐ 1:50 Enhancing NMR's Sensitivity by Photochemically-Enhanced Dynamic
Nuclear Polarization Silvia Cavagnero (University of Wisconsin Madison)
1:50 ‐ 2:10 NMR Studies of Substrate Conformation Upon Binding the Hsp70
Chaperone Protein Nese Kurt Yilmaz (University of Wisconsin Madison)
2:10 ‐ 3:10 Keynote Lecture: New Assignment Strategies for Large and Glycosylated
Proteins James H. Prestegard (University of Georgia)
3:10 Coffee
Chair: John Grutzner (Purdue University)
3:30 ‐ 3:50 Chemical Shift Perturbations Reveal Disrupted "Hot Spot" Binding in the
Src SH2 Domain Joshua Ward (Purdue University)
3:50 ‐ 4:10 Application of REDOR SSNMR to Understand Early Steps in HIV Infection
Kelly Sackett (Michigan State University)
4:10 ‐ 4:30 Cu2+ Binding Studies to Alzheimer s B Amyloid Fibrils by Solid state
Alzheimer’s B-Amyloid Solid-state
NMR Sudhakar Parthasarathy (University of Illinois Chicago)
4:30 ‐ 4:50 Magic-Angle Spinning Solid-state NMR Studies of a 41 kDa DsbA-DsbB
Membrane Protein Complex Lindsay Sperling (University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign)
4:50 ‐ 5:10 Proton Detection Methods for Rapid Structural Analysis of Membrane
Proteins and Fibrils Chad Nieuwkoop (University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign)
5:10 ‐ 5:30 Chemical Shift Assignments of Alpha-Synuclein Fibrils
Gemma Comellas (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

The Institute Of Cancer Research

(University of London)

Sutton, Surrey, UK

The Section of Magnetic Resonance

The Cancer Research UK and EPSRC Centre for Cancer Imaging

Team Leader - Novel Biomarkers and Probes

Project Leader (Staff Scientist)

Magnetic Resonance in Translational Cancer Research

The Institute of Cancer Research (a College of the University of London) is a world-class cancer research organization with nationally leading HEFCE RAE ratings. In partnership with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, we form the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe, dedicated to research that extends from epidemiology, genetics and molecular biology, through drug discovery and development, to cancer diagnosis and patient treatment. This makes us uniquely placed to work towards our vision that people may live their lives free from the fear of cancer as a life threatening disease.

The Cancer Research UK and EPSRC Centre for Cancer Imaging focuses on translating preclinical applications of magnetic resonance and other imaging techniques to clinical tools for detection, diagnosis and assessment of cancer and combines expertise from scientists and clinicians based at both the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Both posts are concerned with developing our programme in 3 areas: identifying MR biomarkers of cancer response to novel therapeutics, developing applications of hyperpolarization in cancer, and developing novel imaging probes and approaches to recognize and report on cellular processes important in cancer. There are excellent opportunities to collaborate with other Sections in the Institute, including the CR-UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics.

Team Leader

As a Team Leader you will take responsibility for developing aspects of our Cancer Research UK funded programme, and will be expected to develop and lead new research in the areas outlined above. The candidate will have a strong record and post doctoral experience in biochemistry and in MR techniques, with their application to cellular and preclinical models. Team leaders are expected to win substantial competitive grants, publish extensively, supervise PhD students and contribute to all areas of the Section’s academic function.

The post will be at Career Development Faculty level (i.e. tenure track) with a starting salary from £42,230 p.a. to £46,964 p.a. Job no. A326

Project Leader (Staff Scientist)

As a Staff Scientist you will bring skills relevant to the research programme, taking responsibility for projects within our programme, and equipment in the Group. A PhD in an appropriate discipline (biological, physical, chemical, physiological science), significant post doctoral experience, an ability to co-ordinate, plan and execute research and routine studies to a high standard and advanced knowledge of NMR are therefore essential.

Appointment will be to the Staff Scientist scale, depending on skills and experience, (from £37,477 p.a. to £44,336 p.a.). Job no. A325

To discuss the posts further you may contact Professor Martin Leach on +44 (0)20 8661 3338 (martin.leach@icr.ac.uk).

Both posts benefit from generous annual leave entitlements and a final salary pension scheme.

For a full job description, person specification and details of how to apply please see our website at http://www.icr.ac.uk/jobs/current_vacancies/index.shtml or phone our recruitment line on +44 (0)20 7153 5475.

Closing date: 30^th October 2009

AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships

Plug the Power of Science into Public Policy

http://fellowships.aaas.org/

The Fellowships help to establish and nurture critical links between federal decision-makers and scientific professionals to support public policy that benefits the wellbeing of the nation and the planet. The Fellowships are designed to:

• educate scientists and engineers on the intricacies of federal policymaking;
• provide scientific expertise and analysis to support decision-makers confronting increasingly complex scientific and technical issues;
• foster positive exchange between scientists and policymakers;
• empower scientists and engineers to conduct policy-relevant research and other activities that address challenges facing society; and
• increase the involvement and visibility of scientists and engineers in the public policy realm.

The Fellowships support the AAAS objectives to improve public policymaking through the infusion of science, and to increase public understanding of science and technology and are part of AAAS Science & Policy Programs.

Joint EUROMAR 2010 and 17th ISMAR Conference
a World Wide Magnetic Resonance Conference (WWMR2010)
Florence, Italy
July 4-9, 2010

http://www.cerm.unifi.it/wwmr2010

Dear Colleague,

It is a pleasure to invite you to attend the Joint EUROMAR 2010 and 17th
ISMAR Conference, a World Wide Magnetic Resonance Conference (WWMR2010),
that will be held in Florence (Italy) July 4-9, 2010.

There are many good reasons for attending WWMR2010!

You will be able to take advantage of a truly international arena for
presenting the results of your studies, as well as to learn about the
most advanced achievements of basic and applied research in the magnetic
resonance field.

You will also have the opportunity to meet colleagues from countries
throughout the world for fruitful discussion and planning of joint
research initiatives.

The unique artistic and cultural heritage of Florence will provide an
unforgettable scenario...

The Conference program includes plenary talks by Lyndon Emsley, Clare P.
Grey, Christian Griesinger, Robert G. Griffin, Sarah J. Nelson, Hitoshi
Ohta, Daniel Rugar, and Frances Separovic. The list of the invited
speakers is increasing and it is continuously updated on the Conference
website.

Don't forget to save the dates in your agenda!

Registration and abstract submission will be opened soon. Please visit
and bookmark the conference website at

www.cerm.unifi.it/wwmr2010, which
is being continuously updated!

We look forward to welcoming you in Florence.

Arrivederci!

Ivano Bertini
Chair of WWMR2010

Roberta Pierattelli
WWMR2010 Advertising Committee

**************************************************
Joint EUROMAR 2010 and 17th ISMAR Conference
Florence (Italy), July 4-9, 2010

c/o Magnetic Resonance Center - CERM
University of Florence
Via L. Sacconi 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Florence)
ITALY

http://www.cerm.unifi.it/wwmr2010
tel: + 390554574296
fax: + 390554574271
skype: wwmr2010

Imaging 2020 VI: Imaging Biopathways
September 13-17, 2009

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

imagingin2010.com

Future medical therapies will increasingly focus on interrupting and redirecting pathologic biopathways at the genetic and cellular level. Imaging – especially molecular imaging - will play an indispensible role in the understanding of biopathways, the creation of biospecific interventions, and the monitoring and control of new, highly potent interventions.

Future imaging will require significantly greater sensitivity, specificity and quantitative robustness than exists today. The most significant evolution and greatest challenge will be increasing the specificity. To fully integrate imaging into therapeutics and diagnosis, imaging will need to be applicable to screening and interrogating therapeutically useful biopathways. Sessions have been designed around these themes. Discussions will address future advances in engineering and imaging modalities from NIR to X ray, microscopic in vivo imaging, fundamental advances in important biopathways (angiogenesis, metastasis, invasion and resistance, neurodegeneration, et al.), and the future roles of chemistry in imaging.

Key to meeting the challenges inherent in a complex future is open and effective communication among basic and clinical researchers from a wide spectrum of relevant disciplines. The goal of Imaging in 2020 is to catalyze this communication by laying the technical foundation for it, and by providing a format that is intentionally less structured than the traditional scientific meeting, allowing for extensive, meaningful interactions in a casual, comfortable environment. We hope to foster the development of enduring associations that will lead to innovative solutions and applications.

Imaging in 2020 VI will be held at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Its beautiful location in Grand Teton National Forest is easily accessible from Jackson Airport. Breathtaking views of the Grand Tetons provide a colorful backdrop to the meeting. Participants will have the opportunity during the unscheduled afternoons to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, such as hiking, fishing, boating, horseback riding, or just relaxing in a truly spectacular natural setting.

Sunday, September 13
4:00 - 6:00 pm	Registration and Poster Set-up
6:00 - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:00 - 7:15 pm	Welcome	Mike Tweedle
7:15 - 9:00 pm	Session I: Engineering
7:15 - 7:30 pm	Session Remarks (1999)	Tom Budinger (Moderator)
7:30 - 8:15 pm	Hardware, Miniaturization, Microfluidics	Greg Auner
8:15 - 9:00 pm	The Future of Today's Modalities	John Gore
9:00 - 10:00 pm	Reception and Poster Session
Monday, September 14
7:00 - 8:00 am	Breakfast
8:00 - 9:45 am	Session II: Chemistry I
8:00 - 8:15 am	Session Remarks (1999)	Mike Tweedle (Moderator)
8:15 - 9:00 am	Supramolecular Chemistry	Akira Harada
9:00 - 9:45 am	Multimodality Imaging Agents	Angelique Louie
9:45 - 10:00 am	Break
10:00 - 12:15 pm	Session III: Biopathways I
10:00 - 10:45 am	Session Remarks/Angiogenesis Pathology	Don McDonald
10:45 - 11:30 am	MRI Angiogenesis	Michal Neeman
11:30 - 12:15 pm	PET Angiogenesis	Markus Schwaiger
12:15 - 1:15 pm	Lunch
1:15 - 6:00 pm	Afternoon free time
6:00 - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:15 - 8:45 pm	Session IV: Biopathways II
7:00 - 7:15 pm	Session Remarks (2003)	Adrian Nunn (Moderator)
7:15 - 8:00 pm	Metatases & Cell Motility	John Condeelis
8:00 - 8:45 pm	Cancer Invasion and Resistance	Peter Friedl
8:45 - 10:00 pm	Reception and Poster Session
Tuesday, September 15
7:00 - 8:00 am	Breakfast
8:00 - 9:45 am	Session V: Chemistry II
8:00 - 8:15 am	Session Remarks (1999)	Tom Meade (Moderator)
8:15 - 9:00 am	Topic TBD	Brian Hoffman
9:00 - 9:45 am	Topic TBD	Ken Raymond
9:45 - 10:15 am	Group Photo, Break
10:15 - 12:00 pm	Session VI: Pharmaceuticals
10:15 - 10:30 am	Session Remarks	Bradford Navia (Moderator)
10:30 - 11:15 am	Neurodegenerative Disease	Dan Silverman
11:15 - 12:00 pm	Imaging Biomarkers in Cancer	Michael Smith
12:00 - 12:45 pm	Lunch
12:45 - 6:00 pm	Afternoon free time/Bus trip into Jackson Hole
6:00 - 6:45 pm	Reception
6:45 - 7:45 pm	Dinner
7:45 - 7:55 pm	Introduction of Keynote Speaker	Bonnie Sloane
7:55 - 8:55 pm	Keynote Address	Roger Tsien 2008 Nobel Prizewinner for Chemistry
Wednesday, September 16
7:00 - 8:00 am	Breakfast
8:00 - 9:45 am	Sessoin VII: Ultrasound Agents
8:00 - 8:15 am	Session Remarks (1999)	Kathy Ferrara (Moderator)
8:15 - 9:00 am	Targeted Ultrasound Agents	Sasha Klibanov
9:00 - 9:45 am	Advances in Technology for Ultrasound Contrast Imaging	Paul Dayton
9:45 - 10:00 am	Break
10:00 - 11:45 am	Session VIII: Microscopy
10:00 - 10:15 am	Session Remarks	Bob Gillies (Moderator)
10:15 - 11:00 am	Endoscopic Microscopy	Rebecca Richards-Kortum
11:00 - 11:45 am	Microscopy with Gallium Ions	Sriram Subramaniam
11:45 - 12:30 pm	Lunch
12:45 - 6:00 pm	Afternoon free time
6:00 - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:00 - 8:45 pm	Session IX: Animal Models
7:00 - 7:15 pm	Session Remarks (1999)	Dan Sullivan (Moderator)
7:15 - 8:00 pm	Animal Model Development	Terry Van Dyke
8:00 - 8:45 pm	Animal Models for Optical Imaging	David Kirsch
8:45 - 10:00 pm	Reception and Poster Session
Thursday, September 17
7:00 - 8:00 am	Breakfast
8:00 - 10:15 am	Session X: Imaging Biologicals
8:00 - 8:15 am	Session Remarks	Sarah Nelson (Moderator)
8:15 - 9:00 am	Cell Imaging In Vivo	Joe Frank
9:00 - 9:45 am	Imaging Enzymes	Matthew Bogyo
9:45 - 10:15 am	Meeting Summary & Concluding Remarks	Bonnie Sloane, Mike Tweedle

Third International Workshop on Parallel MRI
Chaminade Conference Center, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
23-26 October, 2009
website

OVERVIEW

The field of parallel MRI has evolved rapidly over the past decade, with methodological and technological developments feeding new applications across a broad spectrum of clinical and research areas. This workshop will review developments to date and examine current promising directions and continuing unsolved problems in parallel MRI. It is the aim of the workshop to bring clinicians and basic scientists together for purposes of education and scientific exchange. In addition to lectures outlining the fundamentals of parallel imaging, invited presentations will address topics such as highly parallel MRI, high field parallel MRI, and parallel transmission techniques. Analogies with other imaging modalities and inverse problems will be explored, as will emerging applications of and vendor perspectives on parallel MRI. The meeting will include focused discussions of outstanding issues such as measurement and reporting of signal-to-noise ratio for parallel reception, or challenges needing to be addressed for practical parallel transmission. These discussions are intended to culminate in concrete consensus recommendations for dissemination and possible publication. We will also set aside time at the end of the meeting to catalogue key unsolved problems and unmet needs in parallel imaging, both as a resource for new entrants into our field and as a means of fostering innovative solutions.

AUDIENCE DESCRIPTION

This workshop is designed for clinicians, basic scientists, and MRI Technologists who are new to the field of parallel MRI as well as established investigators in parallel MRI. There will be a strong physics and engineering focus, but we will also be highlighting various applications, including neuroimaging, and the workshop is designed to begin with basic principles and proceed to leading-edge developments, so as to engage anyone with an interest in the field. Students are encouraged to participate.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Upon completing this workshop, participants should be able to:
Describe the basic operation of and recent developments in parallel reception techniques;
Describe the basic operation of and recent developments in parallel transmission techniques;
Identify current and emerging applications of parallel reception and transmission;
Explain the current limits of performance of parallel MRI techniques; and
Identify important future developments which might allow these limits to be exceeded.

2010 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro

April 14-17, 2010

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

biomedicalimaging.org

The IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) is the premier forum for the presentation of technological advances in theoretical and applied biomedical imaging. ISBI 2010 will be the seventh meeting in this series. The previous meetings have played a leading role in facilitating interaction between researchers in medical and biological imaging. The 2010 meeting will continue this tradition of fostering crossfertilization among different imaging communities and contributing to an integrative approach to biomedical imaging across all scales of observation.

ISBI is a joint initiative of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS). The 2010 meeting will feature an opening morning of tutorials, followed by a scientific program of plenary talks, special sessions, and oral and poster presentations of peer-reviewed contributed papers.

High-quality papers are solicited containing original contributions to the mathematical, algorithmic, and computational aspects of biomedical imaging, from nano- to macro-scale. Topics of interest include image formation and reconstruction, computational and statistical image processing and analysis, dynamic imaging, visualization, image quality assessment, and physical, biological, and statistical modeling. Papers on molecular, cellular, anatomical, and functional imaging modalities and applications are welcomed. All accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the symposium and will be available online through the IEEExplore database.

Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of 4-page paper:	November 2, 2009
Notification of acceptance/rejection:	January 15, 2010
Submission of final accepted 4-page paper:	February 15, 2010
Deadline for author registration:	February 15, 2010
Deadline for early registration:	March 1, 2010

EMBC 09

Sep. 2-6, 2009

Minnesota, USA

EMBC2009.org

On behalf of the Conference Committee, we would like to welcome you to the website for the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC'09). The EMBC'09 will be held during September 2~6, 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the world capital of the medical device industry. The EMBC'09 technical program will consist of plenary and keynote lectures, workshops, symposia, and invited sessions, in which the leading experts from all around the world will present state-of-the-art reviews of rapidly-developing and exciting areas, report the latest significant findings and developments in all the major fields of biomedical engineering, and discuss government and industry related issues. Accepted high-quality original technical papers will be presented in poster and oral sessions, with up to 4-page papers to be included in IEEE Xplore and indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE. A number of student travel awards will also be made available to assist graduate students attending EMBC'09. We cordially invite you to participate in this exciting conference as organizers, exhibitors and/or presenters. We encourage you to share your R&D work with others by submitting a paper (up to 4 formatted pages) by April 23, 2009. If you are interested in organizing a session, you can contact the chairs of the theme that is most appropriate for your session. In case your organization is interested in our commercial and technical exhibition, you can find more information on how to reserve an exhibit booth on this website. In addition to the rich technical program, participants will also be able to interact with program directors of major funding agencies and colleagues, and participate in discussions on various issues ranging from policy and funding to technology transfer/commercialization, education and career development. A number of tours have also been planned, including the Bakken Library and Museum, the University of Minnesota, and several of many medical device companies in the Twin City area. Also, you with your family would enjoy Mall of America, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in U.S. We greatly appreciate your interest in the EMBC'09 and look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to Minneapolis and EMBC'09 in September 2009. Best regards,

Conference Chair Bin He, Ph.D. University of Minnesota

Conference Co-Chair Yongmin Kim, Ph.D. University of Washington

International University Startups Conference
December 2-4, 2009
Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC

The registration for this year's University Startups Conference '09 entitled "Creating Jobs and Powering Innovation with University Startups" has just opened.

The International University Startups Conference will take place December 2-4, 2009 at the Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC. with an opening reception at the British Embassy on December 2, 2009. The Conference is organized annually by the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2.org). This year's University Co-Hosts are the University of Maryland System and the University of Texas System. The Government Co-Hosts are the National Science Foundation (Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnership) and National Institutes of Health (Office of Tech Transfer). The Embassy Host is the British Embassy.

While we are still working on finalizing this year's agenda (see below), I wanted to give you a first glimpse of some of the highlights.

We are continuing our work with over 70 Washington embassies to include more foreign innovation into our conference series. We are again having our very successful Embassy Panel -- Global Innovation: Working With Other Countries To Build A Global University Startups Innovation Community, but with a new list of Washington embassies, including Japan, India, Ireland, Spain and Finland. With the help of the Washington embassies we have identified and are including in the agenda 12 foreign universities doing very innovative things in the creation and funding of university startups from the UK, India, France, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland. Again, with the help of the Washington embassies, we are bringing more of the Global 1000 companies to the conference this year with two Global 1000 Strategic Relationship Panels. Given that the Global 1000 are the largest companies interested in working on Open Innovation with universities around the world it makes perfect sense to increase their involvement in the conference. Finally on the foreign front, in conjunction with the embassies we are hosting a By Invitation "Strategic Investors in Global Innovation" Dinner for U.S./International VCs, Private Equity Firms, Global 1000 Corporations, Embassies and University Sponsors attending the conference, which should greatly increase attendance of these highly valued groups over and above the very large number of these attendees represented in prior years.

Another highlight this year is our new SBIR program. Given the heightened interest by universities in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, we are holding a Pre-Conference Workshop on SBIRs for University Technology Commercialization, which will include topics on * Understanding SBIR Programs For Maximum Benefit to University Commercialization Efforts, * Getting University Researchers Commercialization Funding, * Forging Tech Transfer Links Between Funded SBIR Companies And Universities For Optimal University Research Commercialization. There is a separate registration for this pre-conference event, but it promises to be a very helpful and valuable addition to the program.

As usual, there will be presentations from a large number of U.S. universities creating startups and a large number of VCs and angel investors interested in funding them. Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association as he has done the last 3 years (since the beginning of the conference series), will provide a keynote on the state of the VC industry and their increasing interest in working with universities.

There is much more about the conference at the conference website at http://ncet2.org/UpcomingEvents/UnivStartupConf09.

You can register for the conference by going to http://ncet2.org/UpcomingEvents/UnivStartupConf09/Register.

Sponsorship information for the conference is here: http://ncet2.org/Sponsors.

I look forward to seeing you at this year's University Startups Conference.

Best regards,

Tony Stanco
Executive Director
National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer

2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress

September 23-26, 2009 Montreal, Canada

wmicmeeting

WELCOME

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in the upcoming 2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC). Organizers from the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), the Society for Molecular Imaging (SMI), the European Society for Molecular Imaging (ESMI), and the Federation of Asian Societies for Molecular Imaging (FASMI) are working together, with input from a scientifically diverse, international program committee, to develop a scientific program which integrates developments in imaging technologies and molecular imaging agents with applications for drug development, basic science investigations, and clinical translation.

The WMIC 2009 program will be constructed primarily on the strength of submitted abstracts. Continuing in the style of last year’s meeting, the Program committee will be integrating many of these abstracts into special sessions that bring attendees from different disciplines together for a comprehensive examination of the role of molecular imaging in particular biomedical problems.

An Excellent Meeting Venue – Montreal, Canada

The joie de vivre and warm hospitality of Montreal is legendary and just a few of the reasons why this city holds so much appeal for attendees from around the globe. The Palais des Congres de Montreal is the perfect size for our meeting. Exhibits will be right next to the educational meeting space and posters.

One-Stop Molecular Imaging Educational Technology Showcase

Industry exhibits will include the latest advances in pre-clinical and clinical imaging applications to create a "one-stop" molecular imaging educational technology showcase. The WMIC will bring together technically distinct and separate research communities that have a shared vision in the molecular imaging sciences. Building on the success of the first World Molecular Imaging Congress in Nice, we expect the attendance for the 2009 WMIC to exceed 2,000 participants from around the globe.

Workshop on “Modelling brain networks in functional and structural MRI data"

MICCAI 2009, London, UK
9:00-12:30, Thursday 24th September
http://www.miccai2009.org

The field of neuroimaging faces key challenges in the coming years. While techniques are readily available to map regions of the brain whose activity increases during specific tasks, there are fundamental questions that are not addressed by standard methodology, despite relevant information being present in the neuroimaging data. In particular, the understanding of interactions between brain regions, and how these relate to underlying connectional anatomy is of central importance for a mechanistic understanding of function.

This workshop aims to bring together cutting edge developments in characterizing brain dynamics and connectivity. These include the use of biophysical models to capture the dynamic interactions between evoked neuronal populations (e.g. Dynamic Causal Modelling), and our current understanding of spontaneous oscillations of neural activity in FMRI and MEG data. Furthermore, we consider the complementary use structural information (e.g. via diffusion MR tractography) as the anatomical basis of functional interactions.

Program (see http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/~woolrich/miccai.pdf)

Session 1 – Modeling networks of evoked activity

Chair: Mark Woolrich

9:00 – 9:30 Klaas Stephan, University of Zurich.

“Dynamic causal modeling of neuronal networks.”

9:30 – 10:00 Will Penny, University College, London.

“Weakly Coupled Oscillator Models.”

10:00 – 10:30 Marcus Kaiser, Newcastle University.

“Structural networks and the link to network dynamics.”

10:30 – 11:00 Break

Session 2 – Modeling networks of spontaneous activity

Chair: Saad Jbabdi

11:00 – 11:30 Andreas Kleinschmidt, Neurospin Center, Paris.

“Assessing spontaneous brain activity by EEG and sensory probes.”

11:30 – 12:00 Christian Beckmann, Imperial College London.

“Correspondence of the brain's functional architecture during activation and rest”

12:00 – 12:30 Rolf Kötter, Radboud University, Nijmegen.

"Large-scale models of the 'resting state' of the brain”

Postdoctoral Position in MRI/MRS Imaging Research

A postdoctoral position is immediately available (up to three years) at the MR Research Laboratory in the Department of Radiology, University of Missouri. Successful candidate is expected to join an ongoing MRI/MRS molecular imaging project for cancer research, with a focus on the development of MRI contrast agents or MR imaging and spectroscopy techniques. The laboratory is located within the H. S. Truman Memorial VA Hospital Biomolecular Imaging Center and the MU Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Institute. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with basic science researchers and clinicians. Facilities include a state-of-the-art 7T MRI, a Micro-PET, a combined Micro-SPECT/CT and a Xenogen IVIS 200 optical imaging scanner. Applicants should have a Ph.D. in an appropriate discipline, such as physics, chemistry, biophysics, biomedical engineering, or biochemistry. A strong MRI, NMR or molecular imaging background is preferred. Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, CV, and three reference letters to Dr. Lixin Ma through E-mail: mal@health.missouri.edu. The University of Missouri is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

Contact Information:

Lixin Ma, PhD
Assistant professor
Department of Radiology
University of Missouri-Columbia
VA Bimolecular Imaging Center
800 Hospital Drive
Columbia, MO 65201
Phone: (573) 8146000 ext 53760
Email: mal@health.missouri.edu

SPIE/OSA
European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO)
Munich, Germany, 14-18 June.

The European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO) bring together scientists, engineers, and clinicians who work with optics and photonics to solve problems in biomedicine and health care. The event is collocated with World of Photonics Congress and LASER World of Photonics, and was held this year in Munich, Germany, 14-18 June.
Conferences included:

Advanced Microscopy Techniques
Clinical and Biomedical Spectroscopy
Diffuse Optical Imaging
Molecular Imaging
Novel Optical Instrumentation for Biomedical Applications
Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Techniques
Therapeutic Laser Applications and Laser-Tissue Interactions

BiOS (SPIE Photonics West)

23 - 28 January 2010
The Moscone Center
San Francisco, California, USA
http://spie.org/bios

Biomedical Optics and Imaging: Clinical, Translational, and Fundamental R&D

* Photonic Therapeutics and Diagnostics
* Clinical Technologies and Systems
* Tissue Optics, Laser-Tissue Interaction, and Tissue Engineering
* Biomedical Spectroscopy, Microscopy, and Imaging
* Nano/Biophotonics

Abstacts due: 13 July 2009

MICCAI workshop on Diffusion Modelling and the Fibre Cup
Cardiff, UK
sep 24th, 2009
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/miccai/dmfc/

Over the last decade interest in diffusion MRI has exploded. The technique provides a unique insight into the microstructure of living tissue and enables in-vivo connectivity mapping of the brain. Microstructural changes are often the earliest signs of disease or tissue regeneration. Tractography and connectivity mapping give fundamental new insights in neuroscience and neuroanatomy. This is a two-part workshop, covering computational advances in Diffusion Imaging and tractography techniques.

Diffusion Modelling
The first part of this workshop builds on the success of last year's Computational Diffusion MRI MICCAI workshop, which focused on advances in the computational techniques that underpin and inform diffusion imaging.

Computational techniques are key to the continued success and development of diffusion MRI and to its widespread transfer into the clinic. This workshop will focus on the challenges at all stages of the diffusion MRI pipeline: acquisition, reconstruction, modelling and model fitting, image processing, fibre tracking, connectivity mapping, visualization, group studies and inference.

The Fibre Cup
The Fibre Cup targets the evaluation of reconstruction models and tractography algorithms in diffusion MRI. The emergence of numerous models and fibre tracking techniques during the last decade raises the urgent need for a comprehensive comparison of available methods on a common ground truth dataset. To this end, we are building a MR phantom containing a plethora of realistic crossing, kissing, splitting and bending fibre configurations to be used as a ground truth dataset for method comparison. A DT-MRI and HARDI datasets will be acquired and published on-line.

Participants to the contest will be asked to run their algorithms on the phantom dataset and return their results along with a 2-page paper summarizing the method. Finally, tractography results will be compared to the exact morphological parameters of the phantom (e.g., fibre bundle length, curvature, or thickness) for quantitative evaluation. Winners of the contest will be announced during the workshop. Data, important dates and contest rules will be made available by the end of June on the DMFC'09 website.

IMPORTANT DATES

Diffusion modelling submissions

26th June
Paper Submission
13th July
Notification of Acceptance
11th August
Camera-Ready Papers
24th September
Workshop
Fibre cup submissions

31st July
Paper Submission
11th August
Notification of Acceptance
18th August
Camera-Ready Papers
24th September
Workshop
TOPICS

The organizers encourage submissions of papers in areas including, but not limited to, the following topics:

Acquisition design
High angular resolution techniques
Biophysical models
The microstructure of diffusion in tissue
Tractography and connectivity mapping
Network analysis
Registration and segmentation
Visualization
Validation
Post-processing
Group studies and statistical analysis
Clinical applications
The organizers also invite you to enter your tractography algorithm in the Fibre Cup (details to follow)

Papers submitted to the main conference or other MICCAI workshops may be double-submitted to DMFC 2009, and we encourage tractography methods entered in in the Fibre Cup to also be entered to the first half of the workshop.

ICMIP-09
October 23-25, 2009
Nanjing, China

Yangtze River 2009 International Conference on Medical Imaging Physics & The 5th National Annual Meeting of Medical Imaging Physics will be held in Nanjing, China on October 23-25, 2009. The conference is sponsored by Chinese Society of Medical Physics(CSMP), Life Electronics Society of Chinese Institute of Electronics (LES,CIE), North American Chinese Medical Physicists Association (NACMPA) and Overseas Chinese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (OCSMRM).

This conference is intended to facilitate scientific exchange, to promote medical physics research, application and education, and to provide a platform for medical physicists and scientists in related fields worldwide to foster communications, collaborations and friendship.
The contents of the conference will cover the radiodiagnostics (including X-ray, CR, DR, CT, MRI, etc), image-guided therapy (IGT) and image-guided radiotherapy (4D CT, Cone-beam CT, IGRT, etc), ultrasound in medicine and engineering (including ultrasound diagnosis, interventional ultrasound, ultrasound engineering, HIFU, etc), nuclear medicine, interventional radiology, medical imaging and computer image processing, medical imaging information management system (PACS/RIS, IHE, etc), biomedical photonics, nanotechnology, bioinformatics and so on.

Call for Papers：
The conference abstracts should only include the latest, non-published research results and scientific findings in the above-mentioned fields. The articles should be in the form of abstract and full text. Both Chinese and English are allowed. The excellent papers (only in English) that are judged and recommended by experts can be published on Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which is indexed by EI.

The abstracts should consist of the following 4 components: objectives, materials and methods, results and conclusions. The words in full text should be limited to 4000 and the format of the article should be according to the requirements for manuscripts submitted to Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (See Appendix V). The article should be submitted to ICMIP-09@nuaa.edu.cn. The deadline for submission is July 15th, 2009. Once accepted, the authors will be informed after September 1st, 2009 by email. Presentations will include keynote speeches, invited talks and oral presentations, which will be separately arranged in the main venue and sub-venue.

Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, with convenient transportation and beautiful environment has upgraded the speed in urban modernization and internationalization after held the famous historical world Expo. The organization committee is committed to make the congress a great success by providing modern conference facilities, great scientific programs, comfortable accommodation and delightful cuisine.

We look forward to meeting you in Nanjing!
Conference Chairs:
Prof. Shanglian Bao, Prof. Chris Shaw
March, 2009

XXIVth ICMRBS
August 22-27, 2010
Cairns, Australia

It is a pleasure to invite you to attend the XXIVth International Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, to be held August 22-27, 2010. The venue will be the Convention Centre in Cairns, a major regional city which is also a gateway to the magnificent Great Barrier Reef and the tropical north of Australia.

The ICMRBS is held biennially and brings together a broad cross-section of experts from around the world with interests in the applications of all aspects of magnetic resonance in biology. ICMRBS XXIV will maintain that tradition, featuring plenary and keynote lectures and concurrent sessions that cover new methods development and biological applications of high-resolution and solid-state NMR, EPR, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy, metabolomics, and magnetic resonance imaging. This conference is the major scientific event in the field of magnetic resonance applications in the biological sciences.

Recent conferences have attracted delegates from all over the world, with a growing number of participants from Asia. It is fitting that the XXIVth conference will be held in this region.

On behalf of the Organising and Program Committees, I extend a warm welcome to delegates from around the globe.

The conference flyer can be downloaded from the website using this link:

http://www.icmrbs2010.org/images/stories/icmrbs_2010_flyer.pdf

We would be grateful if you could forward this to interested colleagues and display a copy on your noticeboards.

Please also visit the conference website (http://www.icmrbs2010.org/) for further information about the conference and the location.

We look forward to seeing you in Australia in August 2010.

Warm regards,

Ray Norton

Chair, XXIV ICMRBS Organising Committee

26th ESMRMB Annual Scientific Meeting

October 1-3, 2009

Antalya, Turkey

www.esmbmr.org

The meeting provide a forum for MR Research and clinical practice with 3 days of educational and scientific activities. The Congress is open to clinicians, physicists and basic scientists. Call for abstracts, deadline May 26, 2009.

ISMRM 17th Scientific Meeting and Exibition
Honolulu, Hawaii
April 18-24, 2009

http://www.ismrm.org/09/index.htm

Message from Margaret Hall-Craggs, M.D., Program Chair


As those of you who have visited will know, Hawai’i is a spectacular venue for a scientific meeting. The convention centre is a perfect fit for our conference; it has generous sized meeting rooms, it is built to enjoy the ocean breezes that cool Honolulu, and it has delightful spacious open communal spaces and atria. All of this is within easy walking distance of the beaches, city and hotels. Our main problem will be keeping people inside the centre and working rather than enjoying the many, many attractions on offer around the islands.

The Annual Meeting Program Committee has been working hard since January of this year putting the Hawai’i meeting together. I am delighted to announce that Professor Robert Shulman and Professor Al Macovski, have accepted the invitation to be our Mansfield and Lauterbur lecturers for 2009. Both of these impressive scientists have the most distinguished careers that have encompassed a wide body of work. Professor Shulman is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and has been instrumental in developing the use of MR spectroscopy in vivo for the investigation of metabolic pathways in animals and humans. He has measured the flow of substrates in muscle and brain, examined the storage pathways of glucose in skeletal muscle and the role of its regulation in diabetes, and examined energy production and usage in neurotransmission. He has recently co-edited ‘Metabolomics by In Vivo NMR’. Professor Macovski is the Canon Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering and Radiology at Stanford University. His career has spanned working on television to medical imaging. Apart from some fundamental work in real-time ultrasound and dual-energy CT, he has pioneered blood vessel imaging with MRI. Amongst their many accolades and awards, both our speakers have been recipients of the Gold Medal of the ISMRM and are members of the National Academy of Science. We are honoured to have them speak at our meeting.

The plenary sessions this year will cover diverse subjects bringing together the engineering, physics and clinical communities of our society. The topics include the role of MR in stroke, MR scanners in 2025, MR probe development in molecular imaging, the lessons learnt from NSF and a session on prostate cancer from biology through imaging to therapy.

Education is being led by Dan Sodickson this year, and we have a fabulous, diverse and exciting program of education offerings. At the weekend we have 8 parallel sessions on each of Saturday and Sunday. This is followed by 10 ‘sunrise’ education offerings each morning, and a further 24 education sessions scattered throughout Monday- Thursday.

Many of the popular courses have been retained but all of these have been reviewed and refreshed. Case-based teaching introduced last year will be continued but enhanced by the use of audience response buttons. These sessions have been extended to the physics community, and Mark Griswold will be leading an interactive case-based session on ‘Guess the Artifact’. In the light of continuing legislative and clinical issues, safety is again featuring in the education program and other extremely successful sessions such as ‘Grant Writing’- of interest to most scientists – will re-run.

There are many new courses in 2009 and these include such offerings as ‘The rise and fall of the brain’ (highlighting the developing and the aging brain in a pair of sessions), a practical primer on ‘Small animal imaging and spectroscopy’, an early morning course on ‘Mobile lipids in disease’, and daytime courses on ‘MR of engineered tissues’ and ‘Fat imaging and quantification’.

As part of an ongoing initiative to provide state-of-the-art education in clinical MRI, the 2009 meeting will include a five-day continuing medical education course which will serve as a focused introduction to the ISMRM meeting for clinicians new to our meeting and our Society. This course will combine existing educational offerings with additional tailored content to form an exciting program in musculoskeletal and body MR.

I am delighted to announce a new initiative aimed at linking the ISMRM with the local community. We intend to give local high school students interested in science the opportunity to see ‘Science at Work’. Groups of students will visit the meeting and observe poster presentations, visit the exhibits and join a scientific session. Thomas Ernst of the University of Hawaii has kindly agreed to lead this initiative.

Of course we then have the science, and the ‘call for papers’ has already opened up, indeed, we have already had our first submissions. This year the committee has identified three key areas in which we would like to encourage submissions. These special sessions will be on MRI studies on functional biomechanics and exercise physiology, time resolved MR angiography, and in-vivo MR with DNP-polarized compounds. The request for these abstracts is incorporated into the online submission process and has the same time line as conventional abstracts.

The successful integration of traditional and multi-media e-posters initiated in Toronto will be continued in Hawaii. The size of the files that can be loaded has been increased to 40MB in response to requests from the Toronto meeting, and we hope that this will be adequate to support all presentations.

‘Sounds and Visions of MR 2009- the Return of Aloha’ is returning to the meeting. Submission details are being announced, so all you MR musicians and artists- start preparing your material.

Honolulu is a lovely city, and there are many fabulous things to do on Oahu and the surrounding islands. The convention hotels are all within walking distance of the conference centre, and we have ensured that there is internet access in all of these. They will all give easy access to the town, the beaches, and the convention centre.

Further afield there are visits to the erupting volcano on the big island of Hawai’i , swimming with dolphins and turtles, walking the Na Pali coast, playing golf, surfing, or just relaxing on the beach with some sweet pineapple. This fantastic location is an excuse for a holiday - bring your friends and family and have fun.

April 2009 will soon be upon us and the committee and I look forward to welcoming you to ISMRM, Hawaii 2009.

National Research Council of the National Academies

Awards for postdoctoral and senior researchers

As you know, the National Research Council of the National Academies sponsors a number of awards for postdoctoral and senior researchers at federal laboratories. These awards provide generous stipends ($42,000 - $72,000 per year for recent Ph.D. recipients and higher for additional experience), and the opportunity to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the country.

We ask your assistance in informing doctoral students and faculty in your department of these opportunities by copying this message to each one.

Detailed program information, including instructions on how to apply online and a list of participating laboratories, is available on the NRC Research Associateship Programs Web site at:

www.national-academies.org/rap

Questions should be directed to the NRC at 202-334-2760 (phone) or rap@nas.edu.

There will be four review cycles annually. Upcoming deadline dates are:

May 1, 2009

August 1, 2009

November 1, 2009

February 1, 2010

Applicants should begin a dialogue with prospective Advisers at the lab as early as possible, before their anticipated application deadline.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely yours,

H. Ray Gamble

Director of the Fellowship Programs

National Research Council

The National Academies

National Research Council of the National Academies, 500 5th Street NW, Keck 568, Washington, DC 20001

25^TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
http://www.congrex.ch/ectrims2009/

Date

Wednesday, September 9 –
Saturday, September 12, 2009

Venue

Congress Center Düsseldorf, Germany (CCD)
www.duesseldorfcongress.de

Call for Abstracts

Deadline for submission of abstracts (online):
May 5, 2009

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We warmly invite you to the 25^th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) which will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany, 9-12 September 2009.

ECTRIMS congresses have over the years evolved into the largest and most important annual international meeting dedicated to multiple sclerosis. As always, we will bring together in Düsseldorf leading international experts in MS research, both scientists and clinicians, to share and discuss recent advances in this fast moving field. Clearly, the ultimate goal of all these efforts is to combat and eventually cure this disabling disease which affects some two million individuals throughout the world.

Düsseldorf on the river Rhine is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most densely populated federal state in Germany. Düsseldorf was founded in the 12^th century and is a lively business, trade fair, fashion and media centre. From the shopping boulevard Königsallee, the historic “Altstadt” (Old Town), and the fancy media centre “Medienhafen” in the harbour neighbourhood with its leaning Gehry buildings and many hip restaurants and bars, to the late baroque Benrath Palace, there are many places and sites to absorb and enjoy the atmosphere of this bustling cosmopolitan city and its surrounding Rhineland area.

You are certain to have a most successful and constructive ECTRIMS Congress in Düsseldorf in 2009 which will benefit from your active participation.

We again invite you to join us and very much look forward to welcoming you all in Düsseldorf next year!

Hans-Peter Hartung Chair ECTRIMS 2009 ECTRIMS President

Michel Clanet ECTRIMS Vice-President and President-elect

Ludwig Kappos ECTRIMS Secretary

Main Topics

• New therapeutic avenues
• Early treatment
• Imaging
• Neurobiology of MS
• Biomarkers
• Modelling MS pathology
• MS at the interface of inflammation and neurodegeneration
• Cognition: causes of dysfunction, diagnosis and treatment
• Symptom management in MS
• Neurorehabilitation in MS

MaxEnt2009

29th International Workshop on Bayesian Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods in Science and Engineering

July 5-10, 2009
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi
http://www.olemiss.edu/conf/maxent2009/

For more than 25 years the MaxEnt workshops have explored the use of Bayesian and Maximum Entropy methods in scientific and engineering applications. All aspects of probabilistic inference, such as techniques, applications and foundations, are of interest. With the rapid growth of computing power, computational techniques such as Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling are of great interest, as are approximate inferential methods. Application areas include, but are not limited to, astronomy and astrophysics, genetics, geophysics, medical imaging, material science, nanoscience, source separation, particle physics, quantum mechanics, plasma physics, chemistry, earth science, climate studies, engineering and robotics. Foundational issues involving probability theory and information theory, and inference and inquiry are also of keen interest as there are yet many open questions. The workshop includes a one-day tutorial session, state-of-the-art lectures, invited papers, contributed papers and poster presentations. Selected papers by the program committee will be edited and published in a book. All the papers will be in English. Contributed papers related to the above topics are being solicited. Especially encouraged are papers whose content is novel, either as to approach or area of application. Abstracts (one page of about 400 words) of the proposed papers should be submitted via this Web site by April 3, 2009.

Links:
MaxEnt Inc
International Society for Bayesian Analysis

MRI Scientist Position
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
University of Toronto

The Sunnybrook Research Institute invites applications for a scientist position as an MR imaging physicist with specific interests in developing MRI techniques and devices. The successful candidate will build or relocate a research program focusing on applications of MRI to basic and clinical research. The candidate will join the Discipline of Imaging Research which is currently comprised of 19 senior faculty and over 200 staff/trainees in a state-of-the-art research facility housing two 1.5 T and two 3 T research-dedicated MRI systems, a combined X-ray / MRI suite dedicated to research on image-guided interventions and an Oxford Hypersense polarizer for a research program on 13C MRI. While no specific MRI focus is specified for this post, emphasis will be placed on developing solid biophysical approaches with applications which align with one or more of the institutional clinical strengths, namely cancer, neuroscience, trauma, musculoskeletal or cardiac. The candidate will build and maintain an internationally competitive research program, foster local and international collaborations, and participate in graduate training through the Department of Medical Biophysics. The candidate must possess a PhD, demonstrated experience in the physics of MRI, and a strong grant portfolio. The candidate will be put forward for an academic position within the Department of Medical Biophysics or other appropriate department of the University of Toronto commensurate with academic focus and achievement.

In keeping with Sunnybrook’s Valuing Diversity Initiative, applications from all qualified persons are encouraged. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed initially to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Applicants should submit a covering letter describing current research interests and future research goals, a complete CV, relevant reprints, and the names of three potential references to:

Michelle Lall
For Kullervo Hynynen, PhD
Director, Imaging Research
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Avenue, M4N 3M5
E-mail: Michelle.Lall@sunnybrook.ca

Deadline for applications is: March 31, 2009 or appropriate