SEB Bulletin October 2006 - Cycling in Southampton
Take 100 scientists at varying stages of their careers, place them in a darkened lecture room and incubate at 34oC with occasional stirring. This was the recipe for a very successful symposium on The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle held at Southampton from July 3rd to 6th 2006. The weather was certainly hot and the very inadequate air-conditioning in the lecture theatre meant that the atmosphere often became very steamy (in the climatic sense of the word, we emphasise). However, it was the excellence of the science, the quality of the talks, discussion and posters and the general feeling of excitement and enjoyment in dealing with this important topic that made the meeting so memorable.
Tim Hunt got us off to a superb start on the Monday evening with the opening keynote lecture 'Getting in and out of Mitosis', giving us an amusing, personalised overview, moving seamlessly from the work of Boveri in1889 right up to the present. We then spent the next three days going round the cell cycle, starting with mitosis, going through G1, then S and on into G2 before finally getting ready for mitosis again. We looked at cell cycle checkpoints, took some side trips out into DNA repair, endo-cycles and cell death and our final session placed the cell cycle and associated events in the context of development. A key element of the programme was the range of organisms that were discussed. Yes, we had yeasts (fission and budding), frogs and flies but we also had mammals (including humans), chickens, protists, algae and higher plants. Indeed, the second of the two keynote talks, given by Dirk Inze, was entitled 'Cell Cycle Control and Plant Development.' Not only did Dirk give us an excellent overview and update of the topic but he also talked about the computer programmes that his group are developing to analyse the complex network of protein-protein interactions.
Omitting our own talks from this assessment, we were impressed throughout the meeting with the quality of the presentations and of the science being presented - there was not a dull or uninteresting talk in the whole meeting. The discussions were also lively, occasionally amusing and sometimes intense as different ideas and views were batted to and fro. Indeed, the discussion usually carried on outside the lecture room as delegates 'networked' in the area set aside for coffee, tea and lunch.
We also had a great set of posters. In fact, we had more posters on display than we expected for a meeting of this size - perhaps it was the prizes on offer that attracted so many. Nevertheless it was really good to see so many younger scientists enthusiastically discussing their work, despite the heat and stuffiness of one of the poster display areas. The general standard of the posters was very high which made it very difficult to judge the competition. However, we did eventually select three prize-winners, Dan Hayward (Leicester), first prize, Fay Cooke (Cambridge) and Susanna Nagel (Max Planck Institute), equal second prize; they thoroughly deserve our congratulations.
And what about the evenings? On the Monday and Wednesday evenings we had the keynote lectures, which were, in true SEB fashion, followed by drinks receptions back at our residences, or actually, on the Monday evening, in the car park of the residences. Tuesday was of course 'The 4th of July' and we marked the occasion with a barbecue, hoping that our American delegates appreciated that nod in their direction. Certainly appreciated were the cocktails on offer at the bar that evening - and thanks, Chris, Nancy, Kate and Sue for that supply of bar vouchers. And in the bar, the big screen provided a football backdrop to much of our socialising, with World Cup games being shown each evening. Indeed, Kim Nasmyth is to be thanked for building an ad hoc light filter, eliminating the bright light that obscured the screen! Such was the range of countries represented at the conference that there was each evening, some national interest amongst the delegates. In fact, for one particular match, intra-lab and even intra-marital rivalries were so intense that certain delegates missed a keynote lecture to watch it (we know who you are!).
For Nancy Baines, this was her last conference before leaving the employ of the SEB to move north. We are very grateful to her for all her work in organising the symposium and to Kate Steel who, with Nancy, looked after the conference desk. We also thank our sponsors (Beckman-Coulter and the Annals of Botany Company for the keynote lectures and Blackwell for the drinks receptions) and Nature Reviews for supplying the prizes for the poster competition - each winner received a year's subscription to Nature MCB Reviews. All abstracts will appear in MCB in due course.
John Bryant, Exeter
Dennis Francis, Cardiff