ESE Election

In the coming months the ESE will open the election for the two Executive Committee positions which are available. The voting will take place by e-vote only and it is essential that the ESE Secretariat have the correct email address for members.

If you would like to amend your email address then please do this via the Members area of the ESE website (www.euro-endo.org) or alternatively please inform the ESE Secretariat at info@euro-endo.org, who will be able to do the update for you.

Any changes to your email address must be completed by Tuesday 2 March 2010. Please note: if we do not have a valid email address you will not be able to receive voting instructions.

We would also like to take this opportunity to remind members who have not yet paid their membership fee for 2010 to please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding your membership renewal then please contact the ESE Secretariat at info@euro-endo.org.

ECE 2010 - ESE members can save Euro 250 on registration rates!

ECE 2010 will take place in Prague on 24-28 April 2010. The POC have composed a high quality scientific programme covering basic science as well as clinical research and practice and have invited outstanding speakers for the plenary lectures.

Early bird registration rates will be available until 12 March 2010.

As a paid ESE member you can save Euro 250 on the registration fee. Economic packages and ten Journal of Endocrinology travel grants are also available. More information can be found at www.ece2010.com.

ECE 2010 - Economic Packages

Economic packages are available to ECE 2010 delegates who fulfil the following criteria:

• Their country of residence has a GDP-per-capita of below $15,000 as defined by the CIA World Fact book. For further details please visit the following website: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/in

• They are non-clinically qualified research students or postdoctoral fellows, nurses who have no access to funding or are retired.

Registration does not include tickets to the social events or optional excursions.

The economic package includes access to all congress sessions and commercial exhibition, delegate bag including all congress materials and a name badge, Endocrine Abstracts (either on CD or in print), entrance to the Opening Ceremony and Welcome Reception, refreshment breaks during the congress and bed & breakfast accommodation for 4 nights in a 3* hotel (for a limited number of participants and not available on-site).

Further information and application details can be found at www.ece2010.com

Please note that the deadline for applications is 12 March 2010.

ECE 2010 - Journal of Endocrinology travel grant

The Journal of Endocrinology offers travel grants of €300 each to ten young scientists attending the European Congress of Endocrinology.

Applicants must be a current member of ESE, under 35 years of age and be resident in a country that is not classified by the World Bank as a high income country. The travel grants are available for attendance at the annual congress if the applicant has submitted an abstract.

The full eligibility criteria can be found on the ESE website here.

ESE Annual General Meeting

The ESE Annual General Meeting will be held during ECE 2010 at 18.30 on Tuesday 27 April 2010 in the Panorama room, Prague Congress Centre, 5. Kvetna 65, 140 21 Prague 4, Czech Republic.

The agenda and appendices will be circulated by email to members at least one month prior to the aforementioned date. The documents will also be placed in the members section of the ESE website.

As ESE communicates with members by e-mail, please ensure that you notify the ESE Secretariat (info@euro-endo.org) if your email address changes.

To the ESE website

1st ESE Clinical Update, 22-24 October 2010

The ESE Clinical Update Course is the first in an annual programme of international residential events providing essential training for all trainees and an update for established endocrinologists. The event is designed not only to give a vigorous update on current clinical practice but also to encourage networking between trainees and established endocrinologists.

The 1st ESE Clinical Update will be held at the Porto Palacio Congress Hotel in Porto, Portugal from 22-24 October 2010.

Details can be found on the Education page of the ESE website

ESE Membership renewal information

We would like to remind members, if they have not already renewed their membership for 2010, they can do so via the ESE website. The annual membership fee for 2010 is Euro 70 for Full members and Euro 35 for Reduced Rate members. ALL members will receive free on-line access to the European Journal of Endocrinology.

Members are able to pay for a 3 year membership at the discounted rate of Euro 190 or Euro 95 for reduced rate country, retired or under 35 years of age OR a Lifetime membership at Euro 1120 or Euro 560 for reduced rate country, retired or under 35 years of age.

Full details including how to pay are detailed in your renewal notice and we ask that you arrange payment by 28 February 2010.

ESE membership

ESE launches on-line access to European Journal of Endocrinology for all members

We are pleased to announce that online access to the European Journal of Endocrinology via BioSciAlliance is now available to members as part of their membership.

To view the European Journal of Endocrinology, please go to BioSciAlliance, the portal designed to enable you to manage your membership effectively.

You need to know your membership number and the password is the same as your usual password for the members area on the ESE’s home page.

Please note: In order to gain access you need to ensure that your membership subscription for 2010 has been paid. There are comprehensive help pages within the BioSciAlliance site that will assist you if you are having access difficulties.

BioSciAlliance - create your profile today and be part of the endocrine community!

BioSciAlliance is an exciting service from BioScientifica that allows members to access a host of services using a single gateway. BioSciAlliance - www.bioscialliance.org - allows you to renew your membership; access abstract management and registration for ESE meetings; update your membership profile and interact with fellow members, all using a single website.

Furthermore, ESE members get free access to the European Journal of Endocrinology via this route.

ESE members can logon to BioSciAlliance using their current membership number and password. Once you are logged on, you can build up your own profile and search for fellow members by geographical location or areas of interest. In addition, BioSciAlliance provides a wealth of educational resources, BioScientifica's world calendar of events and news articles on a range of biomedical specialities.

Communicate; Collaborate; Innovate - logon to BioSciAlliance today.

Logon to BioSciAlliance

Endocrine-Related Cancer - continuous publication online

Continuous publication online is a groundbreaking development from the journal Endocrine-Related Cancer. Continuous publication online allows authors and readers to share knowledge around the world, faster than ever before as NEW ARTICLES are published online as soon as they are ready for publication, without waiting for an issue to be complied. Take a look at ERC online at www.try-erc.org.

Endocrine-Related Cancer is the premier, global journal publishing basic, translational and clinical research on hormones and cancer with an impressive impact factor of 5.236. All reviews are published free online at www.try-erc.org.

Sample copies and free online trial registrations for ERC will be available at the Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Manchester, UK in March, at the 14th International Congress of Endocrinology in Kyoto, Japan in March, at the 12th European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague, Czech Republic in April and at ENDO 2010 in San Diego, CA, USA in June. Visit the Society for Endocrinology booth at any one of these conferences to find out more about Endocrine-Related Cancer.

Nasal spray gives hope on autism (The Times, 14 February 2010)

Peer-reviewed findings presented at the Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience show that in a group of 13 patients, nasal delivery of oxytocin via a spray transiently alleviates some of the symptoms of autism.

Full article

Overweight? Try living in the mountains if you want to slim down (The Daily Telegraph, 5 February 2010)

A team of scientists from Munich's Ludwig Maximillians University investigated the effects of high-altitude on food-intake and metabolism as a potential tool in the fight against obesity, by sending twenty obese men to an air-conditioned lab near the top of Germany's highest mountain Zugspitze for one week.

Full article

Sunbathing ups men's testosterone (BBC News Online, 2 February 2010)

A study published in Clinical Endocrinology by a team of Austrian researchers has found that men who are sufficiently supplied with vitamin D - the main supply of which is made in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight - have higher circulating levels of testosterone.

Full article

Call to end exclusion of elderly from drug trials (BBC News Online, 1 February 2010)

The EU-funded PREDICT project has found that elderly people are underrepresented in trials for new medications, despite higher drug-use amongst their age group. The authors warn that results for younger people cannot always be extrapolated to the elderly.

Full article

Fork in the Road - Will the new European Research Council lead EU science to success or lose its way? (TheScientist.com, 1 February 2010)

With the European Research Council (ERC) celebrating its 3 year anniversary, opinion is out as to whether it can continue in its mission to establish a Europe-wide scientific forum. 2010 sees the appointment of a new director (applications close on 5 March) and the implementation of recommendations made by an independent report. This article in TheScientist.com outlines the history of the ERC and highlights some of the issues that may influence its future direction.

Full article

International Diabetes Federation awards US$2 million to 9 global diabetes research projects

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has announced the winners of the second round of its BRIDGES (Bringing Research In Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems) funding program. The BRIDGES program is designed to promote translational research in the field of diabetes globally, converting established therapeutic interventions and clinical practice into improved care and treatment for diabetics. Research groups from Austria, China, Colombia, Haiti, India, the Philippines, South Africa and the US will now carry out their proposed projects with funding made possible by a US$10,000,000 educational grant from Eli Lilly and co.

For further details on the BRIDGES program, please follow the links below. Proposals for a third round of funding will be welcomed later this year.

Press release

BRIDGES home

Rare Disease Day 2010 - 28 February

Rare Disease Day is an annual event designed to raise awareness for the multitude of people around the world suffering from conditions that affect less than 5 in 10,000 people each. Despite their rarity, the conditions are so numerous that there are an estimated 27-36 million people affected in Europe alone.

Owing to their scarcity, research into these diseases remains poorly integrated and inadequately funded, depriving the rare disease patient of appropriate diagnosis, treatment and support. To combat the shortfall in rare disease research, the theme for this year's Rare Disease Day is "Patients and Researchers: Partners for Life."

Europe as a whole is expected to play a critical role in the future of rare disease research, as it can provide a platform for collaboration between the scattered researchers and increase the numbers of patients in each study to a degree that is unattainable at the national level.

Rare Disease Day falls on 28 February. Events will be taking place worldwide. For more information please visit the websites below.

Rare Disease Day 2010

EURORDIS - the voice of rare disease patients in Europe

Cortisol and thyroid autoimmunity in the elderly

A recent study by Terzidis et al. has investigated whether glucocorticoid activity, which increases in old age, is involved in thyroid autoimmunity in the elderly. Previous studies have shown that thyroid antibodies (ThAb) increase with old age, while some have demonstrated a subsequent decline in ThAb in very old age.

The study conducted thyroid function, cortisol, glucose and insulin measurements in 321 ambulatory individuals aged 51–95 years. Increased glucocorticoid levels were found to be associated with higher ThAb positivity in older subjects. Healthy subjects with no ThAb detected were older and female, indicating a difference in results between males and females. The authors suggest that there is a rise in ThAb in females until approximately 10 years after the menopause, when there is a gradual decline back to the levels that would be expected at a younger age. The study concludes that more research is needed to define the role of glucocorticoids in this pattern of ThAb levels in the elderly. Terzidis, K et al., European Journal of Endocrinology. DOI: 10.1530/EJE-09-0534

MicroFUND public engagement grants

FUND is a European Commission-funded project designed to encourage city-level collaborations and networks to create science dialogue and engagement activities. Applications are now welcome for their microFUND grants - 15 small subsidies of up to Euro 2500 each - to establish or stimulate workshops and other science engagement activities based around the PlayDecide format (click here for details on PlayDecide).

Applications are welcome from residents of any EU member state (and some non-member states), with a deadline of 15 March 2010. For further details and to submit an application, please follow the link below.

MicroFUNDs call

European Research Council Advanced Grant for Life Sciences

The European Research Council (ERC) awards a number of grants annually to exceptional investigators in all fields of research. They are currently calling for applications for their Advanced Grant for Life Sciences. ERC grants support projects which are carried out by individual research teams headed by a single Principal Investigator of any nationality and, if necessary, include additional team members. Applicants for the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant are expected to have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years which must be presented in the application.

The grants are designed as part of the 'FP7' initiative for European collaboration in all areas of research, and applicants can apply for up to Euro 3.5 million for a period of 5 years. The deadline for this round of applications is 17 March 2010.

ERC grants page

European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Funding

COST invites researchers throughout Europe to submit proposals for funding. The funding that COST provides is not designated for research per se, but supports networking activities such as meetings, conferences, short term scientific exchanges and outreach activities (referred to as 'Actions').

Proposals for Actions should include researchers from a minimum of 5 countries. Financial support in the range of Euro 100,000 per year for four years can be expected. The closing date for the current round of applications is 26 March 2010, where applicants are required to submit a preliminary proposal. Based on the eligibility and scope of the preliminary proposal, applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal at a later stage.

Further information, guidelines and templates for proposals are available at the COST website.

Foundation for Polish Science WELCOME Grants

The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) WELCOME programme is an exciting invitation to eminent scientists from abroad (or Polish nationals living abroad) to establish a new research team within Poland.

Applications for WELCOME grants are now open to established Polish and foreign researchers, with the aim of setting up strong research teams in Poland and intensifying international cooperation by Polish research units. The total amount of funding available stands at approx. Euro 7.5 million.

The deadline for applications is 15 April 2010. Follow the link below for more details.

FNP Welcome grants

Diabetes, Supporting TrAnslational Research and Twinning (D-Start) grant program

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is now welcoming proposals for a large-scale, multi-centre project centred on translational research projects on the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes in low- and middle-income Countries. D-START (Diabetes - Supporting TrAnslational Research Twinning) will see an established research centre provide support and training to two smaller centres that show promise yet have had difficulty accessing funds from their own economies.

The first phase - submission of framework study design by international experts - is open until April 15 2010. Please follow the link below for more information.

D-START home

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