The European Congress of Endocrinology 2010 is going ahead!

European airlines are resuming flights and we anticipate a continuing increase in flight availability. We understand that people with bookings will have priority on flights. We look forward to seeing you in Prague on Saturday.

In addition to flights resuming, there is availability on many train services and there are also bus services operated by Eurolines and Student Agency. If you are driving, you should contact your hotel to arrange parking. There is a small car park at the congress centre, which must be prebooked by calling +420 261 172 330.

Please check the congress web site at www.ece2010.com for further updates.

Personal itinerary planner at ECE 2010

BioSciPersonalPlanner is a tool that enables you to plan your time at ECE 2010. You can browse through the sessions and abstracts, selecting each item that you want to add to your Personal Planner. When you have finished, you can print or download your plan in a variety of formats. You can come back and change your plan at any time.

To access the personal planner, please click the link on the programme page of the ECE 2010 website: http://www.ece2010.com/programme/prog.aspx.

ESE Election - vote now closed

The vote has now closed in the ESE election for two Executive Committee members. We would like to thank the voting members for their participation in this important election process. The result of the election will be announced soon.

ECE 2010 - Abstracts now live

We are pleased to announce that the abstracts are now live for ECE 2010 (Prague, 24-28 April 2010). They can be found in the conference programme at the ECE 2010 website.

ECE 2010

New members' welcome reception at ECE 2010

The ESE new members' welcome reception will take place on Monday 26 April 2010 (13.00-14.00) at the ECE 2010 congress venue in Prague. Invitations have been sent to all new members. We hope you can attend and look forward to meeting you. Further information regarding the programme can be found at the link below.

ECE 2010

9th Postgraduate course in Clinical Endocrinology - registration now open

Registration for the 9th Postgraduate Course in Clinical Endocrinology of the European Society of Endocrinology is now open. The course is taking place on 27-29 May in Tartu, Estonia, and coincides with the 5th Baltic Congress of Endocrinology.

The ESE is delighted to present you with a comprehensive scientific programme that is comprised of innovative lectures, exciting clinical debates and challenging workshops given by outstanding experts in clinical endocrinology. In order to facilitate the development of endocrine surgery in the region as well as the collaboration between endocrinologists and endocrine surgeons, the second day of the course will centre on endocrine surgery. Another challenging area in endocrinology – gonadal disorders – will be the focus of the third day of the course.

Further information on the course, and online registration, can be found at www.ese2010.ee.

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

European Young Active Research meeting

The 12th Annual Meeting of Young Active Research (YAR) will be held on 1-3 October 2010 in Dusseldorf, Germany. The YAR initiative was founded during the annual meeting of the German Endocrine Society (DGE) in 1999 and aims to increase the mutual exchange between young scientists working in the field of endocrinology. Further information can be found at the link below.

YAR website

Reminder for ESE members who have not yet paid their 2010 membership fee!

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 immediate payment.

ESE membership

Geoffrey Harris Prize 2011 - deadline for nominations 31 May 2010

The European Society of Endocrinology is pleased to announce the annual Geoffrey Harris Prize. This prestigious prize for neuroendocrinologists is worth 12,000 Euro and is generously sponsored by Ipsen. The prize will be presented at the annual European Congress of Endocrinology, where the winner will be asked to give one of the main lectures, in addition to two other lectures at future ESE scientific meetings.

Nominations can be made by any scientific organisation or administrative group, but self-proposal is not allowed. Seven hard copies of the files containing the letter of support and CV, list of publications and merits of the candidates should be sent to: Barbara Jarzab, ESE Secretary c/o, Head, Dept. Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology, M Sklodowska Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, Gliwice, Poland, email: bjarzab@io.gliwice.pl, by 31 May 2010.

ESE Geoffrey Harris Prize

News from Endocrine-Related Cancer

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

The March issue featured a review section on MicroRNAs, read the editorial by Alfredo Fusco at http://erc.endocrinology-journals.org/cgi/content/full/17/1/E3.

Take a look at some of the most popular recently published articles:

Cistromics of hormone-dependent cancer. Mathieu Lupien and Myles Brown (read here).

MicroRNAs (miR)-221 and miR-222, both overexpressed in human thyroid papillary carcinomas, regulate p27Kip1 protein levels and cell cycle. Rosa Visone et al. (read here).

Adiponectin signals in prostate cancer cells through Akt to activate the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. D Barb, A Neuwirth, C S Mantzoros, S P Balk (read here).

Come and see Endocrine-Related Cancer at the European Congress of Endocrinology 2010, 24-27 April in Prague at the Prague Convention Centre: www.ece2010.com. We will be offering free trials of ERC to anyone who comes along to our booth number 20 during the conference.

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

ECE 2011 - website now live

The 13th European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE 2011) will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on 30 April – 4 May 2011. The Congress website is now live and can be found at www.ece2011.com.

Scientists declare war over BPA (The Independent, 13 April 2010)

The Independent reports that leading scientists are in dispute over the effects of Bisphenol A on human health. This article is accompanied by a commentary by Prof Richard Sharpe, senior scientist at the Medical Research Council Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Edinburgh.

News article

Commentary

Regeneration of insulin-producing cells in diabetic mice (AlphaGalileo, 12 April 2010)

Scientists from the University of Geneva have demonstrated the regenerative potential of pancreatic cells in mice, using a new non-autoimmune technique that involves near-total ablation of existing beta cells.

Full article

Demonstrated in vivo the transfer of maternal thyroid hormones to the fetus (EurekAlert, 12 April 2010)

A team of Italian researchers has developed a transgenic mouse model to demonstrate the transfer of maternal thyroid hormones to the developing fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy. The study is published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Full article

Gene provides a link between lower birth weight and type 2 diabetes (Wellcome Trust News, 7 April 2010)

An international team of researchers has discovered two gene regions that affect a baby's size at birth, and has associated one of these regions with the onset of type 2 diabetes later in life.

Full article

Animal studies paint misleading picture (Nature News, 30 March 2010)

A study published in PLoS Biology has suggested that the disparity between results from animal and human trials in medical research is at least partly due to a lack of negative results in animal trials being published. The author suggests that the scientific community - including researchers and publishers - should make a greater effort to report negative results in animal trials.

Full article

GH treatment before puberty in idiopathic short stature

Idiopathic short stature (ISS) has been treated with GH in many clinical trials, with a variety of outcomes measured. In this long-term study by van Gool et al., forty children with no signs of puberty aged 4-8 years (girls) and 4-10 years (boys) were randomly allocated to receive GH at a dose of 2 mg/m2 for at least two years until the onset of puberty.

GH-treated children showed an increased mean height when the treatment was stopped compared with controls, and pubertal onset was generally seen to advance. After 3-12 years without GH treatment adult height was measured and found to be similar in treated individuals and controls. The authors found that GH treatment significantly accelerates bone mass, which was probably the cause of the similar adult heights in treated and control groups. van Gool et al. High-dose GH treatment limited to the prepubertal period in young children with idiopathic short stature does not increase adult height. European Journal of Endocrinology, 162, 653–660.

DOI: 10.1530/EJE-09-0880

European Science Federation Exploratory Workshop Grants

Each year the European Science Federation (ESF) offer grants of up to Euro 15,000 to support 'Exploratory Workshops.' Calls for proposals for the 2010 round of grants are now welcome.

Exploratory Workshops are defined by the ESF as small meetings of between 15 and 30 people from across the ESF Member Organisation Countries. The meetings should have the aim of exploring new directions in research or emerging research fields with a potential impact on new developments in science.

The deadline for applications is 16:00 CET, 29 April 2010. Please follow the link below for further details.

Further details

Association for International Cancer Research 2010 grants

The Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) funds cutting-edge research into the casues of cancer. It is now accepting submissions for the first round of its research grants for 2010, which support fundamental or translational research into the causes, mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. The AICR also has a limited amount of funds - the Spotlight fund - set aside for research into prostate cancer.

Applications will be accepted until 30 April for basic science projects lasting between one and three years, although projects with a small clinical element will be considered.

Further details

Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation welcomes applications to its Humboldt Research Fellowships for postdoctoral researchers from abroad who have completed their doctorate in the last four years.

The Fellowships provide funding for a project lasting between 6-24 months, to be undertaken in a research institution in Germany. Both the project and the institution are selected by the applicant.

Applications to the Fellowships are welcome year-round. Please visit the link below for more details on the Fellowships and how to apply.

Further details

Austrian Science Fund Lise Meitner Program for scientists from abroad

The FWF (Austrian Science Fund) supports the ongoing development of Austrian science and basic research at an international level. The Lise Meitner program offers post-doctoral basic scientists from abroad the chance to join research teams in Austria to promote international cooperation in science, and benefit from the increased expertise that this cooperation provides. Applications are accepted continuously for basic science projects of between one and two years in duration. Please follow the link below for more information.

Further details

International Senior Research Fellowships - Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust are now inviting applications for their International Senior Research Fellowships in Biomedical Science.

The International Senior Research Fellowships in Biomedical Science support outstanding researchers, either medically qualified or science graduates, who wish to establish a research career in an academic institution in selected European countries - Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakian Republic and Slovenia.

Applicants to the Fellowships must submit a preliminary application by 4 June 2010. For further information please follow the links below.

International Senior Research Fellowships in Biomedical Science

Marie-Curie International Fellowships

CORDIS, the European Commission's portal for research funding, has issued calls for proposals for three different Marie-Curie fellowships, designed to enhance career mobility and professional development. The three fellowships - the International Incoming Fellowships (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF), International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF), and Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF) - support the exchange of knowledge and expertise across Europe by enabling researchers to join or build research teams in other countries.

The deadline for applications is 17 August 2010. Please visit the CORDIS FP7 Calls page for more information by following the link below. Use the Call Identifier - given above in parenthesis after the fellowship title - to find a specific fellowship.

CORDIS FP7 Calls page

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