Last chance for members to pay their 2010 membership fee!

In accordance with the ESE Byelaws all members who did not pay their 2010 membership fee by 30 June 2010 will now be lapsed and will no longer receive their membership benefits.

If you have forgotten to pay your membership then please do so on-line from the ESE membership renewal page urgently. If you have any questions then please contact the ESE Secretariat at info@euro-endo.org.

ECE Prize lectures now on-line!

During ECE 2010 the prestigious Geoffrey Harris prize was awarded to Professor Iain Robinson (UK) and the European Journal of Endocrinology prize was awarded to Professor Lorenz Hofbauer (Germany). Both the prize lectures are now available to view as on-line virtual presentations on the ESE website.

Please go to www.endo-lectures.org to view the lectures.

1st ESE Clinical Update - case submission deadline 17 September

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.

The Clinical Update course website is now live and registration is open. Register before the early bird deadline - 3 October 2010 - to get a reduced registration fee.

Call for cases: prospective delegates are expected to submit clinical case studies for presentation and discussion at the ESE Clinical Update interactive workshop sessions. Further details and a utility for submitting cases online can be found at the Clinical Update course website. The deadline for submission of cases is 17 September 2010.

How do I access my free EJE on-line? A reminder for ESE members...

ESE members receive free on-line access to European Journal of Endocrinology with their 2010 membership. To access your EJE on-line please go to www.bioscialliance.org and enter your ESE membership number and password. This is the same password members use to enter the members section of the ESE website.

Once logged onto www.bioscialliance.org please scroll down the page. On the right hand side click the link to EJE on-line. The next page will show two green ticks, if your page does not show two green ticks please contact the ESE Secretariat (address below). If you are showing two green ticks please click on “Free member access to EJE on-line”. This will take you to EJE on-line.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact the ESE Secretariat at info@euro-endo.org.

ECE 2011 - Abstract submission now open!

The 13th European Congress of Endocrinology will be held on 30 April - 4 May 2011 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

On-line abstract submission for the congress is now open and will close on 7 January 2011. This year's congress received more abstract submissions than ever before, and we hope that ECE 2011 will continue in this trend to provide another high quality scientific programme of lectures and poster presentations.

ECE 2011

ICE/ECE 2012 - save the date

The 15th International Congress of Endocrinology will be held jointly with the 14th European Congress of Endocrinology on 5-9 May 2012 in Fortezza Da Basso, Florence, Italy.

To register your interest in ICE/ECE 2012 please contact ece2012@endocrinology.org stating your name and country of residence.

Announcement: New impact factors of the ESE’s official journals

The new impact factors for ESE's official journals have now been announced.

The impact factor for European Journal of Endocrinology remains extremely strong at 3.539. This is not far short of its record-breaking figure for the previous year, withstanding a significant increase in the number of papers it published which would normally depress the impact factor. This is an extraordinary achievement for the journal. The recent invigoration in the programme of commissioned review articles, together with the strict policy on acceptance rates should stand the journal in good stead in future years. The five-year impact factor also remains impressive at 3.796.

Journal of Endocrinology’s impact factor has risen slightly to 2.860 and the underlying five-year figure is 3.045. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology has held firm at 3.221. JME’s energetic commissioning of review articles has proved very successful over the last year and a half, so this should position it well for future impact factors. JOE has also recently begun to increase its review content, similarly bolstering its prospects.

Endocrine-Related Cancer continues to give the strongest showing of ESE’s four journals at 4.282. Its five-year figure remains robust at 5.683.

ESE journals are on-line at http://www.euro-endo.org/journals.

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

Increases In Leptin May Promote Colorectal Cancer (Medical News Today, 21 July 2010)

New research published in the journal Endocrine-Related Cancer has shown that the hormone leptin is able to increase the growth, survival and resitance to certain chemotherapy treatments in colorectal cancer stem cells. This link may help to substantiate the link between obesity and colorectal cancer, and provide new treatment options in this increasingly common disease.

Full article

Universities shun Europe's drug initiative (Nature news, 13 July 2010)

Nature news reports that a number of universities and research institutions are calling for a revision to the Intellectual Property policy of the European Commission's Innovative Medicines Joint Technology Initiative, a 7th Framework Programme-funded strategy. The complainants say that the policy is unbalanced towards industries - which collaborate on projects as an essential part of the initiative - and the cost of participation too high.

Full article

Hospital hyperglycemia may predict future diabetes (AlphaGalileo, 6 July 2010)

A Croatian team of researchers has found a significant association between presenting with hyperglycaemia whilst being treated for acute illness in an Intensive Care Unit, and developing type 2 diabetes or glucose intolerance in later life.

Full article

What are the symptoms of male menopause? (CORDIS News, 5 July 2010)

A European Union 5th Framework Programme-funded study has linked nine symptoms to low testosterone production in men. The findings could help to guide treatment with supplementary testosterone.

Full article

Test to predict menopause age a step nearer (BBC News, 27 June 2010)

An Iranian study has tested levels of anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) in 266 women for 12 years to show that AMH levels could be a promising indicator of the age of onset of menopause in individual women. The findings were presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting in Rome, Italy.

Full article

Down with jet lag (AlphaGalileo, 25 June 2010)

Research into the regulation of circadian rhythms and the internal body clock by scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany, has shown that intervention at the adrenal portion of the system may produce new opportunities in the treatment of jet lag.

Full article

TSH stimulation and PET scanning

In general, thyroglobulin (Tg) and a radioactive scan correlate well with each other in follow-up studies for differentiated thyroid carcinoma after thyroid remnant ablation. To maximise radioiodine uptake in malignant thyroid cells, it is necessary to elevate TSH cells by the withdrawal of thyroid hormone therapy or, more recently to use recombinant human TSH. However, whether PET scanning for the detection of Tg-positive and scan –negative metastases for DTC should be performed under TSH stimulation remains controversial.

Ma et al. searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane library for prospective controlled trials using TSH stimulation as an intervention. A meta-analysis was carried out using the Review Manager software. Seven prospective controlled studies with 168 patients were found. PET scans taken under TSH stimulation altered clinical management in 9% of patients in 5 paired studies.

The data analysis undertaken by the authors indicates that TSH stimulation should be recommended for DTC patients undergoing PET scanning. Ma et al. (2010), European Journal of Endocrinology, in press (published online on 19 May 2010).

Read the full article at DOI: 10.1530/EJE-10-0256.

TM Ramsay Postdoctoral Fellowship - Prince Henry's Institute, Australia

Prince Henry’s Institute (PHI) is an independent, internationally recognised centre for endocrine research affiliated with Monash University, Australia. There is a strong emphasis within the Institute on endocrinology, reproductive health, cancer, obesity, bone health and cardiovascular disease.

The Institute is offering the TM Ramsay Postdoctoral Fellowship, to begin in 2010/11 for up to 2 years for individuals wishing to work within a research group, or independently. It is intended that this Fellowship will provide a young researcher with a sound opportunity to begin a scientific career.

The deadline for applications to the fellowship is 27 August 2010. For more information please follow the link below.

Further details

Canon Foundation in Europe research fellowships

Each year the Canon Foundation in Europe awards up to 15 fellowships to highly qualified researchers in Europe or Japan. The fellowship involves an exchange programme where European researchers travel to a host institution (of the fellow's choosing) in Japan to pursue their research and learn new skills and techniques, and vice versa.

Proposals from all disciplines are welcome, and the fellowships offer financial support of up to Euro 27,500. The deadline for applications is 15 September 2010. For further information please follow the link below.

Further details

European Society for Clinical Investigation Awards 2011

Applications are open for the 2011 European Sociaty for Clinical Investigation Awards. Two grant awards, basic/translational and clinical, are available to those researchers that have made an exceptional contribution to clinically-oriented biomedical research in Europe.

Receipt of an award, which stand at Euro 10,000 each, signifies a long track record of truly innovative research that has significantly improved modern medicine. Self-applications and nominations by others are both accepted, and must be received by 15 September 2010. For more information please follow the link below.

Further details

Health Innovation Challenge Fund - Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust's Health Innovation Challenge Fund has been developed in partnership with the Department of Health and seeks to fund solutions to key challenges for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond.

The current round of funding welcomes proposals to overcome challenges in the management of chronic diseases - those for which a 'cure' does not exist at present and that can only currently be controlled.

The scope of the current round is therefore huge and those with research interests in endocrine conditions (which fall under the 'chronic' category in the majority of cases) are encouraged to apply. The dealine for preliminary applications is 1 October 2010. For more information please follow the link below.

Further details

European Commission 7th Framework Programme - 51 new calls for proposals

On 20 July 2010, the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for funding research and innovation released 51 calls for proposals for funding.

Funding for a massive range of initiatives is available, in particular the Health projects within the Cooperation category, which have either one- or two-stage application processes. Both emphasise collaboration with Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs), but they differ in the specific projects that they seek to fund. The details of each initiative can be found in the call fiche by following the links below.

The deadline for application to the single-stage procedure is 1700 CET, 10 November 2010. The deadline for initial applications for the two-stage procedure is 1700 CET, 13 October 2010. Please follow the links below for more information.

Single-stage: FP7-Cooperation-Health-2011-single-stage

Two-stage: FP7-Cooperation-Health-2011-two-stage

A full list of open calls can be found at the FP7 Calls page.

ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant

The European Research Council (ERC) is now accepting applications to its Starting Independent Researcher Grant, open to early career researchers of any nationality working - or moving to work - in host institutions in Europe.

This year the eligibility criteria has been extended to allow those with between two and twelve years post-PhD experience to apply, and during this time they would be expected to have demonstrated potential to progress to a Principal Investigator position by having an impressive publication record, with at least one important publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor.

Normally the grant amounts to up to €1.5 million (although additional relocation funds can be awarded) for up to 5 years. The deadline for applications to the life sciences grant is 1700 CET, 9 November 2010. For more information please follow the link below.

Further details

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