European Society for Analytical Cellular Pathology
(ESACP)


ESACP Newsletters

Nov 1996

To ESACP members and scientists interested in the 5th ESACP congress, Oslo, May 25-29, 1997

  • ESACP Newsletters
  • Dear Colleagues,

    ESACP Activities

    The visible ESACP activities since the memorable meeting in Grenoble in 1994 and since the CYTO95 conference in Southampton together with the Royal Microscopic Society (RMS) in 1995 have been limited, except for the continuously updated presence on the Internet, the completion and publication of the consensus report on DNA image cytometry and the efforts to achieve a similar document for DNA flow cytometry.

    A substantial amount of work has gone, although initially invisible, into the preparation of the the 5th ESACP congress in Oslo, May 25-30, 1997.

    5th ESACP Congress

    Words of welcome!

    Cytometry is used in an increasing number of biomedical fields, such as pathology, cell biology, immunology, biotechnology, molecular biology & genetics. New techniques, like CGH and in situ PCR as well as basic flow and image cytometry techniques are continuously improved. The combination of the old and the new creates further potentials such as telepathology.

    The 5th ESACP Congress will focus on new concepts and potentials emerging from these technologies especially in view of understanding and interfering with the mechanisms of cellular disease processes. Overview lectures, tutorials and practical demonstrations, both by scientists and commercial vendors will address the various aspects.

    The European Society for Analytical Cellular Pathology (ESACP) has previously arranged four successful international congresses. The 5th ESACP Congress in Oslo during May 25-29, 1997 will follow and extend the organisational structures of the 4th congress in Grenoble 1994 with key lectures, plenary & parallel sessions, tutorials & workshops, poster sessions, as well as a major exhibition. The 5th Congress will also focus on clinical aspects, especially in oncology. It will furthermore host the general assembly of ESACP, at a time where important new organisational structures for the European cytometry field are being discussed.This will definitely constitute a main topic in informal meetings during the congress as well as at the general assembly.

    Finally, a word about the congress venue - Holmenkollen and Oslo. We are convinced that whether attending the congress as a participant, exhibitor or accompanying person, you will enjoy Oslo, the capital of Norway situated between the fjords, the mountains and the deep forests. On behalf of the organizers, we welcome you to the 5th Congress of ESACP, and look forward to see you in Oslo in May 1997!

    (H.Danielsen, A.Reith
    5th ESACP Congress Organizers)

    ACP-Journal

    The ACP journal thanks to the continued effort of the editor and to the continued influx of high quality manuscripts did quite well with a rise of the impact index to 1.72 which advances it to a remarkable nr.17 within a group of 64 journals after its relatively short existence since 1989.

    Starting on Jan.1, 1997, ACP will be published by IOS Press, Amsterdam. This transition will provide a significant cost reduction of 15% for the ESACP membership.

    We want to thank Elsevier Science Publishers at this point for the continued support during the initial years of ACP publication. We want to mention especially Philippe Terheggen and Adri van der Avoird who were always open to our problems and suggestions.

    ACP-Editor

    The Journal of Analytical Cellular Pathology is wealthy. The Impact factor is above 1.7 and among the best for the journals of the same age. This Impact Factor puts the journal in the first third of the journals in the same category. The submission rate is slightly increasing and reaches about 65 papers per year. The average quality of the submitted articles is also increasing so that the rejection rate can be kept constant while improving the overall scientific and medical quality. Unfortunately, the average reviewing time is increasing and the revision time also in spite of reminders sent to reviewers and authors on a regular basis.

    It has been decided that the Journal of Analytical Cellular Pathology will move from ELSEVIER to IOS Press, working on the behalf of ELSEVIER during one year and a half. After this period of time, the ESACP will decide to continue or not with the new publisher. Taking advantage of this change, the journal will soon be available in electronic form. It will be the opportunity to redesign the reviewing process taking into account the internet-intranet technology. In doing so, a significant improvement of the reviewing time is expected. The new reviewing process through the web will most likely be ready by mid 1997. All these changes will contribute to keep the Journal of Analytical Cellular pathology on the cutting edge of cytometry and histometry.

    (G.Brugal)

    ACP-Publisher

    Founded in 1987, IOS Press is a scientific-technical-medical publisher with headquarters in Amsterdam. Its main publishing forms are books, journals and electronic versions thereof. In 1997 IOS Press publishes 30 journals and 70 new book titles. Around one third of these are in medical/pharmacological areas. Einar H.Fredriksson is director/owner and worked 18 years with North-Holland/Elsevier before starting IOS Press. Similar to the arrangements made for Analytical Cellular Pathology, IOS Press has taken over several of its most successful journals from Elsevier Science. All IOS Press journals are typeset with LATEX and\ prepared for future electronic publishing alongside with paper based editions. ACP is expected to be available electronically from Volume 13, 1997.

    (E.H.Fredriksson)

    ACP-Issues 1993/94/95/96

    The ESACP membership office has been contacted by several ESACP members who either were not invoiced or inadvertantly did not regulate the subscription payments to Elsevier Publishers in earlier years. ACP for one or several of the above indicated years is still deliverable. Please contact the ESACP Membership Office (address indicated below). Upon payment of the subscription to the ESACP bank account (93: 205DM, 94: 205DM, 95: 222DM, 96: 218DM), Elsevier will kindly send the corresponding ACP issues.

    ESACP Membership Dues 1997

    The annual ESACP membership dues will decrease from 245dfl in 1996 to about 208dfl which corresponds to 185DM in 1997. The dues are now indicated in DM because ESACP will collect the dues in 1997 on its own to avoid the VAT payments of 1996. Please complete the enclosed membership renewal form and sent it to the ESACP Membership Office in Munich either accompanied by a Eurocheque issued in DM for European members or by providing the credit card information and your signature (Euro/Mastercard, Visa, American Express). We ask you to use Eurocheques within Europe to avoid credit card charges for the ESACP account. The ESACP bank account is: 571 548 701, Deutsche Bank, München, BLZ: 700 700 10. If you send cheques, be sure to enclose a notice on your identity. Otherwise we may be unable to book the payment correctly.

    Future of ESACP

    ESACP membership has remained stagnant for a while and has even decreased. One of the reasons for this development is the relatively narrow focus of the society in the histo- and cytopathological area. The ACP journal on the other hand reaches a significant number of additional readers from the image and flow cytometric community. This explains the increase of the impact factor. As a consequence of this, the question emerges how can the structure of the image and flow cytometry oriented community be adapted to the present scientific requirements in Europe?

    As an interesting recent phenomenon, a significant number of national cytometric societies have emerged in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal/Spain, Switzerland, UK as well as European Working Groups on Clinical Cell Analysis, Molecular Biology and 3D Imaging.

    Although important aspects of the flow and image cytometric field are very well addressed by the national societites or by the working groups, several essential aspects at the European level remain insufficiently covered at present. Amongst these are:

    The concepts for the formation of a European Federation or Union of Cytometric Societies (EFCS/EUCS) have recently emerged from these considerations. Based on an initial position paper by G.Valet, the ESACP officers have contacted the various national cytometric societies to explore the interest in this idea. Following positive comments by the membership of the Danish, German, French and UK cytometric societies as well as encouragement by additional societies, the ESACP executive committee including the ACP editor propose to pursue this idea.

    The central question for ESACP concerns its further development. Two principal developments seem realistic:

    The ESACP officers and council are at this point very interested in your ideas, so please inform us about your opinion.

    An Internet site will be established which will continuously inform on the results of a discussion forum concerning the foundation of EFCS/EUCS. This forum consists of all presidents and past presidents of European national cytometric societies, European past presidents and president elect of ISAC, speakers of European Working Groups as well as ESACP officers and 5th ESACP congress organizers. There will be a link from the ESACP Internet www-site to this new www-site. So, please check the ESACP www-site from time to time to remain informed on the events.

    It is the intention of the ESAC officers to advance the preparations for EFCS/EUCS foundation at the 5th ESACP congress in Oslo next year.

    Adress changes, Telephone and Fax numbers, E-mail Addresses

    We would like to ask all ESACP members to indicate these informations on the membership renewal form for incorporation into the new ESACP membership directory being presently prepared.

    With best regards

    G.Valet A.Böcking G.Brugal

    Pr-Elect President ACP-Editor

  • ESACP

  • Questions and comments to ESACP Membership Office:
    G.K.Valet, E-mail: valet@vms.biochem.mpg.de, Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Am Klopferspitz 18a, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany, Tel: +49/89/8578-2518, -2525, Fax: +49/89/8578-2563, Internet: http://www.biochem.mpg.de/valet/esacp.html
    Last edit: Dec.9, 1996