Table of Contents

1. Message from the President
2. Membership Renewal
   
3. Election Results
   
4. Farewell
   
5. New Members
6. Member News
7. Member Spotlight!
8. Event Report
   
9. 2014 Student Award Information
   
10. Upcoming Events
11. Cryobiology Journal
    

If so please email them to the editorial team at [email protected]

2013 Officers

President
John H. Crowe

President-Elect
Erik J. Woods

Past-President
Barry J. Fuller

Secretary
Yuksel Agca

Treasurer
Gloria D. Elliot

2013 Board of Governors

Serean Adams
Jason Acker
James D. Benson
Adam Higgins
Eric James
Jens O. M. Karlsson
Barbara M. Reed
Andreas Sputtek
Tiantian Zhang

Message from the President

I’ve enjoyed my time as president, but it’s time for me to move on and for Erik Woods to take office. I’m sure the Society is in for smooth sailing, with Erik at the helm.

Here are a couple of parting thoughts. When I stood for election as president four years ago I said that if the Society is going to prosper I thought we had to reach out to other societies, particularly those that are involved in cryobiology-like activities, some of whom didn’t even know it, and to encourage cross membership with our own enterprise. We’ve managed to do quite a bit of this, with no fewer than four joint meetings in the years I’ve been president. I take little credit for that, other than encouraging us to move in that direction; the Program Committee has been superb at making it happen. With Erik as our new President and Jason Acker  as President-Elect, I’m confident we’ll keep moving in this direction. 

I also pointed out when I was running for office that we must achieve some financial stability. I am happy to report that we are in excellent shape in this regard, due to the outstanding work of Gloria Elliott as Treasurer and Arthur Rowe as Chair of the Finance Committee.

So… I leave office feeling good about where we are headed. So long, good luck, and Happy Holidays!

John Crowe

2014 Membership Renewal

Membership renewal is available now for the 2014 calendar year.  As in previous years if you renew by January 15, 2014 you will receive a $20 discount on your membership dues.

The easiest way to renew is via Paypal, but if you would prefer to pay your annual dues by check or bank/wire transfer you can do this by filling in the renewal form,  available on the membership renewal page.  

2013 Society Election Results

Farewell

As we welcome new faces to the Board of Governors we must bid farewell to others.  This year we say goodbye to our Past-President, Barry J. Fuller, who has been a member of the Board for the past six years, metamorphosing through the roles of President-Elect, President, and Past-President. 

Barry has combined his lengthy term on the Board with his role as Professor in Surgical Sciences at University College London where his research interests include stem cells and regenerative medicine. 

We thank him sincerely for his hard-work and dedication to the Society.  

New Members

Since the last newsletter we welcome the following new members: 

• Mr. Kamran Makarian (USA)
  
• Miss. Fatemeh Jalali (USA)
  
• Dr. Omer Varisli (Turkey)
  
• Dr. Andrew Picken (UK)
• Dr. Atsuko Kobayashi (Japan)
  

Member News

Jens Karlsson and Adam Higgins, both members of the Society for Cryobiology's Board of Governors appeared in a number of mainstream websites last month due to their research on ice formation in relation to cryopreservation of tissues and organs.  Their paper "Effects of Intercellular Junction Protein Expression on Intracellular Ice Formation in Mouse Insulinoma Cells", published in the November 2013 issue of Biophysical Journal and also featuring on the front cover of the issue (pictured left), attracted interest from media around the world, and was picked up by almost a dozen websites including Fox News, The Scientist, and Science Daily, to name just a few.   

The interest in the research also led to many other members of the society being interviewed for comment, including John Bischof and Peter Mazur who both commented for The Scientist, and Gary Bryant who was interviewed by ABC News 24 in Australia.  

The following summary is taken from the Phys.org article.

Dr. Karlsson and his team monitored microscopic freezing events inside genetically modified cells and used mathematical models to show that gap junctions do not always provide the major pathway for the spreading of ice crystals between cells. They saw that cell-to-cell propagation of ice also occurred during freezing of tissue samples in which gap junction formation had been suppressed. The authors discovered that intercellular connections -- in which neighboring cell membranes are stitched together by rows of rivet-like structures known as tight junctions -- also play a significant role.

"By using high-speed video imaging, we found evidence that ice from outside the cells sometimes forms nanoscale branches, which can penetrate the barriers created by tight junction seams," says Dr. Karlsson. "The resulting invasion of the spaces between cells appears to promote crystallization of the cells adjacent to the breach."

The unexpected findings may provide a boon for the manufacturing of engineered tissue products that can be used for grafts and organ transplantations. "Using cryopreservation to stop living tissue constructs from spoiling during storage will be the key to enabling economical mass production, quality assurance, and shipping logistics for these life-saving products," says Dr. Karlsson.

Member Spotlight!

Welcome to our second Member Spotlight!

This month we'll be getting to know Cryobiology’s Editor-in-Chief, Prof. David Rawson (pictured right).  David took over the role from previous editor Prof. David Pegg almost three years ago and the journal has continued to flourish under his leadership.  I had been quietly wondering if the name ‘David’ was the primary requirement for the job, but as you’ll see from the interview below David clearly has a wealth of experience which stands him in good stead for the role of editor.

Can you tell us a little about your background and how you came to be interested in cryobiology?

I graduated in Biological Sciences and my main interests were the lower orders of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. When I started lecturing it was mostly in cell biology and cytogenetics.  I rather ‘backed into’ the field of cryobiology in the early-1990s, when I became interested in interrogating cells to detect metabolic responses due to changes in their physico-chemical environment.  My team was developing cell-based biosensors for use in toxicity assessment and pollution monitoring.  We were using prokaryotic biocatalysts incorporated onto screen printed electrodes, but became increasingly interested in exploiting eukaryotic cells for these assessments. This led us to consider what eukaryotic biocatalsys we could incorporate into our biosensors.  One of the challenges to using such cells was how to ensure a long shelf-life for the biosensors.  Unlike prokaryotic cells, which could be freeze-dried in situ, we had to consider a different approach – cryobanking.  This is when I first became aware of the benefits and challenges of cryopreservation.  

One target biocatalyst was the fish embryo, which was becoming a interesting model in classical toxicity bioassays.  To cut a long story short, cryopreserving fish embryos and oocytes became an important second research theme alongside the biosensor research.  The difficulties of cryopreserving fish embryos and oocytes are many and varied, and research continues into this area even today.   My first PhD student in the area of cryobiology was Dr. Tiantian Zhang, who is now a respected academic and cryobiologist still working in the field of fish cryobiology.


When did you first become involved with the Society for Cryobiology?

Once I started to publish regularly in the field of cryobiology I became more and more involved with the society and started to attend their annual meetings.  I was invited to join the editorial board in the mid 2000’s, and remained a member until I took over as editor approximately three years ago.


How did this involvement lead into being offered the role of editor?

When David Pegg announced that he was retiring as editor, I had no intention of applying for the role at all.  However, a few people asked me if I was thinking of applying and after a bit of pondering the idea began to grow on me.  The Board of Governors set up an appointment panel to consider the applicants, and I was lucky enough to be offered the position.  I’ve not regretted ‘throwing my hat into the ring’.


What do you most enjoy about editing Cryobiology?

There are several aspects of the role that I enjoy.  The first is keeping up to date with the latest advances in the field, and having the opportunity to read exciting new research. 

I have also particularly enjoyed the close involvement with members of the Society for Cryobiology, and getting to know the established cryobiologists on a personal as well as professional level has been both interesting and gratifying.  

More recently the role of the editorial office has been greatly expanded, with my assistant, Nicole Evans, taking over all aspects of membership administration, as well as a host of other duties from Portland Customer Services.  This has led to a real sense of working for the Society as a whole, rather than just focussing on the journal.


Are there any aspects of the role that you find challenging?

The key question an editor has to ask, whether it is as editor of the national newspaper or a scientific journal, is ‘how do I know this is true?’.  The way that we address this for the journal is through the reviewers’ scrutiny of each submitted manuscript.  I take the reviewing process very seriously and regard our reviewers very highly.  The meticulously and thorough feedback they provide is absolutely vital for my decision making, but the reviews are equally important for the authors who receive comments from their peers. I really cannot thank our editorial board and reviewers highly enough.  They selflessly donate their time to us over and over again, in order to maintain the highest scientific standards for the journal.

Finally I must say that I simply couldn’t keep up with the deluge of manuscripts that the journal receives without the help of the editorial board and especially my associate editors, John Armitage and Seizo Fujikawa.


Finally, do you have any tips for young researchers who are only starting to publish their work?

One important thing to bear in mind is that most reviews are trying to suggest improvements to your paper, so don’t be discouraged by reviewers’ comments.  As long as your manuscript is not rejected outright publication is achievable as long as you can appropriately address the reviewers’ comments.  It may be useful for you to discuss the comments with your senior colleagues and mentors, and there may be occasions when you may want to challenge a point that a reviewer has raised.  Don’t be afraid to do this - as long as you can provide evidence to back up your argument!

It is not uncommon for some manuscripts to undergo several iterations.  As long as the science is sound we are happy to work through several versions of your manuscript with you to ensure that your final published work is of the highest quality.