IUPS 2013: Perspectives from SAS Award winner Damilola. D. Adingupu (Exeter)

Damilola has recently been awarded her PhD in Vascular medicine from the University of Exeter, she was awarded a BMS Students Assisstance Scheme (SAS) travel grant to attend the IUPS 2013 in Birmingham. Here Damilola discusses how attending the conference has benefitted her research as an early career researcher.

An opportunity to be at a conference that has in one location early career scientists and world leaders in Microcirculation and Physiology in general was afforded to me by the British Microcirculation Society travel grant. Presenting a talk on ‘microvascular regulatory response to ischaemia and association with cutaneous oxygen saturation’ to an international early career scientist audience on Saturday was a privilege. Having Prof Michael J. Joyner in the audience, with him stimulating discussions around the talks presented was a privileged experience.  

Manning the BMS stand for two hours at the IUPS gave me the opportunity to encourage other early career colleagues and PhD students to join the BMS and enthuse them about the advantages of being a member. Whilst doing this, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr Paul Fraser who explained the imaging technique used to image the microvessels on the BMS website and stationeries that elegantly represents the microcirculation. Meeting Prof.  Akos Koller provided an opportunity to discuss microvascular reactivity techniques and mechanisms involved, and to evaluate the potential of translating simple techniques to clinical use. Sitting in the Malpighi Award Lecture given by Prof Steven S. Segal inspired me to challenge my own hypothesis and assumptions, and I was reinvigorated to get back to Exeter to test and test my hypothesis again. 

The international Union of Physiological Sciences conference July 2013, Birmingham UK was full of learning, networking and social opportunities. Early career scientist and experienced scientist presented elegant scientific research, put forward new ideas and motivated me to continue to pursue a career as an Academic Researcher. I am grateful for the BMS travel grant that to made my attendance possible.   

BMS at IUPS 2013 post meeting blog

Dear all,

The larger-than-normal (micro)vascular presence at the recent IUPS in Birmingham was a great success. We were treated to some super science, and great opportunities for meeting with fellow microcirculationists. The BMS, as host society for the big ESM/EVBO programme, had a very visible presence (see pictures of our stall elsewhere on the web) and gained a number of new members as a result. We continued the support of young investigators, and at the reception we organised after the Malpighi Lecture - a tremendous talk given by Steve Segal - a bunch of societies co-funded lots of prizes. We raffled a very nice bottle of bubbly as part of our fund raising for the next YIS, which was appropriately enough won by a YI (no fix, honest!). At the well-attended AGM we gained a President-elect who will take over from me at the next AGM (Prof Nicola Brown, seen manning the BMS stall). 

More news later.

Best wishes,

Stuart Egginton (President)

President-elect Prof. Nicola Brown, seen manning the BMS stall

BMS Committee members (Back: Andy Salmon, Stuart Egginton. Front: Lopa Leach, Jackie Whatmore and Melissa Gammons).

The Malpighi Award Lecture on Wednesday 24 July attracted an audience in excess of 500 and was followed by an informal reception at which 25 'Microcirculation & Vascular Biology' Poster Awards were presented. These awards were sponsored by the Japanese, Italian, Dutch, American and British Microcirculation Societies, EVBO, Karger and Wiley

BMS at the IUPS

Looking forward to seeing you all in sizzling Birmingham. At the AGM (Tuesday 23 July, 1pm – Hall 7, ICC) we will be announcing the BMS Travel awards (SAS and LVG)  and giving out the certificates, so please do attend. The ESM & EVBO Abstract Prizes will be announced at the Malphigi Reception, whilst the ESM Travel awards will be announced after the Malphigi Lecture (Wednesday 24 July).  Do attend and see whether you or members of your team have won these prestigious prizes.

Please also pop by the BMS/ESM Stand (Stand 68) at the Trade Exhibition and give us your support. We have some merchandise you may wish to have.

Best wishes

Lopa Leach

Honorary Secretary

British Microcirculation Society

http://www.microcirculation.org.uk/

The BMS is hosting the 27th ESM and 7th EVBO Joint meeting at IUPS in Birmingham

'Dear all,

It seems a very short time since last months exciting BMS Early Career Symposium, and we're looking forward to our next meeting. The BMS is hosting the 27th ESM and 7th EVBO Joint meeting at IUPS in Birmingham (July 21st-26th), where we have taken the opportunity of sharing our annual meeting with a larger microcirculation community, and indeed a wider audience of physiologists. We will be very active here, with the usual SAS and poster awards, sponsoring a symposium (which will form the basis for a special issue of our official journal, Microcirculation), and hosting a reception after the Malpighi lecture where we can renew acquaintances. The BMS committee will be meeting on the Monday, and our AGM will be held on the Tuesday (some exciting changes are on the way - come along to find out what). Your society will have a presence among the exhibitors, with our very own stand (volunteers to man that would be warmly welcomed!), so please do come along and support this event. It's a departure from our usual pattern of meetings, but the opportunity to advertise our field of interest on a larger stage was too good to pass up: how successful that will be depends on your participation - do pop by the stand and say hello!Best wishes,

Stuart Egginton

BMS President'

BMS YIS 2013: Thank you from the organisers!

Thank you to everyone who attended Aprils Early Career Investigators Symposium on 'Advances in Microcirculation', the outstanding talks and scientific discussions showed that there is an exciting future for microcirculation research in the UK. The symposium covered topics ranging from angiogenesis to inflammation and vessel permeability, investigating physiological and pathological aspects of the functioning microvessels. We were overwhelmed by the mature and confident selected oral communications given by early career investigators ranging from first year PhD students to young post-docs. Not only were the talks well paced and informative, the scientific questions that followed demonstrated a clear understanding and thirst for knowledge. This was also evident in the poster session where discussions continued and collaborations began to form, the high standard making prize selection a difficult process.

As organisers we would like to thank everyone who attended for making it a successful meeting. The engaging conversations throughout the day and well into the evening showed the young investigators are continuing the traditions of senior members, both it terms of microcirculation research and excessive consumption of alcohol!

Although the first meeting of its kind we trust this will not be its last!

Kind regards,

Melissa, Claire and Alessio

Thoughts from the BMS President: Stuart Egginton

The recent BMS Young Investigators Symposium organised by Melissa, Claire & Alessio was a great success, deemed to be ‘the best value for money conference I've ever been to’ by one delegate! Attendance was from far and wide, including a student all the way from Moscow. The talks covered a broad range of topics and were all well presented. With few senior colleagues present the speakers, chairs of sessions, and audience seemed more relaxed which encouraged some really good discussion around excellent science. On this evidence, the future of microcirculation is in good hands!

Lots of competitive prizes were handed out, and hopefully the opportunity for networking will produce tangible results in the future. There certainly appears to be an appetite for a repeat of this format of meeting at some point, with potential organisers showing interest which is encouraging. In addition to the hard work of the organisers, we are indebted to Donald Singer who gave welcome local support. Registration costs were kept to a minimum by generous support from the British Heart Foundation, the British Pharmacological Society, the Company of Biologists, the Physiological Society, and the Richard Bright VEGF Research Trust, complementing core support by the BMS and the exhibitors (Moor Instruments and PromoCell). Please visit the meeting blog site (http://bms-yis2013.blogspot.co.uk/) for some reflections and meeting pictures.

To see you list of prize winners visit the meeting blogsite at the following link:

http://bms-yis2013.blogspot.co.uk/

Merry Christmas from the BMS president

Dear all,

2012 has been a good year for the BMS, with closer ties to sister societies, adoption of Microcirculation as ‘our’ journal, and a very successful annual meeting in Oxford. Next year promises to be just as exciting!

We start with a variation on our annual meeting, with an Early Career Investigator symposium next April (http://www.microcirculation.org.uk/assets/BMS2013poster-251012.pdf), which I hope all our postgrad and postdoc members will attend. There is a great programme arranged, and a smashing venue. Abstract deadline 31^st Jan.

You must book a slot in your diary for the IUPS meeting in July (http://www.iups2013.org/) at which the BMS will have a large presence, sponsoring a number of events. We will hold our AGM there, so please help support your society by promoting our activities. As the national society, we shall be acting as hosts for the ESM/EVBO components (http://www.microcirculation.org.uk/27esm7evbo/index.html), which means there will be many symposia that will appeal to our members interests. Deadline for abstracts is again 31^st Jan.

We will pass on more news in the coming months, but it just remains to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Stuart Egginton

BMS President

President’s post-meeting blog

I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all whose strenuous efforts ensured that this year’s joint meeting between the BMS and MCS was such a success. In particular, Chris Garland and his team are to be congratulated on organising an excellent scientific programme and great social events in such a lovely setting. It was very pleasing to see record numbers of attendees, posters and exhibitors – all very positive signs for the future of our discipline. We greatly appreciate the support of MCS officers in promoting closer links between our societies, and it was highly appropriate that we were able to celebrate adopting a common journal (with the enthusiastic support of both memberships) in this manner. A special issue of Microcirculation to celebrate this will appear shortly. Of course we can’t stand still, and many interesting discussions were had about possible ways forward and new ventures, and thanks to Donald Singer we had interviews with plenary lecturers posted on the web during the meeting (hopefully the first wave of an enhanced public image for the society). Watch this space for more news!

Best wishes,

Stuart Egginton