Neurotoxicology and Teratology 33 (2011) 603–604

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Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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Report of the 35th annual meeting of the Neurobehavioral Teratology Society, 2011

1. Introduction

The 35th annual meeting of the Neurobehavioral Teratology Soci-ety (NBTS) was held at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort, in Coronado,CA, from June 25 to 29, 2011, in conjunction with the 51st annualmeeting of the Teratology Society (TS) and the 24th annual meetingof the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS). Themeeting program has been published (Neurotoxicology and Teratology33(4):488–493). On Saturday June 24, NBTS held several vital busi-ness and organizational meetings, preliminary to the start of the sci-entific program. These included a Public Affairs Committee meeting,a Publications Committee meeting, a Council meeting, and a StrategicPlanning Committee meeting. The scientific program was officiallyopened on Sunday June 26, with a Josef Warkany lecture, co-spon-sored by NBTS and TS; Kathleen Sulik (University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill, NC) presented a talk on “A tail of mice and men: Embryosand ethanol.” Immediately following this jointly-sponsored lecture,the Behavioral Toxicology Society (BTS) Symposium was held. Thissymposium, entitled “Animal genetic models of human neurologicaland behavioral conditions,” was supported by BTS funds held in es-crow by NBTS and featured four outstanding speakers in this field ofresearch. The Sunday afternoon program consisted of two platformsessions (ten speakers). The scientific program on Monday June 27initiated with the 5th annual Elsevier Distinguished Lecture. Invitedspeaker Isaac Pessah (Professor of Toxicology and Chair of the Depart-ment of Molecular Biosciences at UC Davis) is the Director of the UCDavis Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Pre-vention; he delivered a well-received talk on “Tipping the balanceof neural networks: Environmental chemicals and autism risk.” Eliza-beth Perill, Elsevier toxicology publisher, presented the Elsevier Dis-tinguished Lecture Award and a commemorative plaque to Dr.Pessah. In recognition of his role as Elsevier Distinguished Lecturer,he was also presented with an honorary one-year NBTS membershipwith all attendant benefits. The remainder of Monday morning wasdevoted to a symposium co-sponsored by NBTS/TS/OTIS on “Atten-tion deficit hyperactivity disorder: The role of prenatal and postnatalenvironment.” Following an introductory talk, three speakersaddressed various environmental stressors that have been associatedwith ADHD, and the chairperson summarized the primary conclu-sions of the symposium. A noon break for the NBTS annual BusinessMeeting was followed by two platform sessions (8 speakers, includ-ing the Richard Butcher New Investigator Award recipient). A jointposter session was held with TS/OTIS on Monday evening; 12 NBTSposters were presented. On Tuesday June 28, two special sessionsstarted the day. The first was a State of the Science lecture by Dr. Wil-liam Slikker, Director of the FDA National Center for Toxicological Re-search. The second was a panel presentation and discussion on“Perspectives on advocacy for children's neurological health.” Follow-ing these introductory sessions, a NBTS/TS joint symposium on “Thethyroid and iodine: Impacts on pregnancy and child health” brought

together four speakers with varied clinical and research expertise inthis area, exploring ways in which small alterations in maternal dietsupplementation could potentially have a significant effect on therisk for impaired neurological development in children. Tuesday af-ternoon was devoted to a symposium on “Gender differences andmechanisms of prenatal and adolescent effects of cocaine on brainand behavior: New developments.” The presentations of six excellentspeakers were synthesized in a focused panel discussion at the end ofthe symposium. A morning symposium on Wednesday June 29 com-pleted the scientific program for the meeting. This symposiumaddressed “Advances in developmental neurotoxicity risk assess-ment.” Speakers presented talks on three topics relevant to hazardcharacterization and risk assessment for environmental agents andtwo relative to preclinical pharmaceutical screening. At the conclu-sion of this session, the 35th annual meeting of the NeurobehavioralTeratology Society was formally adjourned.

In addition to the outstanding scientific sessions offered for meet-ing attendees, there were a number of opportunities provided forNBTS members to socialize and network, including a joint TS/NBTSwelcome reception on Sunday night, light refreshments and a casualatmosphere at the joint poster session on Monday night, a Middle At-lantic Reproduction and Teratology Association (MARTA) student ca-reer function on Monday following the poster session, and a NBTSreception and social event on Tuesday evening.

2. Awards

The recipient of the 2011 Richard Butcher New Investigator Awardwas Paul Eubig of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign(nominated by Susan Schantz) for his platform presentation on “Im-paired attention in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder comparedwith developmental lead or PCB exposure.” Richard Butcher was inattendance at the NBTS meeting and was able to congratulate Pauland present the award in person.

A number of nominations were received for Conference Awards,and the Society was pleased to select four award recipients fromamong the excellent entries. The award winners presented theirwork in platform or poster sessions during the course of the meeting.NBTS Conference Award recipients were Devon Graham, University ofCincinnati, Cincinnati, OH (nominated by Charles Vorhees) who pre-sented “Long-term receptor alterations from developmental meth-amphetamine exposure in rats by use of selective pharmacologicalagonists and antagonists;” Tommy Saborido, Vanderbilt University,Nashville, TN (nominated by Gregg Stanwood) who presented “Be-havioral effects of 5-HT6 receptor ligands and relationship to braindopamine systems;” and Karla Sanchez-Huerta, Escuela Nacional deCiencias Biolόgicas, IPN, Mexico (nominated by Mary Gilbert) whopresented “Hypothyroidism selectively affects the proliferation ofcells in the hilus but not the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrusof adult rats.” A Behavioral Toxicology Conference Award (established

604 S.L. Makris / Neurotoxicology and Teratology 33 (2011) 603–604

in 2009 in honor of BTS) was presented to Ning Zhu, SUNY DownstateMedical Center, Brooklyn, NY (nominated by Diana Dow-Edwards)who addressed “Age-specific effects of methylphenidate on the radialarm maze task in periadolescent rats.”

This year, the Awards Committee also conferred two Best Presen-tation awards at the meeting, one to a pre-doctoral student and oneto a post-doctoral fellow. These were presented at the NBTS Tuesdayevening reception to Paul Eubig (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) for his New Investigator Award platform presentationand to Laura Pickens (Kent State University, Kent, OH) for her posterpresentation on “Dose-dependent effects of adolescent nicotine expo-sure on cognition in the adult female rat.”

Additionally, MARTA awarded the James C. Bradford MemorialStudent Poster Award to Aliya Frederick (Vanderbilt University, Nash-ville, TN), an NBTS Associate member who was sponsored by GreggStanwood. The award honors the late Jim Bradford, who was a past-President of MARTA and Sigma Xi, served on Teratology Society com-mittees, and was Director of Research and Development at Sanofi atthe time of his death. Aliya's poster presentation topic was on “Poten-tial dopamine D1 receptor signaling through Gaq: Behavioral and bio-chemical assessment.” The award, consisting of $500, acommemorative plaque, and a one-year MARTA membership, wasannounced by MARTA representative Sandra Wood (Merck ResearchLaboratories) at the Teratology Society banquet on June 29.

3. Contributions

The following contributors are gratefully acknowledged for theirgenerous support of the NBTS 2011 meeting:

Corporate and Government Sponsors:CSC GraphicsCharles River LaboratoriesDyets, Inc.ElsevierHVS ImageKinder ScientificLafayette InstrumentsMerck PharmaceuticalsRonald D. Hood AssociatesSan Diego InstrumentsSociety of ToxicologyStephen B. Harris GroupSusan A. Rice and Associates, Inc.WIL ResearchU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for En-

vironmental Assessment (NCEA)U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Center for Toxico-

logical Research (NCTR)Individual Contributors:

Karen AcuffLori DriscollSherry FergusonMary GilbertSteven GilbertKimberly GrantSusan Makris

Susan MelnickJerrold MeyerHiromitsu OhmoriWilliam PizziGale RichardsonCharles VorheesMelissa WardSandra Wood

4. Membership

NBTS welcomed 7 new regular members and 1 associate memberto its roster this year. Membership in the Society is for the calendaryear and includes a subscription to the journal Neurotoxicology andTeratology, which is published by Elsevier and sponsored by NBTS. In-formation about membership and other aspects of NBTS can be foundon the website: http://www.nbts.org.

5. 2012 Meeting

The 2012 NBTS annual meeting will be held at the Marriott Balti-more Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, MD, from June 23 to 27, 2012.The meeting will be conducted jointly with the Teratology Societyand the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS). In-formation about the meeting can be obtained from Gale Richardson,University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic,3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, 412-681-3482, gar@pitt.edu.

6. Conclusions

Overall, the 2011 NBTS annual meeting was considered to be a re-sounding success, as judged by active member attendance and partic-ipation in the program. The sessions presented cutting edge researchand applied science and were consistent with the mission of the Soci-ety. The myriad contributions of the NBTS officers, committee chairsand members, symposia chairs (Ginger Moser, Susan Schantz, andChip Vorhees), platform session chairs, presenters, and meeting at-tendees were instrumental to the success of the meeting. I want toexpress my very personal gratitude for the guidance and assistance Ireceived from Past Presidents Ed Levin, Kim Grant, and Mary Gilbert;Secretary Lori Driscoll; Treasurer Susan Rice; webmaster Sherry Fer-guson; Finance Committee chair Melissa Bailey; and President-ElectGale Richardson over the past year, and during the planning, organi-zation, and implementation of the 2011 meeting program. I am hon-ored to have had the opportunity to serve as NBTS President (2010–2011).

Susan L. MakrisNational Center for Environmental Assessment (8623P),

Office of Research and Development,U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, USATel.: +1 703 347 8522

E-mail address: makris.susan@epa.gov.