Welcome and General Information

The 27th Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology will take place June 22–26, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California. San Francisco is renowned for its chilly summer fog, steep hills, architectural variety, including the famous "Painted Ladies" Victorian houses and excellent restaurants. Famous landmarks include the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Chinatown and Alcatraz Island.

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco is the largest luxury waterfront hotel in San Francisco. Located in the Financial District and situated directly on the Embarcadero waterfront overlooking the city’s pristine bay, the hotel showcases an array of shopping, dining, and sightseeing activities. The Hotel offers local attractions such as the Embarcadero Center shops and restaurants, the adjacent Waterfront Bay Trail, the ferry service to Sausalito and Alcatraz, the Presidio Golf Course, California Street cable car line and BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to name a few.

Systems Pathology

Symposium Chair: Eugenia Floyd, DVM, DACVP

Traditionally, the toxicologic pathologist synthesizes data (clinical pathology, gross and microscopic pathology) to draw conclusions about the pathobiological course and consequences of toxicity at the organ level. However, technologies that generate high-content biological data such as transciptomics, metabonomics and molecular imaging, now offer pathologists new endpoints that can lead to deeper understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity at multiple systems levels, from molecule to whole-animal. In generating and analyzing the complex data sets from these technologies, the systems pathologist works collaboratively with specialty scientists, including technology platform specialists and bioinformaticians.

The 2008 symposium will be devoted to Systems Pathology, updating attendees on the pathobiology of whole-animal responses, such as stress, to toxicity and illustrating how knowledge of these responses is important in the practice of toxicologic pathology. Speakers will discuss examples of the integration of high-content data with traditional pathology endpoints, the use of in vitro and in silico models for systems biology studies that successfully elucidated mechanisms of toxicity, and methods for evaluating animal responses to chemical and drug mixtures. The continuing education courses, which complement the symposium theme, include an update on phospholipidosis, a multisystemic reaction, as well as introductions to bioinformatics and toxicogenomics, two topics important to Systems Pathology.

Please join us in San Francisco for a stimulating program on the future of toxicologic pathology.

Preliminary Program (pdf)

Keynote Speaker

Continuing Education Courses

CE Course Chair: Kathleen Funk, DVM, PhD, DACVP

NTP Symposium—Saturday, June 21 Free Event; registration required

Chair: Susan Elmore, MS, DVM, DACVP

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

CE Courses

Two half day and one full day Continuing Education Courses will be offered this year on Sunday, June 22 for an additional fee.

CE 1—Sunday AM: Drug-Induced Phospholipidosis

Moderators: Linda A. Chatman, DVM, MS, MBA, DACVP, Pfizer Inc., Mark Emory Cartwright, DVM, PhD, Schering-Plough Research Institute and Diann Weddle, DVM, PhD, Abbott Laboratories

Health authorities and the pharmaceutical industry alike recognize that drug-induced phospholipidosis (PL) can present a formidable challenge for drug development. In a recent Letter to the Editor (Toxicologic Pathology, 35:325, 2007) STP was encouraged to “stay abreast of the challenges of drug-induced phospholipidosis through continuing education, encouragement of mechanistic research and support of the ongoing efforts by FDA and the DruSafe”. The CE program on PL shall address the following needs:

• the expressed need for a continuing education on drug-induced PL;
• an opportunity to hear from speakers who are highly regarded as experts on the topic of drug-induced PL;
• participants will get the latest research on toxicogenomics and biomarkers;
• plausible risk management strategies; and input regarding FDA’s concerns

CE 2—Sunday PM: The Application of Novel Bioinformatics Approaches to Data Interpretation in Toxicology and Pathology

Chair: Bruce Car, BVSc, PhD, Bristol-Myers Squibb

The objective of this course is to familiarize pathologists with the novel bioinformatic approaches now becoming routinely used to analyze data from transcriptional profiling, metabonomic and proteomic data sets, as well as gaining some foothold in the analysis of clinical chemistry and hematologic data. The size of data sets (to 30,000 different analytes) and complexity (multiple time points of multiple analytes over multiple treatment and control groups) and meaningful linkage of large transcriptomic, metabonomic and proteomic datasets to traditional in-life, necropsy, histopathology and clinical pathology endpoints typically transcends a traditionally trained pathologist’s facile ability to develop interpretations. When the ability to link systems biology profiling datasets to traditional endpoint analyses depends on multiple individuals across research departments, the focus and impact of such interpretation is frequently lost, however, when embodied within one or few individuals, the heightened depth of pathology data interpretation becomes an invaluable diagnostic in pharmaceuticals development and the understanding of disease. The course will be divided into several chronologically staged components: data storage (warehouses), retrieval and visualization (Spotfire, Excel, scatter plots, dendrograms, heat maps, linkage maps, principal components analysis, other), comparison to reference intervals (historic or recent derived from contemporaneous warehoused data), data compendia or large historic databases (Iconix DrugMatrix, GeneLogics, In-house), application of pathway mapping tools which have curated much historic literature (Ingenuity, CambridgeCellNet, GeneGo, etc), statistics (ANOVA, T tests, T rank, others or none) and interpretation. These components will be treated theoretically in lectures and working examples will be provided in practical sessions

CE 3—Sunday AM and PM: Toxicogenomics for Pathologists (limited to 28 people)

Co-Chairs: Kevin T. Morgan, BVSc, PhD, Sanofi-Aventis and Christopher J. Thomas, PhD, DABT, Sanofi-Aventis

The advent of microarray technology has provided safety scientists with both the ability to generate massive amounts of data from tissue transcriptomes and the problem of how to make sense of it all. The application of large-scale transcript (mRNA) data to Toxicology is evolving into the new discipline of Toxicogenomics (TGx). Pathologists, due to their broad training in general physiology and mechanisms of disease, have a great deal to contribute to TGx. The goal of this course is to help pathologists become familiar with the principles of TGx, and to learn to incorporate transcriptome data into the formulation of hypotheses on mechanisms of disease. Strategies for interpreting microarray data will be introduced, along with discussions of frequently impacted biochemical and immunological pathways, and common confounders of gene expression interpretation, such as fasting and the circadian rhythm. During a practical session, case studies will be presented such that participants will have the opportunity to apply some of the strategies and skills they acquire to selected TGx data sets.

This year, two complementary CE courses are being offered covering Toxicogenomics (TGx) and Bioinformatics. The TGx course will be essentially identical to the one presented in 2007, with minor modifications in response to attendees’ comments. Skills in Bioinformatics are critical for successful TGx studies, but this complex and interesting field is only addressed briefly in the TGx course. The more in-depth presentation of Bioinformatics, to be provided in the Bioinformatics CE course, will go well beyond the application of these important and interesting techniques to TGx, including the application of computational pattern recognition approaches to pathology data analysis and interpretation. If you have further questions concerning the content of these courses, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin Morgan (TGx) or Bruce Car (Bioinformatics).

Sunday AM—Effective Communication for the Toxicologic Pathologist Workshop (pdf)

This course is free to meeting attendees, however, registration is required.

Exhibit Space Available

Please contact Liz Kasabian, Exhibits Manager, (703) 438-7508.

Meeting Timeline

Abstract submission Deadline: April 15, 2008
Advance Registration Deadline: April 10, 2008
Pre-Registration Deadline: May 20, 2008
Hotel Reservation Deadline: May 29, 2008
Meeting Cancellation Deadline: May 10, 2008

Meeting Events

Town Hall Meeting

Topic will be "Use of Historical Control Data in Carcinogenicity Studies."

Awards Ceremony

The Awards Ceremony will take place on Wednesday evening, June 25. Student travel winners and other STP Award recipients will be recognized at this time.

Annual Business Meeting

The Annual Business Meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 25 immediately following the Awards Ceremony.

Student Travel Awards

Ten Student Travel Awards are available to Graduate Students (See link below for eligibility and other details.) for participation in the 27th Annual Symposium. Applications and abstracts are due April 15.

Student Travel Award Flyer and Application

Young Investigator Awards

Young Investigator Awards (1st, $500; 2nd $250; 3rd, $100) are also presented at the STP meeting for the top three student poster abstracts. When you submit an abstract online, please check the appropriate box to indicate your interest in applying for the Young Investigator Award. Applicants will receive instructions about the selection process and poster judging times via email in April.

Social Events

Welcome Reception

The Welcome Reception will be held on Sunday evening, June 22. Admission to the Welcome Reception is included in the member, non-member, student, exhibitor and spouse/guest registration fees. Come and enjoy a relaxing evening mingling with friends and colleagues. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and two drink tickets will be provided to all registered attendees.

Student Outing to Alcatraz Island

Attention Students: The Society is planning a Tour of Alcatraz Island on Tuesday afternoon, June 24. This will be a fun opportunity to meet fellow students, and interact with scientists representing all facets of the society. This function has been the highlight of past meetings for many students. Details will be e-mailed to student registrants. Please RSVP by May 20.

Flyer/Invitation

President’s Reception

The President’s Gala Reception will be held on Wednesday evening, June 25. One ticket to this event is provided to Member, Nonmember, exhibitor and Student Registrants as well as registered Spouse/Guests. Additional tickets can be purchased onsite. Attire will be casual.

Sponsored Events

Sponsored Receptions open to all registrants will be held on Saturday and Monday evenings. Details will be posted near registration and emailed to registered attendees.

San Francisco Activities

Please check with the hotel for their many tour offerings.

A Special Note for the Physically Challenged

STP wishes to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services. If you need any auxiliary aids or services identified in the Americans with Disabilities Act, or any assistance in registering for this meeting, please contact STP Headquarters, 703-438-7508, ext. 1443.

Temperature/Attire

The average summer temperature in San Francisco is 66º F (18° C). Casual, comfortable attire is appropriate. A sweater or light jacket may also be needed for the air-conditioned meeting rooms.

Restaurants

Restaurant List

Taxes & Tipping

California has a statewide sales tax rate of 7.25%. A 15–20% tip is customary in restaurants if not already included in the bill.

Time Zone

San Francisco is on Pacific Daylight Time in the summer; the time is three hours earlier than Eastern Daylight Time.

Web Sites about San Francisco

http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/

Sponsors

STP wishes to thank its Corporate Sponsors for their generous support of the Society and its activities, which include all events and scientific sessions at the Annual Meeting. Their donations make it possible for STP to continue to offer high quality science at an affordable fee.

Sponsorship Opportunities

STP Sponsors