VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 1 - MEETINGS REPORT

The Society held its Winter Meeting in Newcastle in December. The meeting attracted over 500 delegates who found their way to the Dental School in Newcastle via air (some courtesy of those £1 Easy Jet flights the President-Elect had alerted us to), rail and road. In my own case, the trip by road would have been made much easier with a road map containing altitude contours since my planned “fool proof” route into my hotel (first left after the river) was somewhat undone by the 200ft vertical difference in the two roads which wasn’t obvious on my MultiMap printout!

The meeting kicked off with two excellent symposia: “Pharmacological targets for cannabinoids” organised by Roger Pertwee and Mike Randall on behalf of the Cannabinoid Special Interest Group (SIG) and “Genetic factors affecting outcome of drug treatment” organised by Anne Daly and Simon Thomas (our Newcastle hosts) on behalf of the Clinical Section and the Pharmacogenomics SIG.

Roger and Mike guided us through the various targets and opportunities for cannabinoids, from the cardiovascular system to multiple sclerosis. The theme was continued through into the afternoon via the SIG oral and poster sessions, which generated excellent discussion and endorsed the success of the SIGs.

The Clinical Section symposium gave a very informative overview of the importance of polymorphic variability in drug response. It was well attended by members of both the basic science and clinical sections of the Society and illustrated to me the importance of integrating clinical and basic pharmacology throughout our meeting programmes. A number of our SIG organising committees now include clinical members and I hope that this will become the norm.

Norman Bowery entertained us over lunch to a perspective on “GABA B receptors: 25 years of fascination” during his Gaddum Memorial Award Lecture. It was great to see Norman awarded one of the Society’s most prestigious prizes for his scientific contributions to pharmacology after his many years of unstinting contribution to the running of the BPS.

In the evening, a reception was held at the Hatton Gallery, after which the Systems and Cellular Neurophysiology SIGs headed for their business meeting in the Goose. This is a local establishment with a bar the size of the pitch at St James Park and an excellent two-for-one approach to food, beer and bottles of wine. It was also fascinating to observe the “antifreeze” properties of ethanol which allowed the locals (mostly female and probably not BPS members!) to brave the outside subzero temperatures in nothing more than a skimpy backless dress.

Wednesday morning offered the choice of an excellent symposium organised by Richard McQuade ( Newcastle) on “Targeting the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis in mood disorders: a suitable case for treatment” or a workshop on “From ideas to incorporation: tales from the trenches” organised by Mary Catherine DiNunzio ( New York). This latter session proved to be a fascinating insight into the problems of intellectual property and the need for academics to become better informed of this aspect of their day-to-day “business”. The session finished with a lively discussion of the merits (or otherwise) of different University business transfer offices. Academics in the US are clearly further down this road than we are, but thanks to Mary Catherine for an excellent introduction.

The lunchtime prize lectures by David Webb and Stephen Holgate continued the bench-to-bedside theme with highly enjoyable presentations on “Endothelin: of mice and men” (Lilly Prize) and “Adenosine: A novel therapeutic target for asthma” (Quintiles Prize). The official dinner was held at the Centre for Life and provided members with the opportunity to try out the “Crazy Motion” simulator during the pre-dinner drinks.

The following morning there was a choice between “Agonist effects of beta blockers: New mechanisms and opportunities” organised by myself and Steve Charlton, “Challenges in integrative pharmacology: financial, legal, European and welfare issues” organised by Sue Brain and Neil Gozzard and “The role of metabolism in drug efficacy” organised by Kevin Park and Faith Williams. All were very well received.

In the beta blocker symposium, we continued the theme of breaking down the barriers between clinical and basic pharmacology by observing that the clinician (Jill Baker) gave the basic science talk, while the two basic scientists (Sian Harding and Richard Bond) gave clinically related presentations. Richard also managed to make a very convincing plea for the MRC to establish a funding programme for those moving into a new discipline, thinking “outside of box” and coming up with proposals considered utterly daft by aficionados of that discipline! There may be hope for us all yet! Just change your department name from Pharmacology to Theoretical Mechanics ( – then again, maybe our Universities are ahead of the game after all!). Steve Charlton meanwhile did a stunning job of summarizing the whole session after being “dropped in it” by yours truly at the last minute. Many thanks, Steve!

During the lunch period, Fred Lembech (The history of a pioneering neuropeptide: Substance P) and Hans Mohler (GABA inhibition in the regulation of behaviour) gave the Paton and Gary Price memorial lectures.

Overall, the Newcastle meeting was highly enjoyable and Anne Daly and her Newcastle team are to be congratulated for all their hard work in hosting such an excellent meeting.

My return journey from Newcastle to Nottingham proved as eventful as the outward leg. The water pump on my car sprang a leak and I managed about 30 miles to the gallon of water (even with the heater and fan on full blast to keep the engine temperature down). This explains why your VP (Meetings) may have been observed wandering around motorway service areas braving the sub-zero temperatures in a t-shirt (having discarded fleece, coat and gloves due to the tropical temperatures inside the car) without the benefit of anti-freeze (in the car or the person - see above!).

See you all in Leicester or Cambridge.

Steve Hill
Vice-President Meetings