Greetings, ISER Members!

This is the first of what will be a quarterly series of newsletters for ISER members like you. The goal of these communications is to share information of interest with our members, including new developments in membership benefits, and to provide a forum for discussing challenges faced by eye/vision researchers around the world, as well as details about upcoming ISER meetings.

ISER fills a unique and valuable niche in the international eye research community. It is our hope to more broadly spread the word of the value that ISER membership and the ISER Biennial Meeting offer to our colleagues and which distinguish ISER from other organizations.

Recently, the ISER Executive Committee, in conjunction with a group of former ISER officers and other members of the ISER Council, completed a very productive strategic planning session, guided by a professional executive facilitator. You will hear more about the proposals and plans for ISER’s future that came out of this session in this and subsequent newsletter issues. We also value the ideas and opinions of our membership, so we invite you to provide input to the ISER Council on how we can make ISER better.

The next ISER Biennial Meeting will be held in Berlin from July 22-25, 2012. At that meeting, ISER will commemorate its 40th anniversary! Please keep checking the ISER website for abstract and registration deadlines and other details regarding this exciting meeting. You can also follow ISER on Facebook.

It has been my honor to serve as your President these past four years. I look forward to watching ISER continue to grow and to thrive during the tenure of my successor, Dr. Steve Fliesler.

Thomas Freddo
President

back to top

The year 2012 will see a lot of new activity for ISER, starting with the change in governance starting January 1st.
Dr. Thomas Freddo of Waterloo University School of Optometry, ends his four-year term as President and moves into the position of Immediate Past-President.

The reigns of President will be handed over to Dr. Steven J. Fliesler of the Ross Eye Institute, University at Buffalo/SUNY, and the VA Western New York Healthcare System.

Dr. Fliesler should be a familiar name to ISER members, as he has been a Councilor for North America as well the current Treasurer of ISER. The position of Treasurer will next be filled by Dr. Christine McGahan of North Carolina State University’s Department of Molecular & Biomedical Sciences. Dr. McGahan, also no stranger to our society, has served on the ISER Council for the last four years as Secretary. Her move to Treasurer leaves the Secretary seat open.

Please see below for information on upcoming elections.

back to top

Greetings! As the summer months are starting to pass, and Fall will soon be upon us, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind the ISER membership that there are several opportunities available for people to become more actively engaged in the governance and activities of ISER. As of July 5th, and through July 31st, nominations will be accepted for the following positions:

• Secretary (1)
• Councilor (Europe – 1)
• Councilor (Pacific Rim – 1)
• Councilor (North America – 1)
• Vice-president (Europe – 1)
• Membership Committee (Europe – 2)
• Membership Committee (Pacific Rim – 1)
• Membership Committee (North America – 2)

Descriptions of the duties/responsibilities and terms of office for these positions can be found in the ISER Bylaws (under “Governance”, click on the link to the PDF of the Bylaws). Each year, members of the ISER Council and Membership Committee meet in conjunction with the annual ARVO meeting; in even-numbered years, we also convene at the ISER Biennial Meeting. In addition, the President may call upon members of Council and/or the Membership Committee to meet ad hoc, either via email exchanges or telephone conference calls, as needed. Any ISER member in good standing can either self-nominate or nominate another ISER member (with permission of that person) to fill current vacancies in the governance structure. Nominations should include the name, institutional affiliation, and contact information (email, phone, fax) for the nominee, with specification of the specific position for which the person is being nominated. Particularly for the Membership Committee, we are very interested in increasing the participation of ISER members with “Young Investigator” status.

Remember: ISER is YOUR professional society… your active participation is welcome and encouraged!

In closing, I’d like to thank those ISER members who have participated in the governance of the Society and are now completing their terms of office, for their considerable efforts? particularly Thom Freddo, the outgoing President and (prior to me) former Treasurer. I look forward to taking on the role of President of the Society as of January 1, 2012, and hope to see you all at the upcoming ISER Biennial Meeting XX in Berlin, Germany, July 22-25, 2012. As this will be the 20th biennial meeting of ISER, there are a number of special activities and events planned for that meeting, including special recognition of Dr. Endre Balazs, a founding and longtime sustaining member of the Society and its first General Secretary. Special thanks to Professors Ernst Tamm and Olaf Strauss for serving as Chairs of the Organizing Committee for the meeting, to all the Section and Session Chairs, and to Professor John Penn for his continued efforts as the ISER Council’s liaison to Kenes and the Organizing Committee.

back to top

In concurrence with the Biennial Meeting, every even year ISER offers four international prizes to individuals from the eye and vision research community. These awards are as follows:

• Endre A. Balazs Prize
• Ludwig von Sallmann Prize
• Ernst H. Bárány Prize
• Paul Kayser International Award in Retina Research

2010 Prize Winners Include:

Award nominations are accepted from ISER members, who may submit individuals from the eye and vision research community at large. We will begin accepting nominations in December 2011, so start thinking now about who you would like to nominate!

Travel Fellowships
Each meeting year, ISER provides a number of Travel Fellowships which are made available for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows or young faculty within five years of formal training. The ISER Travel Fellowship provides an excellent opportunity for Young Investigators to participate in the Biennial Meeting by subsidizing a large portion of their travel expenses. We will begin accepting Travel Fellowship applications in December 2011; get more information about Travel Fellowships on the ISER website.

back to top

Lab Profile: A New ISER Feature

In an effort to better serve the needs of the ISER membership, the ISER Council and others who participated in the recent ISER Strategic Planning Meeting in May, 2011, have discussed new ways to promote collaborative interactions and inter-lab training opportunities among the ISER membership. Toward that end, this Newsletter will feature a Lab Profile column, wherein ISER members who are Principal Investigators or heads of research programs will be given a forum to post a brief description of the ongoing research conducted in their labs, and to invite other ISER members to engage in short-term or longer-term research and training opportunities therein (e.g., visiting scholars, postdoctoral or doctoral trainees, etc.). The information content and format must be concise, structured essentially along the lines one might use for one’s lab webpage (e.g., see: http://www.sunyeye.org/users/view/129), and giving additional explicit information about the experimental techniques and training opportunities available in the lab and contact information for follow-up with the Principal Investigator/lab head. For more information, please contact: Marcela Ricci, ISER Client Services Coordinator; Email: mricci@aao.org.

back to top

ISER XX Biennial Meeting

Thanks to the enormous efforts of the Scientific Section Organizers, planning for ICER 2012 is continuing smoothly and there is no doubt that the meeting will be a tremendous opportunity to hear excellent science from all aspects of the forefront of vision research. Almost all sections have asked for more space and speaking opportunities than at previous ISER meetings, and thanks to the truly marvelous facilities at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin, where ISER 2012 will convene, we have been able to accommodate those requests. We are in the process to generate symposia that will cover topics of broad and interdisciplinary interest, and with world leaders in each field, who will lecture. Special emphasis will be put forward to include contributions from young investigators who are the future of vision research. Ample and convenient time slots for poster sessions will be available to provide a forum for more in depth coverage of the scientific topics. Needless to say, all this scientific interaction at the topmost level will take place in one of the most fascinating capitals of Europe. Berlin is a major cultural center teeming with museums, galleries, concert halls and cutting edge architecture. After a day at the meeting, take a chance sitting out on its wide tree-lined boulevards, enjoying long, hot summer evenings, or even its legendary nightlife.

We hope to see you in Berlin at ISER 2012!

Ernst R. Tamm, Prof. Dr. and Olaf Strauss, Prof. Dr.
ISER 2012 Meeting Program Chairs
Ernst.Tamm@vkl.uni-regensburg.de
Olaf.Strauss@klinik@uni-regensburg.de

back to top

The Alcon Research Institute Young Investigator Grant application is now available. All applications must be submitted by October 1, 2011. Please contact Isha James, 817-551-4643 or via email at isha.james@alconlabs.com or alconresearchinstitute@alconlabs.com for questions.