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SOT/ToxExpo 2020 Show Preview: A taste of toxicology

The ‘best in toxicological research’ makes its way to Anaheim
Written byMel J. Yeates
| 15 min read

When it comes around, March will bring with it the 59th Society of Toxicology (SOT)Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, held this year in Anaheim, Calif. The meeting is expected to include over 6,000 scientists from countries all over the world. DDNews spoke with Ronald N. Hines, SOT president 2019-2020, and George Daston, SOT vice president 2019-2020, to learn what the meeting has in store for its attendees.

“The SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo is the largest gathering of toxicologists in the world, featuring more than 2,000 presentations and 80 featured and scientific sessions. We also connect attendees with 300-plus service providers through the ToxExpo and offer hundreds of events designed to foster networking and engagement with colleagues,” says Hines. “As a result, the SOT Annual Meeting is a place where people showcase the best in toxicological research while also sowing the seeds for future research and collaborations. The SOT membership is diverse in its interests and specialties, and the SOT meeting reflects this diversity.”

“As usual, the SOT annual meeting will have many sessions that are highly relevant for scientists who develop or regulate pharmaceuticals,” notes Daston. “This includes sessions on development of protein degradation therapies, relevance of lysosomal dysregulation in adverse responses and predicting adverse effects related to cancer immunotherapy. The meeting will also feature continuing education courses on gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy and options for treatment of ocular diseases.”

Regarding any new features the 2020 meeting may bring, Hines points out, “We are constantly assessing the meeting and its content to ensure that it is fitting the needs and expectations of our attendees. One of the new features we are introducing this year is the TOX Presentation Corner. Located in the ToxExpo Exhibit Hall, this intimate space will feature short, invited presentations designed to provide training on topics such as grant funding, highlight opportunities for career development and transitions, and to foster exchanges of science and ideas.”

The TOX Presentation Corner presentations are scheduled to occur during ToxExpo hours (9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) from March 16-18. The times and details for each presentation are available in SOT’s Online Planner and in the SOT Event App, which launches in February.

Hines states, “In addition, we have shifted the 2020 Plenary Session ... to 1 p.m. on Monday and have adjusted last year’s pilot of 90-minute symposium and workshop sessions to have these shorter sessions occur on each day of the meeting instead of one afternoon.”

This year’s plenary session will be delivered by Atul Butte of the University of California, San Francisco. The presentation, “Precisely Practicing Medicine from 700 Trillion Points of Data,” covers how computing capabilities are expanding our ability to interpret large biomedical research datasets in new and transformative ways.

“Beyond these changes to our scientific content, we are piloting a childcare program in 2020, conducting a blood drive in conjunction with the Red Cross, and have adopted a new code of conduct policy, all in an effort to enhance the overall meeting experience for our attendees,” continues Hines.

This year the SOT Blood Drive will return to the meeting for a second time, held in the exhibition hall from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March March 17-18. Attendees can either drop by or schedule appointments to give blood.

SOT Annual Meeting registrants will now be allowed to bring children under full parental/guardian control into scientific sessions and the ToxExpo Exhibit Hall. SOT has also chosen to offer childcare for children aged six months through 12 years. Attendees can visit the Annual Meeting Policies section of SOT’s website for more information on the SOT child policy, and the On-Site Services section for additional childcare enrollment information.

“To help ensure that the SOT meeting focuses on topics and issues of interest to a global audience, the society has partnerships with other toxicology associations and organizations that result in special sessions during the meeting each year,” adds Hines. “This tradition continues in 2020 with the SOT/EUROTOX Debate on individual toxicity in risk assessment, a symposium session on oxidative stress with the Japanese Society of Toxicology, an award lecture exchange with EUROTOX and the featured Medical Research Council (MRC) lecture by Dame Amanda Fisher on epigenetics and inheritance.”

The SOT/EUROTOX debate, “Individual Toxicity Is the Future of Risk Assessment,” will be debated by Syril D. Pettit of the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute and Alan R. Boobis of Imperial College London. The “Oxidative Stress in Multiple Manifestations of Toxicity” session features speakers Yoshito Kumagai of the University of Tsukuba, Yoshiro Saito of Tohoku University, Alicia R. Timme-Laragy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Dean P. Jones of the Emory University School of Medicine.

“We also are looking forward to a session featuring the new Toxicological Sciences editor-in-chief Jeffrey M. Peters and colleagues speaking about the future of scientific journals, and a tribute to SOT Past President Linda S. Birnbaum in honor of her retirement as NIEHS [National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences] director,” Hines mentions.

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