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AOCS Biotechnology Division
Newsletter July 2007

Tom McKeon.Notes from the Chair
Tom McKeon

It's just over two months since the 98th Annual Meeting in Québec. The Meeting and our Biotechnology Division activities were a great success, with three Biocatalysis sessions, and sessions on Novel Oils, Biosurfactants and Biobased Products, General Biotechnology, and a Poster Session. The Division sessions were held jointly with the Japanese Oil Chemists' Society (JOCS) and included members of the Canadian Oil Chemists' Society and the International Society for Fat Research (ISF). Thanks to all who participated in the planning for these sessions, served as session chairs, or who spoke or presented posters. Special thanks to the AOCS Staff, whose efforts on our behalf help to keep the Division preparations, sessions and activities running smoothly and on target.

The Division dinner was held Tuesday, May 15, 2007 in the Delta Hotel, with over 90 attending. Our guest speaker was Dr. John Harwood, Head of Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales. His talk, entitled Fascinating lipids - from brain to plants and back to brain was a combined reminiscence and brief tour of the world of lipid science. The talk was followed by a lively question and answer session and an even livelier visit to the bar at the Hilton.

I hope that more Division members can come to the Division Roundtable next year, usually held on Tuesday at 1 PM. The Roundtable is usually held in the same room as the Division scientific sessions are held. The scheduled time and location will be in the Meeting Program. Please come if you're interested in serving as an Division officer, have an idea for a scientific session, or just want to catch up on what the Division is doing and planning for future meetings. In case you are interested in serving as a Division Officer, in our February 2008 newsletter, there will be a description of the Division Officers' duties.

The minutes from our Division Board Meeting are included in this newsletter.

Current Division Officers:

Chair: Tom McKeon (Term: 2007-2010)
Vice Chair: Ramesh Patel, Vice Chair/Program Committee (2007-2010)
Secretary/Treasurer: Dan Solaiman (2007-2010)
Members-at-Large: Hans Christian Holm (2007-2010)
Xuebing Xu (2007-2010)
Randall Weselake
Yuji Shimada

99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo
May 18-21, 2008
Washington State Convention and Trade Center
Seattle, WA

Our Division will have a very full Program of sessions at the 99th Annual Meeting. Right now, we have sessions planned on:

Biocatalysis 1 & 2, Ching Hou, Session Chair
Sterols 1 & 2, Robert Moreau and David Nes, Session Chairs
Bioprocessing, joint with Processing Division, Hans Holm, Session Co-Chair
Structured Phospholipids, joint with Phospholipid Division, Xuebing Xu, Session Co-Chair
Analytical Methods in Biotechnology and Functional Genomics, joint with Analytical Division, Randy Weselake, Session Co-Chair
Biosurfactants and Biobased Products, Doug Hayes, Session Co-Chair
General Biotechnology, Ramesh Patel, Session Chair
Poster Session

Many talks are invited, but some sessions can accept volunteer papers.

In addition to our Division sessions, on Tuesday morning there will be several Hot Topics Fora.

Following are important dates and deadlines to keep in mind:

October 1, 2007 Declaration of Intent Deadline
October 19, 2007 Hot Topic submissions due (for inclusion in AM2008 Technical Program)
January 7, 2008 Online Registration and Housing opens
January 8, 2008 Final abstracts due
March 1, 2008 Web discounts through online registration end
April 11, 2008 Deadline to receive special hotel rates
April 18, 2008 Early registration deadline
April 25, 2008 Deadline for Hot Topics (but limited publicity)
May 9, 2008 Last day for advance registration

Additional Meeting information is available at http://www.aocs.org/meetings/annual_mtg/index.asp?page=am08_home.htm

Minutes of Biotechnology Division Board Meeting
May 13, 2007

Present: Hans Christian Holm, Yuji Shimada, Xuebing Xu, Ching T. Hou, Casimir C. Akoh, Tom McKeon, Dan Solaiman, Randall Weselake, Mike Haas.
Absent: David Hildebrand, Ramesh Patel.

  1. Minutes were approved.
  2. Treasury update: The balance of the general account is $20,538.14. The balance of the Biocatalysis Symposium account which is part of the general account is $6,710.43.
  3. It was brought to the Board's attention that the Division Newsletters postings on the AOCS website need updating.
  4. Annual Meeting Review:
    1. Technical Program: For this year's (98th AOCS Annual Meeting and Expo) meeting, the Biotechnology Division fielded 6 oral and 1 poster technical sessions. These are: 3 sessions on Biocatalysis, 1 session on Novel Oils, 1 on Biosurfactants (co-sponsored by the Surfactants and Detergents Division), 1 on General Biotechnology, and the Poster session.
    2. Dinner: The Division Dinner is planned for Tuesday starting at 6:30 p.m., and the Featured Speaker is Prof. John Harwood (Head, BioSciences Division, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales).
  5. Annual Meeting Program Plan for next 3 years:
    1. 2008 in Seattle, Washington: 2 sessions by the Steroids group (Bob Moreau requested that both are on Monday), 2 Biocatalysis sessions (Ching Hou) to be scheduled Monday AM and Tuesday PM, session(s) on Sustainability and/or Industrial Bioprocessing (Hans Holm; proposed co-sponsorship with the Processing Division), Analytical Methods in Biotechnology and Functional Genomics (Cosponsorship with the Analytical Division). Structured Phospholipids (Xuebing Xu, co-sponsorship with the Phospholipids Division), General Biotechnology (Ramesh Patel). The Lifetime Achievement Award will be scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
      Addendum for Program Committee Planning meeting:       Bioprocessing to be held jointly with Processing Division, Sustainability will come under Surfactants and Biobased Products to be held jointly with S&D Division.
    2. 2009 in Orlando, Florida. A Centennial event. (Sessions tentatively to include: Biocatalysis, Plant Biotechnology, Biofuels, Bioanalysis). Addendum: History of Biotechnology Division.
    3. 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Discussion deferred to Tuesday's Division Round Table Discussion, 12:00 noon.)
  6. Awards
    1. Lifetime Achievement Award.
      This year is the 9th consecutive year of the Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award, and the winner was Dr. Yuji Shimada, OMTRI, Osaka. Ching Hou agreed to continue chairing the Selection Committee. Each year, the Award requires sponsor(s) willing to fund it at the level of $3,500.
    2. Student Paper Competition: The Chair of the Selection Committee will be appointed by the Division Chairperson.
  7. Introduction of new Division Officers:
    1. Tom McKeon, Chair (Term: 2007-2010)
    2. Ramesh Patel, Vice Chair/Program Committee (2007-2010)
    3. Dan Solaiman, Secretary/Treasurer (2007-2010)
    4. Hans Christian Holm (2007-2010), Xuebing Xu (2007-2010), Randall Weselake, Yuji Shimada: Members-at-Large
  8. Old Business: None
  9. New Business:
    1. AOCS 100th Anniversary (2009)
      For the Centennial celebration, the Biotechnology Division needs to prepare a 25-year timeline display that highlights major achievements of the Biotechnology Division. Vice Chair (Ramesh Patel) will be in charge of this project. Help may be solicited from Phil Sonnet, Mike Haas, Ching Hou, Casimir Akoh and Tom Foglia.
    2. Recommendations for AOCS Governing Board positions (Nominations and Elections Committee):
      Dan Solaiman and David Hildebrand will be recommended.
    3. Division Council Governing Board representative election:
      All present agreed that the Division Council Chairperson should be the Representative.
    4. All were urged to solicit and submit ideas on book and special publication to the Books and Special Publications Committee. Even though CRC is our partner in the publishing of books, it is preferred that all publication projects pass through AOCS.
  10. Adjournment: 2:30 p.m.

Crop biotech news
David Hildebrand

Large-scale farm production of genetically engineered (GE) crops is now in its eleventh year. To date most GE crops have specific traits popular with farmers, mainly herbicide tolerance and yield resistance. Exciting quality trait crops are on the horizon such as very high oleate soybeans, long chain omega-3-producing oilseeds. The trait usually of most interest to growers, yield, has previously been more intractable to biotech approaches due to the complexity and large numbers of genes involved. However more and more advanced genetics/biotechnology is tackling yield enhancement in crop plants. For example researchers in England, France and in Germany have identified one of the processes that controls seed size in corn (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/07_07_30_maize.html).

Monsanto recently announced that its next-generation soybean technology, Roundup RReady2YieldT soybeans, has completed the regulatory process in both the United States and Canada. Three years of field comparisons have demonstrated that the technology can deliver a yield advantage of 7 to 11 percent over its first-generation Roundup Ready counterpart. On July 31, 2007 Pioneer/DuPont and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory announced a collaborative arrangement on crop genetics and yield enhancement of crops such as corn and soybeans. (http://www.bio.com/newsfeatures/newsfeatures_industry.jhtml?cid=32200008)

Some may remember in the exciting presentation from the biotech dinner speaker at our 2006 meetings in St. Louis on corn genetically engineered for significantly enhanced yield and drought resistance.

3rd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Biotechnology and Biocatalysis

The 3rd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Biotechnology and Biocatalysis will be held November 28-30, 2007, in Taichung, Taiwan, at Chung Hsing University. The Conference and Society was founded by Dr. Ching Hou of USDA-ARS NCAUR in Peoria, one of the Biotech Division's founding members, and Dr. Jeff Shaw, president of Chung Hsing University in Taichung, and the 2005 recipient of the Division's Lifetime Achievement Award. An array of international researchers attend and present talks.

There are excursions available for spouses and other accompanying persons during the days of scientific presentations, and there will be a one-day study tour to visit the University's Sub-Tropical Research Station the day after the scientific presentations end. The relaxed atmosphere plus excellent hospitality have made the Conference very popular with participants every year.

Taichung is on the West Coast of Taiwan, and is now accessible by way of high-speed train from Taipei (now Taoyuan) Airport, approximately 45 minutes.

The following  are the sessions that are being organized for the meeting:

(1). Functional Foods and Industrial Products.

(2). Bioenergy (biodiesel, ethanol and biohydrogen).

(3). Improvement of Agronomic and Microbial traits. (Transgenic plants and microbes).

(4). Nanotechnology.

If you are interested in presenting a talk, please contact Dr. Ching Hou at ching.hou@ars.usda.go

2007 Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Dr. Yuji Shimada

 

Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Dr. Yuji Shimada.

Dr. Yuji Shimada received this year's Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Meeting in Québec City. The Award was given to him in a special session on Tuesday, May 15, 2007, in a special Biotech session dedicated solely to the Award Lecture and the Award ceremony following the lecture. Dr. Shimada is the Director-General of the Osaka Municipal Technical Research Institute in Osaka, Japan, and has been a leading proponent of biodiesel production and use in Japan and internationally. The abstract for his presentation appears below. The Nisshin Corporation sponsored the Award, and the Biotechnology Division thanks them for their generous support.

Abstract of "Biotechnology Lifetime Achievement Award Lecture"

Application of Lipase Reactions to Oil and Fat Industry
Yuji Shimada
Director-General
Osaka Municipal Technical Research Institute
1-6-50 Morinomiya, Joto-ku, Osaka 536-8553, Japan

Lipases are enzymes that hydrolyze ester bond of long-chain fatty acid and alcohol. The enzymes also catalyze esterification and transesterification under the conditions without addition of water. In addition, lipases have fatty acid specificity, alcohol specificity, positional specificity, and acylglycerol specificity. Combination of lipase-catalyzed reaction and substrate specificity makes possible precise processing of oils and fats: such as, production of an oil containing high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) by combination of hydrolysis and fatty acid specificity; production of monoacylglycerols by combination of esterification and acylglycerol specificity; production of structured triacylglycerol by combination of transesterification and positional specificity; efficient purification of PUFAs by combination of esterification and fatty acid specificity; and purification of oil and fat related compounds from unutilized materials by using peculiar property of lipase that is to recognize specific substrate. These processes applicable to oil and fat industry are introduced.

More information about the award is available at http://www.aocs.org/member/awards/.

 

Biotechnology Division web page
AOCS, 2710 S. Boulder, Urbana, IL 61802-6996 USA