President's letter to the members of the European Society for Comparative Endocrinology

Dan Larhammar Dear Members of the ESCE,

The program for our next CECE in Rennes is beginning to take shape. Please reserve the dates August 25-29 2014 and save the link http://cece2014.wordpress.com/category/home/ for regular visits to follow the progress of the planning. The president of the the local organizing committee, Olivier Kah, has already recruited five excellent plenary speakers:

Bon-chu Chung (Academia Sinica, Taipei): Function and regulation of steroids in vertebrates.
Silvia Zanuy (CSIC, Spain): 40 years of research in sea bass reproductive physiology.
Dick Nässel (Stockholm, Sweden): Insect insulins.
Luis Renato de Franca (Belo Horizonte, Brazil): Spermatogonial stem cell physiology and niche in vertebrates.
Charles Tyler (Exeter, UK): Endocrine disruptors in aquatic species.

Work is now in progress to decide the symposia topics. If you have ideas and suggestions for these, or for satellite meetings in connection with the CECE, please contact Olivier Kah at email: olivier.kah[at]univ-rennes1.fr. The conference venue in Rennes offers superb facilities and very appealing excursions including the world famous Mont Saint-Michel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I wish to convey a gentle reminder from our secretary/treasurer, Elisabeth Eppler (eppler[at]anatom.uzh.ch), to those of you who may not yet have paid your membership fee to kindly do so. (Embarassingly, I too was lagging behind.) Starting from last year's CECE, we now offer renewal biannually in connection with registration for our conferences, but anyone who is unable to attend needs to pay the membership fee separately. Your membership fee ensures that you will receive continuous information about our upcoming conferences as well as other meetings within or neighbouring the field of comparative endocrinology. Furthermore, it contributes to travel grants for PhD students and young scientists to participate in the CECEs (applicants have to be members of the ESCE). A small part of the annual fee goes to IFCES, the International Federation of Comparative Endocrinology Societies. Please forward this letter to any not-yet-members of the ESCE whom you think would or should be interested in participating in our conference. Looking forward to meeting many of you at the ICCE in Barcelona next week.

Wishing you a comparatively endocrine summer,

Dan Larhammar, President of the ESCE
Dan.Larhammar[at]neuro.uu.se