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The history of how the free radicals and oxidative stress branch became a part of the Mexican biochemical society

2011; Wiley; Volume: 63; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/iub.556

1521-6551

Mina Königsberg, Tania Zenteno‐Savín, Abel Santamarı́a, Julio Morán,

Vitamin C and Antioxidants Research

It all started more than 10 years ago. The 5th Annual Meeting of The Oxygen Society was being held in Washington, DC, in November 1998. A small group of Mexican scientists were among the attendees who met during the poster session. The group included Tania Zenteno, Miguel Beltrán, and Daniel Herrera. These scientists traveled to the meeting from different parts of Mexico and each were convinced to be the only Mexican working in the oxidative stress field. So, they were amazed by the fact that they had to come all the way to the United States to find out that there were other groups in Mexico interested in the same field and with whom they could collaborate. Under the leadership of Tania Zenteno-Savin (Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Baja California, Mexico), the scientists created a national web for oxidative stress (Red Neo). Tania Zenteno-Savin went on to organize and host the First (October 2001) and Second (February 2005) International Workshops on Comparative Aspects of Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems, at the Center for Biological Research, La Paz, Baja California with the participation of international guests and active members of the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine such as Peter Johnson (Ohio University), Marcelo Hermes-Lima (Universidade de Brasilia), George Perry (Case Western Reserve University), Max Gassmann (Universität Zürich), Margaret Rice (New York University), Jame Joseph (Tufts University), Kelly Drew and Robert Elsner (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Maria Kdiiska National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH-NIEHS). After the second workshop, Abel Santamaría (Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City) and Mina Konigsberg (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City) took positions on the board for Red Neo along with Tania Zenteno-Savin. It became evident that an increasing number of researchers and students interested in various aspects of oxidative stress were taking hold in Mexico. Therefore, it was our imperative to get a group of researchers together who are interested in sharing their knowledge in oxidative stress as it pertains to biological systems. This group would provide the forum for others to learn and obtain updated information and to understand that free radicals and oxidative stress are relevant to a wide range of research areas, such as comparative biology, neurodegenerative diseases, and aging. The formation of this group was the beginning of our relationship with the Mexican Biochemical Society (SMB). The SMB is one of Mexico's most respected and recognized scientific societies. In 2007, Victor Calderon and the SMB board made the decision to support the Third International Workshop on Comparative Aspects of Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems. The First Meeting of the Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress SMB Branch was held on October 16–19, at Cuautla, Morelos (Fig. 1). The intention was to confirm that Mexican scientists were indeed interested in the field of oxidative stress. Abel, Tania, and Mina, as the organizing committee, were expecting around 90–100 people. But, the meeting was incredibly successful, and to their surprise, they hosted 165 attendants: 60% students and 40% professors. There were not enough back-packs for everybody! Some of the participants of the Third International Workshop on Comparative Aspects of Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems and the First Meeting of the Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress SMB Branch held on October 16–19 at Cuautla, Morelos. The key speakers included Syed Ali (National Center for Toxicological Research, Arkansas), Hector Bourges Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y de la Nutrición “Salvador Zubirán” (NCMNSZ), Mexico City), Marcelo Hermes-Lima (University of Brasilia), Wilhelm Hansberg (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City), Henry Forman (University of California, Merced), and Anil Jaiswal (University of Maryland, Baltimore). Because of the meeting's great success, our Red Neo became officially the Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress Branch of the SMB in 2008. In 2009, the former three board members welcomed three new members: Julio Morán (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Luis E. Gómez-Quiroz (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City), and María del Carmen González Castillo (Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosi) and together they organized the Fourth International Workshop on Comparative Aspects of Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems and the Second Meeting of the Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress Branch of the SMB, which was held form March 31 to April 2009 at Taxco, Morelos, with almost 200 attendants. That year a PhD student Juan Cristobal Conde-Pérezprina designed our logo (Fig. 2). Logo of the Oxidative Stress Branch. During our workshops and meetings, we have had the honor of hosting exceptional guest speakers, such as Victor Darley-Usmar (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Kelvin Davies (University of Southern California), Paolo Di Mascio (Universidade de São Paulo), José Carlos Fernández-Checa (Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Barcelona), Matthew Grisham (Luisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center), Freya Schafer (University of Iowa), Helmut Sies (Heinrich Heine Universitat Dusseldorf), Rafael Radi (Universidad de la República de Uruguay), Marisa Medeiros (Universidade de São Paulo), among others. The main objective of the branch has always been to provide a venue for researchers and students, particularly from Mexico, but also from South and Central America, to interact closely with those researchers who lead the field of free radicals and oxidative stress, as well as to strengthen interactive, multidisciplinary, multinational networks. We have made a commitment to young researchers and students from Latin American countries to make these meetings an invaluable resource to their research. We design our workshops and meetings to be highly interactive with poster sessions that allow students to present their work and receive feedback from other researchers. In this respect, we provide travel awards for students from Mexico and other Latin American countries who are interested in attending the workshops and meetings. To fulfill this goal, over the past four events, we have been honored to receive financial support from several societies and we are very grateful to them. These societies are The American Physiological Society, The Oxygen Club of California, The Mexican Scientific Academy, and especially the Society for Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine (SFRBM). The SFRBM has provided direct support to our events and has incorporated our students and researchers as SFRBM members for a year, along with the opportunity to receive an online subscription to the SFRBM journal. This year, the Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress branch, along with its Signal Transduction sister branch, have taken up the honor and responsibility of organizing a very important International Conference: “The Cell Signaling Networks Conference” (CSN-M11). This event is an international effort under the auspices of SMB, International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), and Panamerican Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PABMB) and will be held from October 22 to 27, 2011, in the city of Merida, capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán. The CSN-M11 will provide the unique opportunity to members of the Signal Transduction and Oxidative Stress branch to hold their meetings among top leaders in their field, thus widening and enriching the context of this event. We look forward to a successful conference and the developments that will come from it. It is our hope that this conference will further enrich our Oxidative Stress Branch and our Society and anticipate an enjoyable event for students, researchers, as well as ourselves!