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The signal transduction branch of the Mexican Society of Biochemistry

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

10.1002/iub.506

1521-6551

Marina Macías‐Silva, José Vázquez‐Prado,

Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease

The Mexican Society of Biochemistry (SMB) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007. Every 2 years, more than 1,200 participants attend the SMB national meeting, whereas every other year, different branches of SMB, created by initiative of groups sharing interests in topics such as bioenergetics, plant biology, microorganisms, protein structure, oxidative stress, and signal transduction, have their own meetings. One of the youngest and most active branches of SMB is the Signal Transduction Branch created in 2006 as a response to the increasing number of Mexican groups studying the mechanisms by which hormones, growth factors, cytokines, ions, extracellular matrix and cell–cell interactions regulate cell metabolism, movement, proliferation, differentiation, and survival, among other fundamental processes in health and disease; and for those whose investigations have reached the point in which further understanding of the physiological and pathological processes of their interest demands the study of posttranslational modifications, activation of molecular switches, control of molecular dynamics, and protein interactions linked to signal transduction events. From its creation, the Signal Transduction Branch has contributed to strengthen this interesting field in Mexico by identifying the groups studying diverse aspects of signaling, and providing a permanent forum to present and discuss their work, promoting interactions among colleagues, interdisciplinary studies, and mobility of students and recent Ph.D. graduates. Besides, it has contributed to increase the international impact of signal transduction studies made in Mexico via the organization of scientific meetings in which at least half of the speakers are highly recognized international scientists. Members of the Signal Transduction Branch are particularly interested in understanding the molecular basis of human diseases and visualize signaling molecules as potential targets of therapeutic action. The origins of the Signal Transduction Branch of SMB can be traced to the laboratory of J. Adolfo García-Sáinz (http://www. ifc.unam.mx/researchers/garcia-sainz/en) at the Instituto de Fisiología Celular (IFC), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). García-Sáinz was the Ph.D. thesis advisor of a group of colleagues, including us, eventually involved in the organization of monthly meetings that evolved to the constitution of the Signal Transduction Branch of SMB. Over the last 30 years, García-Sáinz has mentored many graduate students; some of them became group leaders in various national and international institutions. Although their areas of research are diverse, a common theme is their interest on signal transduction. García-Sáinz began studying the actions of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), particularly adrenergic receptors, which have served as paradigms for this enormous family of plasma membrane receptors. His group has contributed to understand the molecular basis of GPCR desensitization and crosstalk among GPCRs and with other nonstructurally related receptors. The start of the new millennium coincided with the establishment in Mexico of new groups of independent investigators interested in signal transduction. During a couple of years, from 2004 to 2006, we organized monthly meetings at IFC-UNAM which served to share experiences, present projects, discuss results, and help each other to advance the independent careers of those just established after completing postdoctoral training abroad. The group at these meetings was integrated by J. Adolfo García-Sáinz, Claudia González-Espinosa, Gloria Gutiérrez-Venegas, Marina Macías-Silva, Alberto Olivares-Reyes, Guadalupe Reyes-Cruz, Martha Robles-Flores, M. Eugenia Torres-Márquez, José Vázquez-Prado and Rafael Villalobos-Molina, and all the graduate students under their mentorship. These meetings certainly enriched our work and contributed to establish joint projects. Considering the initial success and the interest expressed by other groups, we planned a one-day Signal Transduction Meeting with the idea to open the discussion to all the groups interested in the field that were not present at the initial meetings. The event, held in July 2006 at IFC-UNAM, went beyond the initial expectations gathering the participation of 41 independent groups. The initially planned as a one-day event, ended up as a three-day meeting, which included keynote lectures by J. Adolfo García-Sainz (IFC-UNAM) and Luisa Iruela-Arispe (University of California, Los Angeles), and 63 presentations by Ph.D. students, 37 of them in plenary oral sessions and 26 in a poster session. The main sponsors of the so called Jornada de Transducción de Señales were the IFC-UNAM and CINVESTAV-IPN. In response to the definite success of the Jornada de Transducción de Señales 2006, the participant group leaders agreed on the creation of a permanent forum under the auspices of SMB, and addressed the Executive Committee of SMB requesting the creation of the Signal Transduction Branch. Listed by alphabetical order of their institution, those, whose signatures were included, are: Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo: Mayra de la Torre; Centro de Investigación Cientifica de Yucatán: Teresa Hernández-Sotomayor; CINVESTAV: Claudia González-Espinosa, Agustín Guerrero, Ma Eugenia Mendoza, Alberto Olivares-Reyes, Eduardo Pérez, Guadalupe Reyes-Cruz, Arturo Ortega, and José Vázquez-Prado; Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia: Vilma Maldonado and Jorge Meléndez-Zagla; UNAM: Victoria Chagoya, Jesús Chimal, Gabriel del Río, Diana Escalante-Alcalde, Laura Escobar, J. Adolfo García-Sáinz, Eduardo García-Zepeda, Marina Gavilanes, Gloria Gutiérrez, Marcia Hiriart, Enedina Jiménez, Fernando López-Casillas, Yolanda López-Vidal, Ana María Lopez-Colomé, Marina Macías-Silva, Rosa Navarro, Herminia Pasantes, Enrique Piña, Erika Rendón, Juan Riesgo, Martha Robles-Flores, Rocío Salceda, Gloria Soldevila, and Alejandro Zentella; Universidad Antónoma de Guadalajara: Alejandro Millán; and Universidad Antónoma del Estado de México: José Luis Montiel and Angélica Santana. In response, the Executive Committee of SMB, headed by Víctor Calderón, Federico Martínez, Diego González, and Jorge Ramírez, informed that our application was accepted with enthusiasm, which officially gave rise to the creation of the Signal Transduction Branch in August 12th, 2006, and it was formally presented at the XXVI SMB National Meeting of Biochemistry held at Guanajuato, México, that year. The Branch founders were committed to organize the first SMB Meeting of Signal Transduction and continue every 2 years with its organization according to the statutes of SMB. The goal of the Signal Transduction Branch is to maintain a permanent and dynamic organization that promotes the interaction among colleagues in the field and those whose research leads them to face the intricacies of Signal Transduction. We share the philosophy that constructive discussion among national and international colleagues and graduate students will contribute to increase the impact of this field in the everyday growing knowledge-based economy in a global scenario, and in the training of future scientific leaders. It will also provide the ground for scientific collaborations via the consolidation of scientific networks. The first two SMB Signal Transduction Meetings have been a great success. The first, organized by José Vázquez-Prado, Guadalupe Reyes-Cruz, and Marina Macías-Silva, took place at Boca del Río, Veracruz in September 2007 (Fig. 1). More than 20 prestigious national and international scientists, at the forefront in signaling, were plenary speakers at the meeting. Two hundred participants, including over 100 students enrolled in signaling projects, attended that meeting. From this exciting start, the branch has organized one more successful biannual meeting. In September 2009, the second SMB Signal Transduction Meeting, organized by Guadalupe Reyes-Cruz and Agustín Guerrero, was held in Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico, and was attended by over 200 participants from national and foreign institutions. The third SMB-Signal Transduction Meeting, organized by Fernando López-Casillas, José Vázquez-Prado, and S.M. Teresa Hernández-Sotomayor, named Cell Signaling Networks Conference, will be held in Mérida, Yucatán, México, during October 22–27, 2011 (http://www.csn2011.com/). This academic event brings together the efforts of the 13th International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) Conference, First Pan-American Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PABMB) Conference, and the Third Meeting of the Signal Transduction & Oxidative Stress Branches of SMB. The Cell Signaling Networks Conference topics will include how signal transduction and oxidative stress are involved in Development, Stem Cells, Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, Cell Proliferation, the Immune System, and others in all kind of organisms. Also, sessions of the conference will be dedicated to novel approaches and techniques, such as Imaging, Structure, Informatics, Epigenetics, Ageing, Metabolism, and Systems Biology. The program includes the participation of close to 100 distinguished international and national speakers. Being an IUBMB and PABMB Conference, the Cell Signaling Networks Conference is expected to attract an important multitude of participants from all over the world. The First National Meeting of the Signal Transduction Branch of the SMB held at Boca del Río, Veracruz, México, in September 2007 (http://smb.org.mx). As founders of the Signal Transduction Branch of SMB, we strongly believe that this exciting forum will have a long and fruitful life.