The Parasitology Section produces a newsletter which is sent to Section members at irregular intervals. Items of interest can be directed to the Chair.
Items of interest to the general membership of the Canadian Society of Zoologists are also published in the Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Zoologists. Inquiries can be directed to the Editor.
The Parasitology Section of the Canadian Society of Zoologists met during the Annual Society Meeting held at the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, May 8-11, 2002. The Parasitology Program consisted of 14 oral presentations, four poster presentations and four Symposium presentations.
Dr. Miodrag (Mike) Belosevic, (University of Alberta), was the recipient of the 2002 Wardle Award. Following an introduction by Dr. Roger Prichard (Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald Campus, McGill University), Dr. Belosevic delivered the 2002 Wardle Lecture entitled "How Hosts Respond to Parasites".
The Section has two awards for student presentations. The Murray Fallis Prize given for the best oral presentation went to Mr. Alex Chin, University of Calgary (Advisor: Dr. A. G. Buret) for his paper entitled "Induction of enterocyte apoptosis by Giardia causes barrier dysfunction in duodenal epithelial monolayers." Alex was also the winner of the American Society of Parasitologists Travel Award. Second Prize went to Ms Kristine Scott, University of Alberta (Advisor: Dr. M. Belosevic), for her presentation entitled "Suppression of nitric oxide production is linked to alterations in K+ channel activity in Leishmania major-infected macrophages".
The Parasitology Symposium entitled "Ecology and Evolution of Arthropod / Host Interactions" was organized by Dr. Cam Goater (University of Lethbridge). The Symposium featured presentations by Dr. Mark Forbes (Carelton University), Dr. Rob Anderson (University of Winnipeg), Dr. William Samuel (University of Alberta) and Dr. Paul Schmid-Hempel (Zurich, Switzerland). The Parasitology Section gratefully acknowledges support for the Symposium through grants from the Canadian Society of Zoologists and the American Society of Parasitologists.
Dr. Roger Prichard opened the Annual General Meeting by requesting that members observe a moment of silence in memory of Professor Roy Anderson, who passed away in August, 2001. Several items were discussed at the Meeting, the most significant of which was a change in the eligibility criteria for the Wardle Award. The Recognition Committee, chaired by Dr. John Barta (University of Guelph), had been mandated to examine the eligibility crtieria at the 2001 General Meeting and to report back to the membership this year. Dr. Barta presented the recommendation of the Committee at the meeting. A motion to approve the changes proposed by the Recognition Committee was subsequently approved by the members present. A copy of the revised criteria will be posted on the website. Dr. David Marcogliese presented the annual Report of the Parasite Module Steering Committee. The protocols for the collection of bird (McLaughlin) and herptile (Goater and Goater) parasites have been completed and translated and are now available on the EMAN website. Interest and participation in the stickleback project is expanding and a workshop dedicated to this project has been scheduled at ICPOA X in Vancouver. See the full Report on the Section's website.
ICOPA X (Vancouver, August 4-9) is nearly here. Preparations are in the frantic final stages. Dr. Mick Burt (Chair, Scientific Program Committee) provided a brief overview of his Committee's activities and an update on the Program. As of May 8, over 1100 submissions had been received and more were arriving daily. Plenary and Subplenary Sessions will occupy the morning time slots. Symposia, Workshops and Contributed Oral and Poster Sessions will be held in the afternoons. At the time, there were slightly over 400 contributed oral papers scheduled and about 600 poster submissions, split roughly equally between the Monday and Thursday poster sessions.
Nominations for Section Executive Positions (Vice Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, Junior Councillor) and for the Wardle Award (see notice in the Bulletin) can be submitted to the Chairs of the Nominating Committee or Recognition Committee, respectively. Deadlines for submission of nominations to either committee is Friday, November 18, 2002.
The Nominating Committee, Chaired by Dr. R. Prichard, Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Drive, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC H9X 1C0, <roger.prichard@staff.mcgill.ca> is mandated to secure candidates for positions vacated annually on the Section Executive.
The Recognition Committee, Chaired by Dr. G. Klassen, Tau Biodiversity, 49 Parkindale Road, Pollett River, NB E4Z 3A7 <grog@nbnet.nb.ca> is mandated to receive nominations and select the Wardle Award winner for that year. Updated information on the eligibility criteria concerning the Wardle Award may be obtained from the website or from the Secretary <mcljd@alcor.concordia.ca>. The other members of the Recognition Committee are Dr. A Fernando (Guelph), Dr. D. Brooks (Toronto) and Dr. M. Belosevic (Alberta).
The Section website http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/parasites/home.htm is managed by Dr. Al Shostak. The site contains information on the Section, a directory of Canadian Parasitologists, Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, the Report of the Parasite Module Steering Committee and other items of interest.
The Section Officers for 2002-2003 are: Past Chair, Dr. Roger Prichard, Chair, Dr. John Barta, Vice Chair, Dr. Greg Klassen, Councillors, Mr. Chris Cutler and Dr. Dean McCurdy, Archivist Dr. Al Shostak and Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Dan McLaughlin, Department of Biology, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1M8. E-mail mcljd@alcor.concordia.ca , Phone 514-848-3049, FAX 514-848-2881.