AAS Quarterly E-Newsletter

September 2009

Not that many sleeps until the Melbourne meeting! It is promising the same high standard of science and collegial atmosphere that AAS members have to come to expect. As indicated in David Sullivan’s report this should be my last eNewsletter as editor. “Thank you” to all contributors and a very special thank you to Athina Patti, at Meetings First, who is really the one responsible for getting this newsletter out.

David van Reyk

President's Report

This will be my last report before the Annual Scientific Meeting in St Kilda in mid October. We already have an impressive number of abstract submissions for what promises to be an excellent meeting. The Annual General Meeting will also mark a watershed in terms of this newsletter because David van Reyk has expressed a desire to step aside as editor. David has done a wonderful job over a number of years. He has cajoled colleagues and in the process we have been treated to an excellent standard of informative material. His patience with recalcitrant regular contributors such as myself has been amazing and he has managed to avoid embarrassing blanks by allowing last minute submissions. David has great trust in the capabilities of young scientists, so we trust that there is a budding science journo out there somewhere who will be prepared to take on the mantle. Our warmest thanks to David on his excellent efforts.

There shouldn’t be any shortage of material for our future editor. The organising committee for the Sydney IAS in 2012 has met under the Chairpersonship of Kerry Anne Rye. The recent Cardiac Society meeting held at the Sydney Convention Centre in glorious weather provided an opportunity to see this impressive venue at its best. The first organising committee for the 2010 meeting in conjunction with the Asian pacific Society for Atherosclerosis and Vascular Disease has also been held, so sunny Queensland will have a chance to live up to its reputation for even better weather next year. This meeting falls within a few months of the combined ASMR meeting in Melbourne, so the committee has decided not to be a participating society in that Federated meeting. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves at this) stage. I invite you to make every effort to join us in Melbourne (St Kilda (possible AFL flag holders?) in October for another vibrant AAS meeting.

David Sullivan

AAS Annual Scientific Meeting

13 – 16 October 2009

Novotel St Kilda, Melbourne

We have now finalised the scientific program of the AAS Annual Scientific Meeting in Melbourne. We had 60 abstracts submitted and 20 were accepted for oral presentations. We had high quality scientific submissions from Australia and overseas.

The young investigator session looks particularly interesting and 8 presenters will compete in this session All student poster presentations will be considered for the AAS student poster prize.

We hope that we have put together a stimulating and informative program covering lipids, atherosclerosis oxidative stress, platelets and atherothrombosis, diabetes and insulin resistance as well as genetics and nutrition.

Please click here to view the program.

Looking forward to see you at the meeting.

Karin Jandeleit-Dahm and Terri Allen

Chairs, POC, AAS Annual Scientific Meeting, Melbourne 2009

Paul Nestel Lecture 2009 – Professor Lawrence Beilin

To recognise the outstanding contribution of Paul Nestel to the Australian Atherosclerosis Society, the AAS established a lecture in his honour, the Paul Nestel Lecture. This honour acknowledges the long standing and continuing inspiration, innovation, high calibre science, presence and sheer hard work contributed by Paul over many years in the field of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. The AAS selects recipients whose own careers have shown the same characteristics. Previous recipients were Murray Esler (2006), Roland Stocker (2007) and Philip Barter (2008). At the 2009 AAS Annual Scientific Meeting the honour of delivering the Paul Nestel Lecture has been given to Professor Lawrence J Beilin.

Professor Beilin’s research interests encompass hypertension and related cardiovascular disease, with a particular focus on lifestyle and environmental factors in hypertension such as effects of diet, alcohol, exercise on blood pressure and lipid metabolism, community control of hypertension and studies of pre-eclampsia and the regulation of the circulation in pregnancy. He is responsible for establishing an internationally recognised research unit in cardiovascular disease at the University of Western Australia. He has held an NHMRC Program Grant, numerous NH&MRC and National Heart Foundation project grants, and other competitive research grants. He has published more than 540 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Beilin has been President of the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia, President of the International Society of Hypertension, and is currently Vice-President of the World Hypertension League. He has been Chair of the National Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Health Advisory Committee. He is currently Chair of the Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation. He holds a Winthrop Chair of Medicine at the University of Western Australia and an Adjunct Chair in the Depts. of Epidemiology and Public Health and of Pharmacology at Monash University. He was awarded a Prime Minister’s Bicentennial Medal and in 2003 was awarded an AO – Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia. His non professional interests include his grandchildren, photography, sailing and undergraduate studies in European languages.

Membership News

If you have not renewed your membership, please click here to visit the Meetings First website and renew online. Alternatively, please click here to download a copy of the paper registration form.

The Australian Atherosclerosis Society always welcomes new members. Please encourage your students and work colleagues to join the AAS. Remember, that members receive thew following:

- A monthly email that includes, job opportunities, information on meetings relating to atherosclerosis and regular updates on similar interests.

- A new quarterly newsletter that will feature different articles each quarter.

- Discounted rates to attend AAS Annual Scientific Meetings.

- Networking opportunities and involvement.

- Opportunity to receive student travel grants and present your research at the Annual Scientific Meeting.

- Opportunity to apply for AAS Trust travel grants

AAS Trust Travel Grant Awardee Report

I received an AAS Trust Travel Grant, which contributed significantly towards my travel expenses to the XV International Symposium on Atherosclerosis (ISA) 2009 held June 14-18, 2009 in Boston, MA.

I presented both an oral and a poster at the ISA conference. The poster was entitled “In Vitro Properties of Novel Apolipoprotein A-I Mimetic Peptide”. The study presented embodied much of the work in my PhD thesis and investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of a newly developed peptide designed to mimic the beneficial effects of apoA-I and HDL that have been shown to be effective in reducing inflammation in atherosclerosis. Results from this study demonstrated that an apoA-I mimetic peptide complexed with phospholipids was as effective as HDL in reducing inflammation induced by a peri-arterial collar around the carotid artery of New Zealand White rabbits. In addition to the significant reduction of inflammatory markers in the artery wall seen independent of changes in lipid parameters, this apoA-I mimetic peptide was able to significantly reduce inflammatory markers in vitro. Second to this, serum isolated from rabbits treated with both the mimetic peptide and reconstituted HDL at the end of the study was able to reduce levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). This novel finding indicates that these treatments are causing systemic effects, which are potentially anti-inflammatory. Also, I found that in vitro, the mimetic peptide was able to dramatically reduce the adhesion of monocytes to stimulated endothelial cells, further enforcing the idea that these novel peptides in addition to HDL, are affecting the expression of inflammatory markers on endothelial cells. While the development of these peptides is still proceeding, these results add to the mounting evidence that suggest mimetic peptides are as effective as apoA-I and HDL in treatment of inflammation involved in atherosclerosis. This poster was short listed as a finalist and won a Young Investigator Award for ISA.

In addition, I presented a talk in the Basic Science: Vascular Biology: HDL Proteins and Inflammation session at ISA. The talk was entitled “Anti-inflammatory properties of reconstituted HDL in a chronic model of inflammation”. This study involved developing a chronic inflammatory setting in New Zealand White rabbits with a high cholesterol diet over 6 weeks. Similar to the first presentation, I examined the effect reconstituted HDL had on known inflammatory markers and found that they were suppressed with rHDL. In addition to this, I measured the effect of rHDL on DHCR24, an anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidant protein that is involved in the final stage of cholesterol biosynthesis, and found that it was significantly increased with rHDL. These results extended the findings presented by Dr Alison Heather, leader of the Gene Regulation Group at the HRI, where DHCR24 was found to have potent anti-inflammatory effects both in vivo and in vitro.

Both the poster and oral presentation generated a lot of interest, and I obtained valuable feedback and comments from experts present at the conference. In addition, I attended presentations from well renowned scientists in their field, including a presentation from Peter Libby (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston) demonstrating the importance of understanding the composition of the atherosclerotic plaque in order to determine instability. The program covered many fields of interest relating to atherosclerosis, ranging from nutrition and clinical therapeutics to the highly attended sessions on the development of imaging techniques. All sessions were interesting and informative and generated a great deal of discussion amongst attendees.

I would like to thank the Australian Atherosclerosis Society for the funding support provided. The opportunity to attend an international conference and present ones’ work in this research arena reinforces the desire to progress and establish oneself in the research field.

Belinda Di Bartolo

The Heart Research Institute

The Second International Symposium on Chylomicrons in Disease (ISCD-2)

2 – 5 June 2010

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

This meeting welcomes a wide number of participants, from all over the world, involved in chylomicron metabolism, atherosclerosis and the cardiovascular diseases fields.

You will be aware of the physiological importance of chylomicrons and increasing evidence for a role in metabolic disorders, when their metabolism is impaired. In a scientific context, interest is trans-disciplinary and includes broad areas of physiology, biochemistry, lipoprotein metabolism, nutrition, endocrinology, gastrointestinal function, pharmaceutics, cardiovascular disease, obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Please refer to http://www.sfg.nl/smartsite.dws?id=2777 for further information, or contact John Mamo (J.Mamo@Curtin.edu.au).

Forthcoming Meetings

Asian Pacific Conference on Metabolic Syndrome

20 – 21 November 2009, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins