Science Ambassador Research Articles

+Ciencia: a training program to increase evidence-based science communication and literacy for Hispanic high school and undergraduate students.

Science misinformation represents a significant challenge for the scientific community. Hispanic communities are particularly vulnerable due to language barriers and the lack of accessible information in Spanish. We identified that a key step toward enhancing the accessibility of information for non-native English-speaking communities involves imparting science communication education and training to Hispanic youth. Our goal was to provide them with the skills to become science ambassadors who can effectively engage with their communities and bridge communication gaps. To address this, we developed the first science communication training program in Spanish for Hispanic high school and undergraduate students in Puerto Rico. The program called +Ciencia aims to provide training and education on science communication for Hispanic minorities through experiential and collaborative learning. In the short term, our multifaceted approach works to counter misinformation and promote science literacy within the broader community. Over the long term, our grassroots efforts with students will evolve into a generation of professionals equipped with strong engagement skills and comprehensive training in science communication with a specific focus on Hispanic audiences. Herein, we describe the components of this educational program and provide open access to educational materials and articles developed by three cohorts.

Promoting Diversity in the Biomedical Sciences with the Teen Science Ambassador Program.

Mental health and substance use fields suffer from underrepresentation of racially and ethnically minoritized, first-generation college student, and female members. The homogeny of the current workforce can impede scientific productivity, creativity, and problem-solving in addressing health-related issues. Our team developed the Teen Science Ambassador Program (TSAP) to provide underrepresented minoritized (URM) high school students with science-focused education, research opportunities, and mentoring within their community. The goals of the current study were to describe the logic model and structure of TSAP, provide access to a resource bank to facilitate replication across communities, and present preliminary mixed-methods outcome data to guide development of the program. Qualitative and quantitative results from our first two cohorts (N = 18; 89% girls; 72% Black or African American; 22% Hispanic or Latino; 40% of parents did not have a college degree) indicated TSAP contributed to sustained interest, increased confidence, and enhanced sense of belonging in science-related fields, especially those pertaining to mental health and substance use. These findings highlight the program's promise to facilitate entry and sustainment of URM and female youth within the biomedical sciences. Given the urgent need to promote diversity in the mental health and biomedical workforce, we provide readers with a resource bank to facilitate replication across communities.

Promoting Science Literacy and Awareness across the Globe: the Role of Scientists as Science Ambassadors.

Science literacy has many personal and societal benefits that allows for better informed decision-making. Although the importance of science literacy is recognized globally, there are many challenges associated with its promotion. Scientists are more frequently engaging with nonscientific audiences through public outreach activities and with increasing support from institutions and professional societies. This is especially true regarding microbiologists and other related professionals since the start of the global 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic heightened the need to convey novel and rapidly evolving scientific information to lay audiences. The means by which professionals engage with these audiences affect the efficacy of the relay of scientific information. One method of engagement is the "ambassador approach," which aims to establish dialogue among different groups of people and scientists. In this perspective article, we discuss this approach, highlighting activities for the promotion of science literacy organized by the American Society for Microbiology Ambassador Program and similar programs of other scientific societies. We discuss the benefits and challenges of implementing an ambassador approach, propose potential improvements that could be made to existing programs promoting science literacy, and ultimately advocate for increased implementation of science ambassador programs.

Bone marrow adipose tissue

Bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) represents > 10% total fat mass in healthy humans and further increases in diverse clinical conditions. Like white adipose tissue (WAT), BMAT can produce hormones such as adiponectin, suggesting that it may exert systemic metabolic effects. Unlike WAT, BMAT increases in conditions of caloric restriction (CR), in which it is a key source of increased circulating adiponectin. Thus, BMAT appears developmentally and functionally distinct from WAT. However, the impact of BMAT on health and disease remains poorly understood. Thus, the objective of my research is to determine the fundamental functions and clinical significance of BMAT. My lab's research combines preclinical animal models, human clinical studies and data science approaches using the UK Biobank. Mouse models include CR studies in adiponectin knockout mice, to test if BMAT acts via adiponectin to influence the metabolic, skeletal and immunological effects of CR. Clinical studies include the use of positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET-CT) to assess BMAT's metabolic functions in vivo. Finally, we are using deep learning to analyse BMAT in magnetic resonance imaging data from the UK Biobank, thereby allowing us to identify the physiological, pathological and genetic factors associated with altered BMAT. (1) Adiponectin KO mice: We have found, unexpectedly, that lack of adiponectin enhances, rather than impairs, CR-induced improvements in glucose tolerance. Compared to wild-type counterparts, KO mice have lower fasting glucose during CR. Adiponectin KO also alters the immunological effects of CR. (2) PET-CT studies: in mice we find that BMAT glucose uptake is not insulin or cold-responsive, demonstrating that BMAT is metabolically distinct from WAT and brown adipose tissue. In humans, we have found that BMAT has high basal glucose uptake under fasting conditions, greater even than that of skeletal muscle. Thus, BMAT may influence systemic metabolic homeostasis as a site of high glucose disposal. (3) UK Biobank studies: our deep learning segmentations have yielded expected inverse associations between BMFF and bone mineral density (BMD) and identified new site- and sex-dependent relationships between BMFF, BMD and peripheral adiposity. Our preclinical and clinical studies have identified new fundamental functions of BMAT and adiponectin, including metabolic and immunological effects. In our UK Biobank studies, we have developed and validated a new deep learning method for high-throughput BMFF analysis in the UKBB. Our initial results already provide new insights for the role of BMAT in skeletal and metabolic health. We have since analysed BMFF in ∼ 37,000 subjects and are pursuing Genome- and Phenome-Wide Association Studies to identify genetic and pathophysiological factors associated with altered BMAT. Together, our research establishes the utility of machine learning for population-level BMFF analysis and promises to elucidate the full impact of BMAT on human health and disease. William Cawthorn is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh. His PhD research (Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge) investigated the regulation of adipogenesis while his postdoctoral studies (University of Michigan) focussed on mesenchymal cell fate and the function bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT). In 2015, he established his laboratory at The University of Edinburgh with the overarching research goal of determining the function of BMAT. To do so his lab combines preclinical animal models, human clinical studies and data science approaches using the UK Biobank. Methods include in-depth metabolic phenotyping, immunological analyses, the development of novel biomedical imaging techniques, and artificial intelligence to open new avenues for population-level studies. Together, his research addresses the interplay between metabolism, immunological function and skeletal health, both in the context of fundamental biology and chronic diseases. He is a founding member and current Interim President of the International Bone Marrow Adiposity Society and is also the University of Edinburgh's Open Science Ambassador for the League of European Research Institutions (LERU).

Applying Lessons Learned from CDC's Health Literacy Initiatives.

This report describes health literacy initiatives at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the lessons learned from more than 20 years of commitment to health literacy. Efforts described include CDC's training and tools, the Science Ambassador Fellowship program, and an action plan and report card. The report concludes with recommendations on how to meet the needs of communities and systems.

Reply: “Building the pipeline: programs to introduce middle school, high school, medical, and veterinary students to careers in epidemiology and public health”

Abstract Purpose This report describes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs that expose students to epidemiology and public health sciences (EPHS). Methods The Science Ambassador workshop targets middle and high school teachers and promotes teaching EPHS in the classroom. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event is an extracurricular science competition for middle and high school students based on investigations of outbreaks and other public health problems. The Epidemiology Elective Program provides experiential learning activities for veterinary and medical students. Results As of 2016, 234 teachers from 37 states and territories and three other countries participated in SA workshops. Several are teaching units or entire courses in EPHS. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event exposed approximately 15,000 middle and high school students to EPHS during the 2015–2016 school year. The Epidemiology Elective Program has exposed 1,795 veterinary and medical students to EPHS. Conclusions Students can master fundamental concepts of EPHS as early as middle school and educators are finding ways to introduce this material into their classrooms. Programs to introduce veterinary and medical students to EPHS can help fill the gap in exposing older students to the field. Professional organizations can assist by making their members aware of these programs.

Appreciation: Professor Samantha Hettiarachchi – an ambassador for science

Appreciation: Professor Samantha Hettiarachchi – an ambassador for science

Building the pipeline: programs to introduce middle school, high school, medical, and veterinary students to careers in epidemiology and public health

PurposeThis report describes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs that expose students to epidemiology and public health sciences (EPHS). MethodsThe Science Ambassador workshop targets middle and high school teachers and promotes teaching EPHS in the classroom. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event is an extracurricular science competition for middle and high school students based on investigations of outbreaks and other public health problems. The Epidemiology Elective Program provides experiential learning activities for veterinary and medical students. ResultsAs of 2016, 234 teachers from 37 states and territories and three other countries participated in SA workshops. Several are teaching units or entire courses in EPHS. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event exposed approximately 15,000 middle and high school students to EPHS during the 2015–2016 school year. The Epidemiology Elective Program has exposed 1,795 veterinary and medical students to EPHS. ConclusionsStudents can master fundamental concepts of EPHS as early as middle school and educators are finding ways to introduce this material into their classrooms. Programs to introduce veterinary and medical students to EPHS can help fill the gap in exposing older students to the field. Professional organizations can assist by making their members aware of these programs.

“Just Call Me a Desert Researcher”

AbstractWhether in documentary films, exhibitions, talks or articles, for decades the Cologne‐based geologist and climate scientist Stefan Kröpelin has been popularising the history, landscapes and people of the Sahara. As a field researcher and in many ways a “science ambassador”, the DFG and the Stifterverband have chosen him as the recipient of this year's Communicator Award.

The ISOLDE LEGO® robot: building interest in frontier research

An outreach programme centred around nuclear physics making use of a LEGO® Mindstorm® kit is presented. It consists of a presentation given by trained undergraduate students as science ambassadors followed by a workshop where the target audience programs the LEGO® Mindstorm® robots to familiarise themselves with the concepts in an interactive and exciting way. This programme has been coupled with the CERN-ISOLDE 50th anniversary and the launch of the CERN-MEDICIS facility in Geneva, Switzerland. The modular aspect of the programme readily allows its application to other topics.

Richard R. Rubin, PhD: An Ambassador for Behavioral Science in Diabetes.

Richard Roy Rubin, PhD, (“Dick” to many of his friends) was born in Lima, Peru, to Goldie (Possoff) and Morton Rubin. Goldie attended Temple University, while Morton attended Penn State and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he specialized in southern hemisphere weather. Morton’s job of forecasting weather for Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) afforded the young couple the opportunity to relocate several times in their early years. They were living in Lima when Richard was born in 1943 and in Santiago, Chile, when Richard's brother John was born in 1946. It was back to the U.S. (Waltham, MA) in 1948, where sister Mary Sue was born the following year. The now-complete family moved to Pretoria, South Africa, in 1954. Mary Sue relates that one of Richard's favorite memories was when Morton took the boys to Kruger National Park, about 250 miles from Pretoria, where they slept in thatched huts and listened to lions, hyenas, and other wildlife throughout the night. Though Morton and Goldie were of Lithuanian and Ukrainian descent and spoke English and Yiddish, all the family members became quite fluent in Spanish during their years in South America. The family came back to the U.S. in 1955 and eventually settled in Bethesda, MD, in 1959. That same year, after 16 months of research in Antarctica, Morton Rubin arrived home to find his 9-year-old daughter in the hospital with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Richard remembered it as a devastating blow to the family (Mary Sue was the first in her extended family to be diagnosed with the disease [1]). Mary Sue’s diagnosis, and later Richard's own son’s diagnosis, would be reason enough to turn his career path to the field of diabetes. In 1961, Richard moved to Baltimore to attend Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Initially, …

An Industry Response to Challenges in STEM and Agricultural Literacy

Access to food is a basic necessity for all humanity, and the United Nations estimates there will be 9.7 billion people on the planet by 2050. This provides a unique challenge for the agricultural industry to address the growing food demand while global competitive forces struggle to balance the use of limited resources such as land and water. The United States Department of Agriculture projects 57,900 average job openings annually in the next 5 years for graduates in food, agriculture, renewable resources or the environment. As an industry, agricultural companies play a supporting role in providing the education necessary to create scientifically literate and informed communities regarding food and production agriculture. In an effort to do this, Dow AgroSciences created the Science Ambassadors program. The mission of this program is to empower employees to inspire their communities by promoting scientific literacy.

Curious about George: Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies, STEM education policy, and colonial iconicity

ABSTRACTThis essay addresses the colonial and cultural iconography of Curious George as a curious monkey and contemporary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) ambassador. We critically consider how the United States’ political desire to compete globally through STEM leadership is both promoted and popularised through Curious George. Drawing on Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies, we argue it is crucial to critically read the colonial grounds under which popular figures are predicated in concert with the circulation of contemporary politics. Specifically, we attend to the colonial roots of curiosity and the frontier mentality that underlie Curious George’s push for STEM education while advocating for the rethinking of discourses that situate STEM as a value-free solution to global competitiveness. Through a postcolonial reading of Curious George, we demonstrate how the historical relationship between curiosity, primates, and science also produce colonial connotations that should provide scepticism to the current educational push that thrusts young learners to ‘get curious’. Understanding how the West constitutes themselves in opposition to the monkey icon better enables readers to understand how the trope of curiosity, essential in current scientific discourse, positions Curious George as a vehicle for directing citizens to read STEM educational policy as ideologically neutral.

Editorial

Our younger readers may not know, but it was not so long ago that the arrival of the monthly issues of Helvetica Chimica Acta (HCA) were eagerly awaited and read cover-to-cover by chemists worldwide. It held a special place among the ‘must-read’ journals of the 20th century and the venue of choice for top publications – from authors not only working in Switzerland in particular but also worldwide. Your editors – although still young by some standards – still remember reading freshly open paper copies of HCA as graduate students in the 1990s in Pasadena and West Lafayette. With the rapid increase in the number of publications and journals in the 21st century, many legacy journals, such as HCA have struggled to find a unique identity. In the view of too many chemists, HCA went from being a venue for latest discoveries in the chemical sciences to just one more journal. But for many of us, there will also be a special place in our hearts for Helvetica Chimica Acta. When we were asked by the Swiss Chemical Society to take on the editorship of the journal, we elected to ‘relaunch’ it by returning to its roots: high quality, full papers that tell stories about cutting edge molecular science. In other words, not only the details but also the why and the how. With the full support of the Swiss Chemical Society, our publisher Wiley, and the talented and diverse researchers working across Switzerland, we are delighted to bring you the first issue of the relaunch Helvetica: A Journal of the Swiss Chemical Society. We hope it will be the first of many issues that restores the vision of the founders – 99 years ago – to be a journal one can trust, not only for its data but also for a commitment to recognizing and inspiring excellence. Switzerland has based its reputation not only on accuracy, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, and flexibility, but also on humility and open-mindedness. The progress in science and technology relies on these qualities, and Helvetica will provide a medium to report accurate data and be a forum to discuss chemistry across all fields. Through its strong and diverse chemical industry, its forefront academic research and teaching program and its ties to international networks, Switzerland is ideally placed to be a leader in the conduct of innovative, responsible 21st century science. We see in Helvetica the opportunity to build on its foundations as one of the primary delegates of modern chemistry to become an ambassador for molecular science in a changing world. Science is evolving very fast, facing many challenges including the increasing amount of reported data. Chemistry is moving toward more complex systems, where molecular understanding can play a central role in generating function by design. It is by essence a multidisciplinary science at the leading edge of biology, physics, and material and engineering sciences; it bridges the world of inorganic and organic matters, it relates to single atoms/molecules or much larger assemblies (polymers, assemblies and solids), it requires to understand physical phenomena and to develop new analytical/physical techniques. We welcome papers that blur the boundaries between disciplines and divisions, as well as detailed studies in traditional areas that contribute to our fundamental understanding of science and nature. The relaunch of Helvetica brings many changes to the journal – a new editorial board, a distinguished international advisory panel, a new submission and reviewing system, shorter publication times, a new layout, full free color, and a dedicated editorial staff based in Zurich. It brings a renewed committed of the Swiss Chemical Society, Wiley, and our authors to make it a highly visible and respected place to our best work. And most importantly, it brings a focus on high quality full papers – not too many, not too few – just the right amount to make reading Helvetica once again a highlight of our month. We rely on you to make this adventure a success and we look forward to your contribution in the coming months and years.

Gottfried Schatz (1936-2015)-mitochondrial pioneer and ambassador for science.

Gottfried (“Jeff”) Schatz pioneered the field of mitochondrial biogenesis and many of his discoveries on how mitochondria form and proliferate can be found in the textbooks of today's students. However, Jeff was much more than an unusually gifted scientist and mentor. He was a brilliant speaker, a talented musician, a successful essayist and novelist, a tireless ambassador for basic science, and a deeply cultured person. With his passing on 1 October 2015, biological science has lost one of its most visible advocates, and many of us have lost a remarkable and warm‐hearted friend. Jeff was born in 1936 in a small Austrian village near the Hungarian border but soon moved to Graz, where he studied chemistry while also pursuing his second passion as a violinist. Music remained a constant pleasure throughout his life. Following his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Graz, he joined the University of Vienna, where he began studying mitochondria in yeast, inspired by the work of David Green. In 1964, he demonstrated using biochemical fractionation that mitochondria contain their own DNA. This seminal finding provided the framework for his research for the next four decades, during which he systematically deciphered how mitochondrial proteins …

Training Master's‐Level Graduate Students to Use Inquiry Instruction to Teach Middle‐Level and High‐School Science Concepts

Through the GK‐12 program of the National Science Foundation, graduate student fellows in a coastal marine and wetland studies program were trained to present targeted science concepts to middle‐ and high‐school classes through their own research‐based lessons. Initially, they were taught to follow the 5‐E learning cycle in lesson plan development, but a streamlined approach targeting the three attributes of science concepts—macroscopic, model, and symbolic—was found to be a better approach, while still incorporating key facets of the 5‐E model. Evaluation of the level of inquiry in the classrooms was determined using an inquiry scale from 0 to 4, differentiated by the relative number of actions that are student‐centered. The graduate fellows consistently delivered lessons at the targeted levels 2 or 3, guided inquiry. In order to assess student learning, the GK‐12 fellows were trained to develop single‐item pre‐ and post‐assessments designed to probe middle‐level and high‐school students' understanding of the macroscopic, model, and symbolic attributes of targeted science concepts. For the lessons based on the research of the fellows, about 80% of the students showed statistically and practically significant learning gains. The GK‐12 fellows positively impact the classroom and are effective science ambassadors.

Welcome message from conference co-convenors.

We are delighted to welcome our international and national presenters, delegates from cancer research groups in Australia and across the world, and our generous sponsors to the fourth Sydney Cancer Conference (SCC2014), hosted by the University of Sydney Cancer Research Network (CRN). The CRN currently has more than 800 members ranging from PhD students to leaders of major research programs across multiple disciplines. The theme of our biennial conference is ‘Bridging Research and Practice’, which recognises the rapid advances being made in basic research and the need for their translation from the bench to the beside and also translation of the evidence generated into clinical practice. We wish to welcome our eminent keynote speakers: Professor Sir David Lane, Chief Scientist, A*STAR and Director p53 Laboratory, Singapore; Professor Eva Grunfeld, Vice-Chair Research, University of Toronto, Canada; Professor Fiona Watt, Director, Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, King's College London, UK; and Professor Dennis Lo, Director, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Australian scientists make a disproportionately high contribution to international health and medical research and this is reflected in the number of national speakers at SCC2014. The conference will open with a public lecture delivered by Professor Ian Frazer (Chief Executive Officer and Director of Research, Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia) and each of the conference's themes is carried forward by distinguished national speakers. Invited posters will be on view during the conference with the main viewing session at our cocktail function on Thursday night. Our workshops on ‘Career hints for postgraduates’ and ‘Talking to commercial partners – when and how?’ further complement our program. Early career researchers and postgraduate students will be in the running for oral and poster awards in recognition of quality research. A panel discussion on Friday afternoon will address the topic ‘Smashing silos, building bridges – is multidisciplinary research delivering on its promise?’ We aim through this forum, with active delegate participation, to debate key translational research questions and thereby help direct our efforts towards greater impact. The panel will be chaired by ABC broadcaster and University of Sydney's Ambassador for Mathematics and Science, Adam Spencer. His humour and scientific insights will make for a fascinating panel discussion. It has been our privilege to convene this conference. Our sincere thanks, to the conference organising committee and in particular Merilyn Heuschkel, Executive Officer, Cancer Research Network, for their dedication and hard work in creating an excellent scientific program. SCC2014 was been supported by a number of sponsors to whom we are very grateful. Please take the time to visit their exhibition stands and read the information in your conference satchels from our supporters. We welcome you to Sydney and hope that this year's conference will challenge and inspire you, and result in new knowledge, collaborations, and friendships.

Marie T. Filbin: in memoriam.

Marie T. Filbin: in memoriam.

-Case Studies in Scientific Statecraft: Aaron Aaronsohn, Part 1: 1909-1914: Science, Subversion and the Birth of Israel: The Balfour Declaration and the Conversion of Justice Louis Brandeis to the Zionist Cause

Aaron Aaronsohn was killed in 1919 at the age of 44. By that time he had achieved international fame as an agronomist, drawn the boundary map for the newly conquered Palestine, been decorated by the British government, knew every water source in the land of Palestine, lectured in no less than two dozen American cities, was a representative of the International Dry Farmers, co-founded the NILI spy-ring, was offered (and refused) the Presidency of Berkley, advised the US government after the Midwest floods of 1914, the Ottoman government in eradicating the locust epidemic of 1915, the British government on the military strategy for the conquest of Jerusalem in 1917 and was an advisor to the representatives at the Paris Peace Treaty in 1919. He spoke seven languages and had a personal library in the thousands. He walked with presidents and generals, and the Arab workers he hired to work at the Agricultural Research Station he founded. His personal magnetism was said to be tremendous, but each of his accomplishments rested on the platform of his signature scientific discovery – the finding and identification of the long sought-after strain of ‘wild wheat.’ Very much like Benjamin Franklin, who had the intellectual stature and personal charisma to influence foreign heads of state in the service of his country, so did Aaronsohn. Of all those Aaronsohn influenced, however, perhaps the most crucial to the existence of the State of Israel was Justice Louis Brandeis. The sudden conversion of Brandeis from a secular, assimilationist Jew into an ardent Zionist – have defied logical explanation. Various theories have been advanced to explain this sea-change in outlook. To the knowledge of this author, none have been supported by doctrinal evidence. This article proposes to identify that decisive force as Aaronsohn, detailing the circumstances that enabled Aaronsohn to transformed Brandeis into an ardent and passionate Zionist – at the age of 56. Aaronsohn’s impact no doubt derived from his larger-than-life persona. However, it was his stature as an internationally acclaimed scientist that opened the doors to Brandeis, allowing Aaronsohn to serve as an ambassador for Science in service of Country, extraordinaire.

ICDS meeting in Shanghai

The International Cell Death Society held its biannual meeting, ‘Targeting Cell Death Pathways for Human Diseases,’ in Shanghai Mega City, China, from 6 to 9 June 2008. The meeting provided an opportunity for scientists from East and West to meet and learn how each approached theoretical and practical problems in adapting our knowledge of cell death mechanisms toward therapeutic goals. It was organized by Zahra Zakeri, Junying Yuan, and Jiarui Wu. The program began with awards to H Robert Horvitz for his major contributions to the field and to Zahra Zakeri, President of the International Cell Death Society, as Ambassador for Science, honoring her efforts to bring together scientists from around the world. Dr Horvitz then traced, in a keynote talk, how the clarity of genetics in Caenorhabditis has led to an understanding of the several cell death pathways in mammals, and suggestions as to what may be found in the future. This talk was followed by presentations from Xiaolin Zhang (AstraZeneca), En Li (Novartis), and Li Chen (Roche), who described the advantages and disadvantages of pharmaceutical research in China, and how their companies are exploring new targets in signaling, cell targeting, and specific uptake of drugs, as they explore means of controlling specific cancers, virus-generated diseases, diabetes, and circulatory diseases. Further sessions addressed the different modes of cell death, including autophagy (with considerable discussion of microand macroautophagy and the molecules that control them), controlled necrosis, the interaction and feedback among the pathways, and the control of autophagy in cell death; mechanisms of signaling that target cells for death, especially in death receptor-initiated apoptosis; means by which natural killer cells identify and attack their targets; and regulation of cell death activated through metabolic controls. In these latter sessions, many relevant parameters were identified, including chaperones, lipids such as erucylphosphohomocholine, components of oxidative and glycolytic pathways, calcium and its regulators, mechanisms of balancing Bax and Bak, the importance of cell substrata and communication from extracellular matrix to nucleus, prions, and biological and artificial regulators of caspases. Mechanisms of phagocytosis and the implications of perturbation of phagocytosis on autoimmune disease, malignancy, propagation of viruses, and other diseases were the subjects of other sessions. Prospects for therapy included manipulating p53 and its family members, introduction of antisense oligonucleotides, consideration of the substantial role of redox state, oxidized and reduced dinucleotides, and availability of substrates for oxidative and glycolytic pathways. Overall, there are promising prospects for individual targeting of cells through surface receptors, oligonucleotide delivery, delivery through pinocytosis or microphagocytosis, specific monoclonal antibodies, partitioning molecules according to respiratory state or exploiting differences in metabolism between targeted cells and healthy cells, and rendering cells more or less susceptible to immune attack. Guido Kroemer, in a wrap-up talk, emphasized the importance of tailoring therapies to work cooperatively with natural immune mechanisms, which recognize and respond to ‘danger’ and ‘eat-me’ signals toward therapeutic goals to protect or destroy specific cells. This brief but packed meeting drew a balanced mixture of invited speakers from 13 countries, including juniorand senior-level speakers, and an equivalently broad selection of posters. It provided a culturally and scientifically enriching experience for all.