Signal Transduction: Receptors, Mediators and Genes 2004 meeting

The STS-Meeting CD 2004 can be ordered in advance along with the registration.

The conference site is suitable for 250 participants. Due to the development of the society and potentially resulting space limitations, we strongly encourage all STS members to register early. As usual, registration will be handled as first come first serve. Registration and abstract submission is possible online only (scheduled to be available at the beginning of April). The deadline for abstract submission is September, 15, 2004. There will be no extension of this deadline.

A cancellation of a meeting registration is possible until four weeks prior to the meeting and only a processing fee of EUR 50,-- will be charged to cover costs for program organization, handling of funds, cups and buttons. The remainder of the registration fee will be refunded. After that date a refund will not possible.

With regard to lodging throughout the Meeting, we could arrange again a very moderate rate for accomodation at the Hilton Hotel Weimar (english/german). As compared to the regular rate at this hotel (180,-- EUR per night), single rooms will be available to the conferees of the STS meeting for 90,-- EUR and double space rooms (which can be shared by two conferees) for 105,-- EUR including the Hilton breakfast buffet! Hotel reservations at these reduced rates have to be made under the keyword 'STS'.

The keynote talks for the 2004 meeting will be given by the following speakers:

The STS council decided to once again distribute STS stipends for a total amount of 2,500,-- EUR. The favourable financial situation of the STS enables the Society to support up to 10 young STS members (diploma or doctoral students) by a travel grant of 250,-- EUR each. The application deadline for STS-stipends is September 15, 2004. The successful applicants will be notified and personally awarded during the STS Meeting in Weimar.

Applicants must be diploma- or doctoral-students, a letter of confirmation from the head of the department and a copy of immatriculation certificate is required. Applicants must also be members of the STS and the STS membership must be continued for at least three subsequent years following the STS stipend. Applications must be accompanied a curriculum vitae, a description of the current project (no more than two pages) and an abstract to be presented at the Meeting. Applications should be sent to the head of the grant comittee, Gaby-Fleur Böl (boel@mail.dife.de - Fax: +49-33200/88-419).

Poster presentations will be again particularly attractive in 2004. First of all, there will be ample space for all posters to remain mounted throughout the conference in conjunction with the sponsors exhibition. Second, all posters may be introduced to the plenum in the famous 'one minute - one transparency (no slide)' session and third, five poster prizes will be awarded (first prize: 250,-- EUR, second prize: 200,-- EUR, third prize: 150,-- EUR, fourth prize: 100,-- EUR and fifth prize: 50,-- EUR. Since it is the policy of the STS to particularly encourage and support young scientists, the council decided that chairpeople and heads of departments or institutes are not eligible for a poster award.

With Wiley-VCH as publisher, SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION has been established as the official journal of the STS. Besides the publication of all accepted abstracts submitted in time (potentially as a supplemental issue), we strongly encourage all speakers and presenting or senior authors of poster presentations to submit manuscripts on the topic of their presentation. Paper Submission will be possible online or at the booth of SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION and Wiley-VCH at the Meeting.

Upon demand, the STS council will produce a Meeting CD that will include the program and all abstracts, the list of meeting participants, the General Assembly agenda, as well as pictures and video-clips taken at the meeting. The CD will also contain Powerpoint presentations of talks and pdf's of posters (of course only of those for which explicit permission was provided along with submission). The CD can be ordered in advance with your registration and will be distributed shortly after the meeting.

The industrial exhibition of sponsoring companies will take place in an approximately 400 square meter area together with the poster exhibition in order to concentrate and to facilitate interactions between the conference participants and the industry. Sponsoring companies of the STS meeting as well as companies who would like to support alternative activities such as organization of a dinner tutorial, sponsoring of scientific awards, banner commercials, etc. are kindly requested to contact Ralf Hass (rh@sigtrans.de) for further information.

All presentations will be given as plenary overview lectures/short presentations in the main conference hall. Most sessions will be opened by an introductory overview of 25 minutes plus 5 minutes of discussion. Thus, in 2004, The STS will again attract and invite Overview-Speakers who significantly contributed to the development of specific areas of signal transduction research. Further speakers will be selected by the chairpeople of a session and the program committee.

Due to time restrictions, only a limited number of abstracts will be selected for oral presentations of 10 minutes plus 5 minutes of discussion. The oral presentations should thematically be related to the Workshop Topics. They will be selected according to the author's indicated preferences by the Workshop chairpeople on the basis of scientific quality and consistency with the program.

The Sponsoring Companies of the STS meeting as usual will have the opportunity in the 2004 STS meeting for a plenary lecture. Thus, the Workshop sessions will include presentations of 10 minutes by sponsoring companies on innovative products for signal transduction research. These presentations will conclude each session to allow further discussions with the company's representatives during the following breaks.

A workshop entitled 'Bench to Business' is also planned for presenting companies. We shall provide this platform for planned projects, new startup companies, and for developing and established companies to discuss their aims and possible future strategies about combining academia and business. We hope that once again we will attract representatives from many companies that find their basis or their costumers in signal transduction research. For further information on special rates for contribitors to this event, please contact Ralf Hass at rh@sigtrans.de (applicable to company representatives only).

All accepted poster contributions will be mounted throughout the whole meeting in an area directly connected to the conference hall together with the sponsors' exhibition. This comfortable area will also be the major get-together site during the coffee and beer breaks. Poster viewing and discussion is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. In addition, posters may be presented to the plenum in a separate Poster Workshop as a 'one-minute presentation' (one minute - one (A4) transparency - no slide).

For detailed information in German about traveling by plane or by car and the location of the Conference Venue please refer to the Hilton Hotel Weimar (english/german). For special inquiries about local peculiarities, contact Karlheinz Friedrich (khf@sigtrans.de).