MAY/JUNE 2005
Volume 11 - No. 2
Research Activities at a Featured Program
Preconference on Global Tobacco Research
SRNT Newsletter
Advancing Science & Health
May/June 2005, Volume 11, Number 2
SRNT's 11th Annual Meeting Held Jointly with the
7th Annual SRNT European Conference
Prague, Czech Republic, March 20-23, 2005
St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Cast. |
The 11th Annual Meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco was held jointly with the 7th Annual SRNT European Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, at the Hotel Hilton Prague, from March 20-23, 2005. The decision to hold the SRNT meeting outside of North America for the first time did not deter the annual growth trend for SRNT meetings, with 957 registrants representing over 50 countries in attendance. Following a 1-day pre-conference highlighting global issues in tobacco control (see related article), SRNT President Ken Warner, SRNT-Europe Chair Gay Sutherland, local meeting host Eva Kralikova, and special guests from the Czech Republic welcomed attendees to the meeting during an Opening Reception. The formal scientific program began on March 21, covering pre-clinical, clinical, and public health/epidemiological research topics on nicotine and tobacco. Featured lecturers, symposia, and oral paper sessions were balanced across these themes, with a number of sessions emphasizing integration across levels of analysis.
St. Nicholas' Church |
The Program Committee reviewed over thirty symposia submissions, and those considered the timeliest, of the highest quality, and most representative of the diverse interests among SRNT members were included in the scientific program. The titles of those symposia presented at the meeting were as follows:
New Investigator Award Recipient Darlene Brunzell
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- Nicotinic Receptor Antagonism by Antidepressants: Parsing the Link Between Smoking and Depression
- Adolescent Smokers and Smoking Cessation Studies: Issues in Eligibility, Enrollment, Recruitment, and Retention
- Women, Tobacco, and Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century
- Tobacco Industry Funding of Scientific Research: Policies, Practices, and the Integrity of Public Health Research
- Revisiting the Role of Nicotine in Smoking Reinforcement
- What is the Role of Smoking Reduction in the Clinical Management of Smoking?
- Evaluating Tobacco Control Policies of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Findings from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project
- Genetic Studies of Nicotine Dependence: It's All About the Phenotype
- Genetic Variation in Smoking Consumption and Cessation
- New Medications for Smoking Cessation: Beyond NRT and Buproprion
- Barriers to Cessation and Treatment _ Underestimating Tobacco Harm and Overestimating Medicinal Nicotine Harm
- Psychiatric Comorbidity and the Nicotine Dependence Phenotype
Applying similar criteria, twelve oral paper sessions were organized around the following themes:
- Cue Reactivity: Implicit and Explicit Paradigms
- Smoking Cessation in Medical Populations
- Role of Health Care Professionals in Tobacco Control
- Examining the Tobacco Industry: Strategies and Documents
- Nicotine Metabolism: CYP and Beyond
- Role of Nicotinic and Other Brain Receptors
- Substance Use and Psychiatric Comorbidity: Treatment Issues
- International Tobacco Research: Trends and Treatment
- Studies of Nicotine Reward and Neuroimaging
- Pharmacotherapy: New Developments and Evaluations
- Smoking in Adolescence and Youth: Trends and Trajectories
- Alternative Forms of Tobacco: Evaluating Effects and Comparing Risk
There were also three poster sessions, with over 500 presentations that spanned the breadth of nicotine and tobacco research. The poster sessions provided an excellent format for discussing research in a less formal setting, with increased opportunity for interaction and professional networking. Posters were arranged in a manner designed to increase interaction across disciplinary boundaries at the conference.
The Doll/Wynder Award recipient |
Vtlava River |
Several workshops were held in conjunction with this year's meeting, though not concurrent with the formal scientific program. These covered a broad range of issues, such as career development for young scientists, the English Smoking Cessation Treatment Services, the European Network of SmokeFree Hospitals, smoking cessation training for physicians, publishing in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy (see related article), global policy outcomes from research (see related article),and SRNT's policy on disclosure and competing interests.
The SRNT Members' Meeting included a Presidential report by Ken Warner (University of Michigan), as well as reports from SRNT Executive Director Bruce Wheeler and Secretary/Treasurer Cindy Pomerleau (University of Michigan). In addition, service awards were given to several outgoing committee chairs and board members. Finally, it was announced that the incoming President Elect would be Ellen Gritz (MD Anderson Cancer Center) and the incoming Secretary/Treasurer would be Laura Klein (Penn State University).
Photo: Stan Rowin ©2005 |
The John Slade Prize recipient |
In summary, the 2005 joint SRNT/SRNT Europe meeting was extremely successful in bringing together nicotine and tobacco researchers from diverse disciplines, scientific perspectives, and geographic regions. Prague was an outstanding setting for this "first ever" SRNT meeting held outside North America, with excellent opportunities for colleagues from academia, government, and industry to interact with one another and to hear about the latest and most important research in the nicotine and tobacco field.
The 12th Annual Meeting of SRNT will be held in Orlando, Florida, at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort from February 15-18, 2006. In addition, the 8th Annual SRNT European meeting will be held September 23-26, 2006, at the Pine Bay Holiday Resort in Kusadasi/Ephesus, Turkey. The respective Program Committees have already begun the planning process, and they look forward to your input and suggestions regarding how to make these meetings as productive as possible. The Call for Abstracts submission deadline for the Orlando meeting is September 16, 2005. Be sure to check SRNT's website (www.srnt.org) for up-to-date meeting and abstract submission information.
Dave Drobes is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Oncology and Psychology at the University of South Florida and Associate Director of the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, Fl. He conducts biobehavioral research on tobacco use and other addictive behaviors, including studies of cue reactivity and genetic influences. He recently served as chair for the 2005 SRNT Annual Meeting in Prague and was co-chair of the 2004 SRNT Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ.
Suzanne Colby is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University. She conducts laboratory-based research on tobacco withdrawal and the reinforcement value of smoking in adolescents, as well as clinical treatment outcome trials for adolescent tobacco dependence. She recently served as co-chair for the 2005 SRNT Annual Meeting in Prague and also serves on SRNT's Nominations Committee.
Robert West is Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit, University College London. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Addiction. For more information, see http://www.rjwest.co.uk