The Environmental Mutagen Society is the primary society for scientists involved in mutagenesis, the consequences of mutation such as cancer and birth defects, and the evaluation of mutagenic and carcinogenic risks. The Annual Meeting brings together basic research scientists with those striving to assess the safety of exposures to environmental and pharmaceutical agents. The result is a dynamic meeting that is sufficiently large to cover a broad range of contemporary topics yet focused and small enough to facilitate interactions between students and renowned scientists in academia, government and industry. We invite you to join us in Atlanta, and hope that you will enjoy the historical and cultural attractions while renewing old friendships and making new acquaintances.
Conference Overview
The theme of the EMS 38th Annual Meeting is Mutational and Epigenetic
Mechanisms of Susceptibility and Risks for Genetic Diseases. The objectives
of this meeting are to highlight the latest research findings on genetic
susceptibility and how an individual’s physiology and diet influences their risks for genomic damage after exposure to endogenous and environmental mutagens as well as pharmaceutical agents. Special emphasis is given to susceptibility to genetic diseases, including rare diseases, cancer, and birth defects. This annual meeting will serve as the scientific forum for important research advances in mutagenesis, epigenetics, antimutagenesis, DNA repair, germ-cell mutagenesis, mutagenesis and cancer, mutagenesis and birth defects, environmental genetic toxicology, and risk assessment. This meeting will also have a strong educational and student outreach component and will provide opportunities for young investigators to present their research findings.
Since its inception, EMS members have made many important discoveries pertaining
to the mechanisms of the induction of mutations, the roles of mutation in toxicology
and disease susceptibility, and the challenges of assessing risks from environmental
exposures to mutagens. Woven throughout the week you will find cutting-edge
presentations highlighting traditionally longstanding areas of emphasis for
the Society.
Featured Topics on Risk Assessment
The meeting will have a large number of special lectures, symposia, and workshops addressing a variety of issues related to risk assessment. Several symposia will explore issues on Risk
from Low-Dose Chemical or Radiation Exposures. Another symposium addresses the Use
of Genotoxicity Data to Determine the Mode-of-Action of Agents for Human
Health Risk Assessment. In addition, two workshops will explore new developments in the field of risk assessment: On-going
Initiatives in Genetic Toxicology Testing and Moving beyond Test Batteries. These ideas are examined further at a lunch-time discussion on Changing
the Current Mutagenicity Test Battery for use in regulatory setting. Regulatory issues surrounding diet are discussed in detail in a Review Lecture on Dietary
Supplements and Food Mutagenesis by Lynn Ferguson and a Plenary Lecture on Cooked-Meat
Mutagens and Risk to Human Health by Jim Felton. A related symposium presents Testing
and Regulation of Dietary Antimutagens. Further, a Plenary Lecture by Alan Roses addresses the Challenges
of Drug Development. The meeting ends with a Review Lecture on Environmental
Chemicals in our Blood by James Pirkle. Please join us for a comprehensive look at risk-assessment issues associated with the diet, drugs, radiation, and environmental pollution.
Featured Topics on Epigenetics: The New Genetic Frontier
In the 1940’s the developmental biologist Conrad Waddington was the first scientist to recognize that interactions occur between genes and the environment that influence the phenotype. In 1975 Holliday and Pugh recognized that DNA modifications different from mutations (e.g. DNA methylation) would explain the findings of Waddington. Since 1990’s epigenetics is defined as the study of alterations in gene expression that occur not by changing the DNA sequence, but by modifying DNA methylation and remodeling chromatin structure. Since then the field has exploded, and added a new dimension to environmental genetics and the nature versus nurture debate. The 38th Annual Environmental Mutagen Society meeting will have special lectures, a dedicated symposium, as well as platform and poster presentations addressing a variety of issues involving epigenetics. Randy L. Jirtle will provide an overview of the subject in a special lecture entitled Environmental Epigenomics in Human Health and Disease. The role of epigenetics in disease will be explored in more detail in a symposium involving featured speakers Moshe Szyf addressing Neural Programming by Maternal Behavior, David Sweatt presenting Epigenetic Mechanisms in Memory Formation and Allen Yang introducing Epigenetic Targets for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer. Igor Koturbash, EMS member and a new investigator will present Epigenetics of Non-targeted Radiation Effects. Researchers, including students and new investigators, are encouraged to submit abstracts involving epigenetics; a platform session featuring speakers chosen from submitted abstracts is on the schedule.
Featured Topics on Mechanisms of DNA Repair and Mutagenesis and
Relationship to Genetic Diseases
The 38th Annual Environmental Mutagenesis Society meeting features a
wide variety of topics addressing the molecular mechanisms of
mutagenesis and of processes essential for maintaining stability of the
human genome, as well as underscoring the role of DNA repair defects in
hereditary diseases. Current understanding of mutagenic processes will
be explored through two symposia, one on replication fidelity and
mechanisms involved in Replication of Damaged DNA chaired by last year's
EMS Award winner G. C. Walker, and another on the role of Nucleotide
Pool Damage in introduction of pre-mutagenic lesions into the genome,
with emphasis on health consequences, chaired by T. Nohmi and M.
Bignami. The relationship between replicational encounters with lesions
and genomic instability will be further developed through a symposium on
Preserving Chromosome Continuity When DNA Replication Encounters Damage,
chaired by L. H. Thompson. The intimate connections between DNA Repair
Defects, Genetic Instability, and Cancer will receive special attention
through a plenary lecture by P. Doetsch and a symposium on Base Excision
Repair as a Tumor Suppressor Mechanism chaired by J. Sweasy. This theme
will also be featured in a topical review by P.K. Cooper on DNA Repair
at the Crossroads of Cancer and Aging: Rare Human Diseases and Genetic
Susceptibility. Insights from structural biology into the mechanisms
involved in genome maintenance by DNA Repair Machines will be developed
in a topical review by J. A. Tainer. There will also be welcome
opportunities for cross-fertilization between mechanistic studies and
risk assessment in a Saturday workshop addressing the question of
whether Defining Modes of Action contributes to improved prediction of
carcinogenicity. Further connecting these two interests of the Society,
the critical issue for risk assessment of whether cellular responses to
DNA damage differ at low dose exposures to either ionizing radiation or
chemical carcinogens will be explored in a topical review by J. Schwartz
and a symposium chaired by N. Keshava and P. A. White, respectively.
Current hot topics from meeting participants will be featured in two
platform sessions devoted to DNA Repair and to Mutagenesis and
Carcinogenesis, for which both chairpersons and speakers will be
selected from among submitted abstracts.
This meeting will also highlight research advances on the impact of nutrition on mutagenesis and anti-mutagenesis and their impact on human health.
EMS invites you to submit an abstract for inclusion in one of the sessions.
Short platform presentations will be selected from abstract submissions. Also,
many symposia have an open slot, and Session Chairs plan to select presenters
for inclusion in their Session from the submitted abstracts. To be considered
for an opportunity to present your work, submit your abstract by June 3 and
indicate the appropriate category.
This program embodies the great strengths of our multi-disciplinary Society and presents something for everyone. We invite you to experience EMS’s conviviality in Atlanta.
New Addition to the Program: Topical Reviews
There will be eight one-hour topical reviews at this year’s meeting, beginning at 8:30 AM each morning. Lectures will be given by well-recognized experts in their fields who will review the state of their research field, highlight the major research advances, and identify the upcoming challenges.
Natural foodstuffs may contain mutagens, and other mutagens may be generated through processing or cooking methods. Similarly, dietary imbalance may lead to genomic instability, thereby creating a further potential source of human mutation that may enhance the risk of chronic disease. Dietary supplementation, either to restore desired micronutrient levels, or to add so-called non-nutrients in the form of antioxidants, immunonutrients, or other nutriceuticals is increasingly desirable, especially if it is optimized to genotype.
This talk presents an overview of the large body of published work investigating the mutagenic hazards of contaminated soil and water. Topics include sources of mutagenic substances, environmental fate, exposure, and risk of adverse effects for both humans and indigenous biota.
DNA Repair Machines Speaker: John A. Tainer, The Scripps Research Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
An emerging view of structural biology indicates that DNA repair pathways depend upon repair proteins acting as amazingly efficient macromolecular machines for the specific detection and removal of DNA damage in the context of 100 million fold excess of normal over damaged DNA sites. The stunningly high levels of many types of endogenous DNA damage makes the normal functioning of these machines critical for life and furthermore overwhelmingly controls the levels of risk from environmental mutagens. A unified understanding of the strengths and limitations of these DNA repair machines provides an informed basis to understand how different environmental toxins impact mutagenesis and human health.
The epigenome consists of the DNA methylation marks and histone modifications involved in controlling gene expression. It is accurately reproduced during mitosis and can be inherited transgenerationally. The innate plasticity of the epigenome also enables it to be reprogrammed by nutritional, chemical and physical factors. To fully understand the etiology of the most devastating diseases that plague humans, the full complexity of the human epigenome will ultimately need to be characterized. Moreover, the elucidation of the interactions of environment with the epigenome should allow for the development of novel epigenetic-based diagnostic, prevention, and therapeutic strategies for human diseases.
As evidenced by a number of rare human genetic diseases involving DNA repair defects and by mouse models, DNA repair processes are now understood to be critical for maintaining genetic integrity and genomic function and stability in the face of abundant endogenously generated DNA damage as well as the typically low environmental exposures to a wide range of genotoxins. A number of recent research advances using these systems place DNA repair squarely at the crossroads of cancer and aging, and mechanistic understanding of key processes is progressing rapidly. This talk reviews mammalian cell mechanisms in multiple DNA repair pathways, with an emphasis on disease relevance, repair pathway intersections, coordination with replication and transcription, and dynamic multi-protein interactions as regulatory mechanisms.
Scientists have known since the 1940’s that urban air can be carcinogenic and since the 1970’s that air can be mutagenic. However, how much do we really know? And what questions do we need to answer for the future? This presentation explores what is known and not known about the carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of both indoor and outdoor air so you can decide.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measures environmental chemicals in the blood and urine of Americans as part of its ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In 2005, CDC released the Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, which is the most extensive assessment ever made of exposure of the U.S. population, involving 148 environmental chemicals. CDC is currently working on the 4th National Report that will
include approximately 275 environmental chemicals. The population exposure assessment emphasizes potentially vulnerable or at-risk population groups. CDC plans to expand this effort to measure each year at least 400 priority toxic substances in the U.S. population to identify exposures of health significance, identify at risk special population groups, assess trends in exposure levels and monitor the effectiveness of preventions targeted at reducing exposure.
Over the past two decades there has been an explosion of information concerning cellular effects of low dose and low dose rate exposures to ionizing radiation. Low dose exposures can induce an array of different phenomena including adaptive responses, low dose hypersensitivity, bystander effects, and induced genetic instability. While most studies of these phenomena have focused on ionizing radiation, there is a growing number of reports linking exposure to other genotoxic agents to these responses. Clearly, these phenomena should influence estimates of genotoxic risk following exposure to mutagenic agents. How this occurs remains an open question. This presentation reviews what is known about these phenomena and addresses key unanswered questions concerning their involvement in genotoxic risk assessment.
Saturday Workshops
There will be three Workshops on Saturday for which a separate registration fee is required. The Workshop Topics are:
The Welcome Reception includes a Poster Session to highlight the research
of students and new investigators and provide them with an extra opportunity
to present and discuss their research. This session and reception will be held
Saturday evening from 4:30 PM–7:00 PM. This session will provide an opportunity
for students and new or postdoctoral investigators to present their data to
the meeting attendees prior to their formal presentation later in the week.
This event is also a great time to become reacquainted with your colleagues
before the meeting.
Lunchtime Technology and Policy Workshops
Four sponsored workshops will be held Sunday and Monday that will highlight new technological and policy issues, and provide diverse perspectives with opportunity for discussion.
A box lunch will be provided. The workshops are free, but advance registration
is required. Attendance is limited to 75 attendees and is on a first-come,
first-served basis.
Micronuclei are small spheroids of nuclear material that becomes physically separated from the main nucleus of a cell. They may contain chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes. New flow cytometric methods provide rapid measurements, surpassing the labor intensive manual microscope methods of the past.
Detecting micronuclei (i.e., chromosomal damage) is important because research suggests that exposure to chromosome-damaging agents can increase the risks of birth defects and cancer. Come to this workshop and hear from scientists currently using high speed flow cytometry to reliably measure micronuclei. You’ll hear how to perform more in
vivo micronucleus analyses in less time, how flow cytometry provides more accurate and reproducible data, and how you can track micronucleus levels in all species of toxicologic interest. Following the presentations there will be ample opportunity for discussion between speakers and participants.
Microarray technologies provide large data sets of gene expression across the genome. This workshop will highlight thee software advances in how gene expression data can be rapidly converted to networks and pathways can help identify molecular targets of cellular outcomes. The purpose of this workshop is to bridge from genomic technologies to bioinformatics to enable advances in understanding mechanism and for target discovery.
The Comet assay is a relatively simple and sensitive microgel electrophoresis technique for the detection of DNA damage and its repair in individual eukaryotic cells. The assay is used extensively in genotoxicity testing, using both in
vitro and in vivo test systems; in human and environmental biomonitoring studies to detect exposure to genotoxic agents; and in mechanistic studies to evaluate DNA repair pathways. This workshop will focus on recent developments in the validation of the in
vivo Comet assay for detecting genotoxic substances, developments in DNA repair studies and human biomonitoring.
This Workshop will highlight various topics related to the current battery
of short-term tests for genotoxicity. Consideration is given to current data
regarding the usefulness of this battery of tests for detecting mutagens and
potential rodent and/or human carcinogens. Also, the limitations of this battery
will be discussed, with emphasis on new developments in the field and what
new endpoints might be useful to add to the current test battery—if any.
General Information