Richard Vaughan-Jones, President

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.96.5

I remember as a child in the 1950s, hearing about the ages of civilisation. Grown-ups talked about the stone-age, iron-age, and later industrial age. These sounded grand and mysterious. ‘So what age are we in now?’ I once asked my mother. She looked blank, and then responded that we lived in a modern age, one of motor cars, aeroplanes and science. Clearly that was a brush-off, so that she could continue compiling her grocery list. But I have often thought how I myself might answer, especially now, as I take over from Jonathan Ashmore as President of The Physiological Society. We seem to have passed through a series of ‘post’ eras, ones not categorised with a particular moniker, but which have followed on anonymously from well-defined, previous eras. So we have been post-modern, post-industrial and, in the life sciences and medical sciences, we are post-Darwinian, post-molecular and post-genomic. We can see where we have been but, apparently, we are not prepared to commit to where we are going, or we would surely give it a name. I would suggest that in medical and life sciences, we are entering a renaissance in physiology. This won’t always be branded as such, given that physiology now comes in many guises. But we have been there already, and we are rising again.

The 19th century witnessed the first age of physiology, and its formulation as the ‘science of life’. Its principles were enshrined in 1876, by the founding of The Physiological Society, and by the scientific articles published in its journal (The Journal of Physiology). They were practised throughout the 20th century, giving us descriptions of hormones, receptors, membrane transporters and channels, action potentials, synapses, neurotransmitters, nervous reflexes, cell motility, contraction, secretion, integrated cellular and organ-system regulation, and all the trappings of biochemistry, biophysics, neuroscience,pharmacology and systems biology, plus a legion of other biomedical and clinical sciences. The list is by no means comprehensive, but it serves to illustrate the breadth of the subject. It also illustrates that our understanding, for example, of how the human body operates in health and disease, requires insight not only into its individual components, its genes and expressed proteins, but also into how these components are orchestrated in-vivo. Such interaction is complex, often resulting in counter-intuitive biological behaviour. And this leads us to the resurgence of physiology in the 21st century, the second age. This is being driven partly by the massive advances that we have witnessed in molecular genetics. Genomics and proteomics highlight fundamental components of life, but physiology is required to understand their interaction, and thus the dynamics of life. Physiology elucidates function. The principles of physiology have never been more in demand.

And what will this 21st century physiology look like? Multi-disciplinary, multi-departmental, international, it is already practised by life scientists, medical researchers and clinicians. It is drawing on major technical advances in imaging, from nano- to whole-body scale. It embraces molecular, genetic, cellular, biophysical and clinical techniques, as well as sophisticated mathematical modelling, and even the insights of evolutionary biology. But above all, physiology relies on a recognition that it is a coherent and vibrant scientific discipline. And this is why The Physiological Society is as important now as at its inception in 1876.

And The Society itself is undergoing a renaissance. Our annual scientific meetings are in excess of 1,000 delegates, this year’s (July 2014) being at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London, opposite Westminster Abbey, and a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament. Last year, The Society successfully sponsored the International Union of Physiological Sciences in Birmingham, a 4-yearly international event that attracted more than 3,000 delegates. In 2015 we will be in Cardiff, and 2016 in Dublin. The Society is also organising cross-cutting Topic Meetings on issues of increasing scientific importance, which embrace multiple research areas. For example, September saw a meeting in Newcastle on the physiology of obesity, while in April 2015, there will be a Topic Meeting on ageing and degeneration. But more specialised thematic scientific meetings are also to be encouraged, in order to promote physiology more fully. As part of its renaissance, The Society has, for the first time in its history, purchased and furbished new premises in London: Hodgkin Huxley House (H3, for short). These contain a lecture theatre and conference rooms, so that smaller more intimate scientific meetings for up to 70 people can be held on site.

The move to our H3 headquarters, which was led by my predecessor, Jonathan Ashmore, and by the Society’s chief executive officer (CEO), Philip Wright, has now been successfully concluded. Jonathan’s term of office has also led to the founding of a new online, open-access journal, Physiological Reports, run in collaboration with the American Physiological Society. This takes its place alongside The Society’s Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology as an important scientific voice for the physiological community. All the indications are that it is becoming established as a key online journal, notable for its rapid response and high quality of science.

So, The Society is now in a strong position to continue doing what it was set up for, and that is promoting physiology for its members and the public. The clear emerging need for physiological science must be translated into Society support, wherever possible, for those who practise, both new recruits and more established personnel. Issues of Society membership, our infrastructure for communicating with members, and a clear provision of news and information through this magazine, through our online newsletters, and our Society website, will be a high priority during my presidency. We have reorganised our central headquarters, and our academic publications. Now it is time to get back fully to the business of addressing the science. Our aim must be to open The Society more to its members. Do please use H3 for scientific conferences. Do please get involved in our network of Society representatives. Do contact us: me, our newly elected Deputy President (Professor David Eisner), our Council members, our CEO, and our local representatives. Use our email and social media. At a time when demand for physiology is rising, but when named Departments of Physiology in academic and scientific institutions are declining, it is more important than ever to use The Society as a central hub for activity. Use it as a focal point for networking, collaboration, sharing research news, and for promoting the importance of our subject. Indeed, our outreach and policy activities include, not only schools and universities but also other learned societies and government. As President, I hope to facilitate these aims, assisted by our staff, Council and members. I thank my predecessor Jonathan Ashmore for so assiduously bringing The Society to this auspicious moment. The period ahead must not to be another ‘post’ era. Rather it should be an age of original and productive physiology.