Emma Ward
The Physiological Society

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.91.14a

20–24 April 2013, Boston, USA

This year’s EB meeting in Boston came in the wake of the devastating bombing of the city’s marathon.

Those arriving on the Friday found the streets deserted; trains and taxis suspended, public buildings closed and people advised to stay Indoors. A Boston police officer and one of the bombers had been shot the previous night, but a second suspect was on the loose so the city had been locked down while a manhunt ensued. There was non-stop ‘breaking news’ coverage and that evening saw the dramatic capture of the second bomber and resounding praise for the police force. There was a great sense of solidarity and the phrase ‘Boston strong’ reverberated across the city as an expression of unity and resilience.

The EB meeting went ahead as planned, The Society’s staff had managed to get into the exhibition centre before the lock down and get The PhySoc stand ready for business by Saturday morning while many other exhibitors had not been so lucky and were still setting up as the exhibition opened.

The newly constructed Exhibition centre easily accommodated the 13,000+ people from 65 countries attending the meeting. A browse around the massive exhibition hall was a good way to see what other societies and journals are up to.

The Physiological Society’s stand occupied a highly visible position and attracted a steady flow of visitors, including existing and potential members and authors, competitors and partners. Over the four days we scanned nearly 300 people’s registration badges to be followed up after the meeting, as requested. A modest percentage of the total attendees perhaps, but the Meeting covers a very broad spectrum of interests and a quick glance at The Society acronym on delegate badges helped decide whether browsers were genuinely interested or just after one of our ever popular pink lanyards, society bags, new journal notepads or simply UK travel advice.

The meeting had over 8000 posters and included concurrent programmes from the main participating societies:

• American Association of Anatomists (AAA)
• the American Physiological Society (APS)
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
• American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP)
• American Society for Nutrition (ASN)
• American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)

The Physiological Society had selected three of the most interesting symposia from the APS program ‘Physiology track’ for sponsorship and reports can be read online:

‘Fishing with flies, worms and bacteria: emerging models for mammalian membrane transport and trafficking’ organised by David Thwaites (http://jp.physoc.org/site/misc/jpevents.xhtml)

‘Recent advances in understanding mechanisms regulating breathing during exercise’ organised by Hubert Forster (http://jp.physoc.org/site/misc/jpevents.xhtml)

Neuroendocrine regulation of the mammalian reproductive axis organised by William Colledge (http://ep.physoc.org/site/misc/sympspecial.xhtml)

With so many interested parties all in the same place EB provided an ideal opportunity to hold formal and informal meetings between editorial board members, editors-in-chief, publishers, society committee chairs and staff. It also further developed relations with the APS, who generously hosted a number of social events.

The launch of the new Society and APS joint venture open access journal Physiological Reports caused quite a stir with very good attendance at the APS stand. Delegates came to meet Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Thomas Kleyman and other key staff. There was a great deal of interest – particularly in the ‘first 100 accepted articles for free.’

No visit to Boston would be complete without a visit to Fenway Park for a baseball game and this was highly entertaining despite freezing weather, a crushing defeat for the Red Sox, not really understanding the rules and our CEO almost being taken out by a hotdog stand.

As I left for the airport, a seemingly endless fleet of the city’s buses flanked by motorcycles was sedately powering along the harbour road displaying ‘special service’, ‘Officer Sean Collier’, ‘Never forget’ and ‘Boston strong’.