The American Physiological Society, Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology and American College of Sports Medicine announced the headline speaker as well as the complete schedule for their Intersociety Meeting on the "Integrative Biology of Exercise" to be held October 6-9, 2004 in Austin, Texas.

The three-day meeting features six pair of concurrent symposia, representing 50 speakers and papers, plus four hours each day to network and discuss the 330 volunteered papers submitted by researchers from around the world that will be presented in poster sessions.

"The submission of so many volunteered papers really speaks for itself and reflects the great interest generated by this conference," said Ronald L. Terjung, chair of the organizing committee of the meeting and professor in the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, College of Veterinary Medicine. "And the range of subjects is quite phenomenal, both in terms of the 12 symposia each organized by noted scientists, as well as the quality of the volunteered abstracts," Terjung added.

Bengt Saltin, IOC 2002 Olympic Prize winner, to address awards banquet

Terjung announced that the Saturday night awards banquet speaker will be Bengt Saltin, recipient of the International Olympic Committee 2002 Olympic Prize in Sport Sciences. Dr. Saltin is Director of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre. Dr. Saltin's research has covered a broad range of areas, including one partially underwritten by NASA, which showed that exercise, rather than bed rest, should be part of the recovery program after many types of illness or injury.

For full registration information and details about all aspects of the meeting, please go to: http://www.the-aps.org/meetings/aps/austin/index.htm.

The 12 symposia of Integrative Biology of Exercise meeting

-- Exercise-induced injury and repair of skeletal muscle: cellular and molecular mechanisms. Chair – Dan Garry and Mike Lindinger.

-- Genetic engineering and muscle performance. Chair – Joe Metzger.

-- Basic mechanisms contributing to physical inactivity-induced disorders. Chair – Frank W. Booth and P. Darrell Neufer.

-- Interpreting physiological adaptations to exercise and disease states through bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics. Chair – Eric Hoffman and Robert Grange.

-- Mechanical signal transduction: response and remodeling in the musculo-skeletal system. Chair -- Brenda Russell.

-- Altered cardiovascular control and blood flow to exercising muscles. Chair – Michael J. Joyner.

-- Mechanical forces and signal transduction in vascular remodeling. Chair – Steven S. Segal.

-- Cytokines, muscle and metabolism. Chair -- Pope Moseley and Bente Klarlund Pedersen.

-- Design of muscle for different functions. Chair – Larry Rome and Jack Rall.

-- Striated muscle hypertrophy: factors controlling cell enlargement and phenotype transformations. Chair – Kenneth M. Baldwin.

-- AMP-activated protein kinase: regulation of metabolic and transcription processes in contracting skeletal muscle. Chair – Neil Ruderman.

-- Comparative biomechanics and muscle function in terrestrial vertebrates: in vivo studies. Chair – Donald F. Hoyt and James Hicks.

In addition to the formal sessions, a large portion of the day is set aside for the volunteered abstracts/poster sessions with the authors, and networking. At the closing banquet, awards will be given to graduate and post-doc students based on their abstracts/posters.

Editors note: A complete program of abstracts is available from the APS Communications Office: Stacy Brooks 301-634-7253 , or sbrooks@the-aps.org.

The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied bioscience. The Bethesda, Maryland-based society has more than 10,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals containing almost 4,000 articles annually.

APS provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding the mechanisms of diseased and healthy states. In May, APS received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).