1. Selection of the venue
Secretary of the Society, in good time before the annual conference, will write to different institutions regarding the holding of the next conference so that invitations for holding the next conference may be received from one or more places. The invitations will be placed before the Executive Committee which will select the venue in light of the invitee’s having an active cell biology group and its ability to provide boarding and lodging facilities to participants. Normally, two venues will be selected in order of preference so that if for some reason the sight selected has to withdraw its invitation, the second venue may hold the conference. The decision will be announced during the ongoing conference and also communicated to the inviting institution alongwith the approved guidelines. The announcement of the venue and the convenor’s name should be included in the News Letter.
2. Naming of the Conference
The annual conferences organized under the auspices of ISCB will be serially numbered and designated ALL INDIA CELL BIOLOGY CONFERENCE preceded by serial number (e.g. the conference organized in December 1989 will be designated XIII ALL INDIA CELL BIOLOGY CONFERENCE and so on).
3. Approximate time when conference should be organized
Last week of December
4. Duration of the conference
Three full days (with no parallel sessions)
5. Eligibility for participation:
a. Annual meeting of the ISCB will be open to all the categories of members of the society.
b. Non-Members who wish to register and/or participate in the Annual Conference should either become member of the Society or may become Sessional Member by paying a Sessional Membership fee in force from time to time (currently Rs.30.00) for the particular Annual Conference. The sessional membership fee will be collected by the Secretary /Treasurer of ISCB and will go to ISCB’s funds.
c. Every member will be entitled to register and participate in the meeting even if he/she does not intend presenting a paper in platform/poster sessions. Such members should intimate their intention to register and should request for accomodation to the convenor before the due date set for the purpose by the convenor. The convenor shall not refuse registration and accomodation during conference to any member of ISCB on grounds of non-presentation of paper at the conference/annual meetings. Each member of ISCB who has paid membership dues will be entitled to receive the abstract book and such other papers as are issued to all other registered participants.
6. Announcement
The convenor of the conference will send out appropriate circulars to all members of the Society (updated list of members to be provided by the Secretary), to all University Departments (related to Cell Biological research), research organizations/institutes where active research in Cell Biology is being pursued so that the Conference gets wide publicity and all Cell Biologists may participate (subject to their becoming member, regular or sessional, of ISCB). Scientists resident abroad also may be informed about the conference.
The following schedule of issuing the circulars etc is suggested:
ANNOUNCEMENT OF CONFERENCE (1st circular) : Feb.1- Feb.28 (for response to send 2nd circular)
CALLING OF ABSTRACTS (2nd circular): March 15 – April 30.
LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACTS: Sept. 1 – Sept.15.
ACCEPTANCE AND INTIMATION: Oct.15 – Oct. 30.
PROGRAMME (Final and other information): Nov.15 – Nov.30.
A. 1st Circular
The first circular should announce that the ISCB annual meeting is open only to members of ISCB and that non-members who wish to participate should either become regular or sessional member. The circular should also announce the membership fee for different categories and such membership fee collected by the convenor will be transferred to Treasurer, ISCB for issue of receipts and deposit in ISCB accounts.
The Convenor shall send a preliminary registration form in the first circular requesting following information:
Name, affiliation, whether wishes to present a paper/poster or only register and participate, whether accomodation is required; type of membership of ISCB. The first circular will also include the name, address of the Secretary of ISCB.
The first circular should also include announcement about prizes awarded by ISCB to its younger members.
The first circular should include information on areas of research in which papers will be accepted for presentation. The suggested areas of research in which papers may be accepted are as follows:
a. Structure and function of cell and cell organelles.
b. Differentiation and cellular regulation.
c. Cell physiology and biochemistry.
d. Chemical and radiation effects on cells and chromosomes.
e. Genetics and cytogenetics.
f. Molecular biology.
However, the areas may be modified by the convenor in consultation with the Secretary of ISCB to suit local arrangements.
B. 2nd Circular
The 2nd circular should give following details:
a. Registration fee
The amount will depend upon local conditions and the venue. All participants (local or outstation) will have to be registered. Proper receipts will be issued by the Convenor for registration fee. The registration fee should normally cover boarding and/or lodging charges.
b. Format of the abstracts
Abstracts of papers be invited for presentation either through platform or poster : the authors may be asked to give their preference but the final decision will rest with the organizers. All submitted abstracts will be subject to review committee (to be formed locally by the Convenor) and the Committee’s decision to accept or reject a submitted abstract will be final. The authors may be asked to give a declaration that they would abide by the decision of the Review Committee. No member can be author or co-author on more than 2 papers.
Abstracts (to be submitted in triplicate and error-free as per the sample format provided in the 2nd circular) will have a comprehensive title (indicating scope of the work), objective, method, observations and major conclusion/s. The abstract should be limited to 200 words and should be without illustrations. Essentially the abstracts should be self-explanatory so that not only the review committee can review it objectively for acceptance but the readers also find it meaningful. The format for preparation of posters should also be included in the 2nd circular.
c. Other informations
The 2nd circular should include a registration form accompanying the above information. The registration form should also ask if the student (author in the submitted abstract) wishes to compete for the awards for best presentations; if yes, the student be asked to provide information about his/her age and membership status (members below the age of 30 years and who have not already been selected for such award at an earlier conference of ISCB only are eligible for contest).
The registration form and the abstract/s should reach the convenor before the set deadline. A reasonable interval of time may be kept between sending of 2nd circular and the deadline for receiving abstracts etc. Though such deadlines are absolutely essential, the convenor may show some flexibility in extending this date for a reasonable amount of time (as per the available time schedule) in certain justifiable circumstances. for e.g., in certain research organizations, the abstract/s to be submitted for presentation at a conference are required to be scrutinized by their own Committees which may lead to some delay beyond the control of authors. The late abstracts may be kept in poster sessions if the time-table for platform presentation is already full. A few extra poster places may be kept for this purpose.
7. Programming of the Conference
While making the final programme, the Convenor will allot suitable time for the following
a. Inauguration
b. Plenary Lectures
c. Platform Sessions
d. Poster Sessions
e. Business of ISCB:
i. Executive Committee Meeting
ii. General Body Meeting
iii. Presidential and Endowment Lecture
iv. Concluding Session
f. Round Table Discussions
a. Inauguration
Generally, Inauguration should be a brief function and the Organizing Committee may invite a Chief Guest (e.g., Vice-Chancellor of a University or other dignitary). The Organizing Committee may also invite a distinguished scientist to give an Inaugural/Key Note Lecture, the subject matter of which should be related to Cell Biology in a broad sense. The President and/or the secretary of the society should also be on the dais at the Inaugural function. The President will welcome the participants on behalf of the Society. In the absence of President, one of the Vice-Presidents (determined in alphabetical order) or the Vice-President present will be on the dais and welcome the participants.
b. Plenary Lectures
The Organizing Committee can invite established Cell Biologists to give Plenary Lectures but these should not be more than one per day. About 40 minutes be allotted for each lecture.
c & d. Platform and Poster Sessions
The time for scientific sessions should be generally equally distributed between the Platform and Poster Sessions. In order to provide adequate time for presentation and questions, the number of platform session presentations be limited so that each presentation gets about 15 minutes (including discussion). For a given platform session, related papers should be carefully bunched so that they present a unity of theme. The Chairperson for the session should be chosen from amongst the senior participants who can give an appropriate introduction to the session, moderate questions and give a reasonable summary of the papers presented.
Poster sessions may also be arranged everyday and a group of posters related to that day’s platform sessions be arranged for display on the day (if space permits, all posters may be kept on display on all days). Some time should be allotted each day for a common discussion of the posters presented that day. The information about the day and time of display of a particular poster should be communicated to the author/s well in time.
e. Business of Society
In consultation with the Secretary of ISCB, suitable time should be fixed for :
i. Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Society and
ii. Meeting of the General Body of the Society
The Executive Committee meeting would generally be held on the 1st day of the conference while the General Body Meeting would be on the 2nd day. During the General Body Meeting, a Presidential address will be delivered. In the first General Body Meeting after assuming office, the President will give a lecture on his/her scientific work, while in the second year, the Presidential address will be on a more general topic. The Endowment lectures will be arranged separately from the General Body Meeting. The timing of these meetings should be such that they do not clash with any other event or sessions of the Conference.
f. Round Table Discussion
If the organizers feel it useful, they in consultation with the Secretary of ISCB may arrange a Round Table Discussion on specific topic but this should not cut into the time necessary for platform and poster sessions.
Before the final programme is prepared, the Convenor should send the tentative programme to the Secretary of ISCB who would ensure that the guidelines have been reasonably followed. After the concurrence, the organizing committee should send out the final and date of presentation of their papers etc. so that the participants have adequate time for preparation.
8. Abstract Book
The book of abstracts for the conference may be either printed or photo-reproduced. In either case the size, cover page pattern and the format of abstracts should be strictly followed as per the book of abstracts for the VIth All India Cell Biology Conference (1982, New Delhi). In addition to the registered participants for a given conference, the book of abstracts should be mailed to all members of the ISCB who are unable to attend the conference. The Convenor should therefore print abstract books equivalent to the sum of registered participants and non-participating standing members plus the number required for funding agencies etc. One copy of the book of abstracts will be given to the Secretary of ISCB for records of the Society. The Secretary of ISCB shall provide the convenor of the conference a list and addresses of all members according to the list. In case of financial difficulties, the ISCB will provide mailing charges for these abstract books.
9. Funding of the Conference
Ordinarily the Convenor will have to raise all the funds necessary for the conference. The society can make a suitable advance to the convenor for initial expenses on correspondence etc. but the amount thus advanced will have to be refunded to the Society from out of the funds collected by the convenor for the conference
a. Contribution from the host institution
b. Grants from agencies like CSIR, DAE, DBT, DOE, DST, ICAR, ICMR, INSA, UGC, etc.
c. Registration fee
d. Advertisements in the book of abstracts and/or souvenir brought out on the occassion
e. Exhibition fee
Of the funds, there will be two categories :
i. Institutional Grants (a and b above) and
ii. Non-Institutional (c – e above)
The Institutional grants for which proper accounts will have to be submitted to the concerned funding agencies, can be utilized for paying travel assistance to participants (preference to be given to younger members and those who may not have their own sources of assistance for the purpose), printing charges for the book of abstracts, local hospitality and such other expenses as admissible.
The Executive Secretary shall participate in every Annual General Body and Executive Committee meetings of the Society. If required, the Executive Secretary may be paid travel expenses (normally limited to AC 2 Tier return fare) for attending these meetings.
Money collected as non-institutional grants should be deposited in a bank account opened specially for the purpose and should be used for purposes for which the institutional grants may not permit. At the end of the conference, the Convenor shall get the accounts for the non-institutional grants audited and send the statement of audited account to the Secretary of the Society. The amount collected as Sessional Membership fee, if any, by the convenor will be transferred as such to the Treasurer of ISCB for issuing receipts. Any unspent balance from the non-institutional grant shall be deposited in Society’s Account.