Minutes of the Microsporidia Division Business Meeting
Monday, August 04, 2008, 19:45

The annual business meeting of the Microsporidia Division was attended by 18 Division members, among them officers David Oi, Dörte Goertz, Susan Bjørnson, and Regina Kleespies.  The session was chaired by Regina Kleespies.  The minutes of the 2006 Division Business meeting (published in the SIP Newsletter 40 (3) 07) were unanimously approved as written.

Symposia and Workshops 2008
1.   ‘Microsporidia in Aquatic Arthropods’. Symposium. (Regina Kleespies).

2.   ‘Pathogens of Bees’. Cross Divisional Symposium with Virus and Bacteria Divisions. (Ingemar Fries).

3.   ‘Use of QPCR to Quantify Microsporidia Infection’. Workshop. (David Oi).

Chairperson’s report, including report on SIP Council meeting
Regina Kleespies reported from the SIP Council Meeting that the Society needs to reduce expenses and, therefore, the Divisions must use their own funds for to support non-member speakers for symposia at the SIP 09 Meeting.  Divisions can, however, apply for additional funding from the President’s discretionary fund, if necessary.  Each division will receive US$ 750 for student travel awards from the SIP general fund, as in the past.
James Becnel, member of the Founder’s Lecture Committee, asked for nominations for future Founders’ Lecturers and Honorees.

Travel awards 2008
Three invited symposium speakers were supported with US$ 250 each towards their travel costs:  Ellen Decaestecker, Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, KU-Leuven Campus Kortrijk, Belgium; Miroslav Hyliš, Department of Parasitology and Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Czech Republic, and Rémi A. Wattier, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne, France.

Yi-chun Tsai, National Taiwan University, was awarded a Microsporidia Division student travel award (US$ 500) for her paper ‘Life cycle of a microsporidian isolate (Nosema sp.) from the three spot grass yellow butterfly, Eurema blanda arsakia’, and Geoffrey Williams, St. Mary’s College, Canada, received a travel award (US$ 250) for his paper ‘Does fumagillin control the microsporidian Nosema ceranae in western honey bees (Apis mellifera)?’

Membership and Financial report 2007-2008
Membership increased from 51 in 2007 (51 regular and emeritus, no students) to 56 (50 regular and emeritus members, 6 students).  The Division's fund balance at the end of the fiscal year, 4/30/2008, was US$ 2,671.00.

Election of new officers
Elections of new officers were held.  Regina Kleespies reported that a nominating committee (Andreas Linde, Gernot Hoch, Rudolf Wegensteiner, and Leellen Solter) appointed by the Division Chairperson nominated the following candidates: Chairperson-Elect:  Dörte Goertz (Austria),  Secretary-Treasurer:  Susan Bjørnson (Canada),  Member-at-Large:  Liu Jiping (China).  The names of the candidates were published by e-mail to members prior to the SIP meeting (July 14th, 2008), and on the information board at the SIP meeting.
All three candidates were unanimously elected.
In addition, a new student representative Yi-chun Tsai (Taiwan) was elected.

Committees of the Division
The members of the committee of the student travel awards for the past several years were Leellen Solter (Chair), James Becnel, and Theodore Andreadis, and Dörte Goertz for one year.  They asked to step down from this position.  Three new candidates were asked to take over this position:
Judith Smith (United Kingdom), Susan Bjørnson (Canada), and Gernot Hoch (Austria). All three candidates were unanimously accepted.  Gernot Hoch will chair this committee.

Microsporidia Division Officers 2008-2009
Chairperson:                       David Oi, USA (2008 to 2010)
Chairperson-Elect:            Dörte Goertz, Austria (2008 to 2010)
Secretary-Treasurer:         Susan Bjørnson, Canada (2008 to 2010)
Member-at-Large:               Emma Ormond, United Kingdom (2007 to 2009)
Member-at-Large:               Liu Jiping, China (2008 to 2010)
Student Representative:  Yi-chun Tsai (Taiwan) (2008 to 2009)

Leellen Solter, James Becnel, and Gernot Hoch worked intensively on the Division website and updated the information.  Leellen Solter reported that a part of the webpage was updated by Margaret Rotstein, and she will contact the new secretary, Cecilia Schmitt, to set the final version into the internet right after the meeting.  James Becnel asked for support of the Division members to send scientific photos or photos of people working in microsporidia science.

Symposia Suggestions for 2009
In preparation of the SIP 09 Meeting, David Oi will soon send out a call to Division members for proposals for symposia and a Division workshop.

Regina Kleespies thanked the Division members and officers for their excellent cooperation.  The business part of the meeting was adjourned at 20:15, and the chair was turned over to David Oi who organized the Microsporidia Division Workshop: ‘Use of QPCR to Quantify Microsporidia Infection’.  The workshop refreshments were supported with US$ 75 from the President's discretionary funds.

Business Meeting and Workshop were adjourned at 22:15.

Respectfully submitted by:
Regina Kleespies & Dörte Goertz