The 2018 annual ICMRS-ORS Membership Meeting was held in New Orleans on March 10, 2018. We have a total of 110 attendees with some eminent guests. To enhance the social bonding among our members and to better nurture our young investigators, this meeting adopted a new format, roundtable discussions, by asking the attendees to choose their interested topic during online registration and stay at the corresponded table during the entire meeting. Each table was led by 2-4 discussion leaders volunteered by the lifetime members of our society and NIH officials.

The meeting started with a Welcome Message from Dr. Ling Qin, President-elect and Chair of Program Committee, by acknowledging those ICMRS members who help to organize this meeting and introducing the new meeting format. Following that, Dr. Tingting Tang gave a Presidential Speech summarizing the progress of our society since his inauguration last year and his future plan in the next year, focusing on leadership and committees, membership recruitment, communications, regional development, journals, and fundraising. Our society has steadily grown in the past several years, now reaching more than 500 members and a total of 29 collaborating centers in China. In the past several months, we have established several regional development committees. We aim to form the scientific committee in the near future. Anyone who is interested in contributing to this committee and others, please contact our society directly (www.icmrs.net).

This meeting was then highlighted by the announcement of Webster Jee Young Investigator Awardees: Mengxi Lv from the University of Delaware, Luqiang Wang from the University of Pennsylvania, and Aubryanna Hettinghouse from New York University Medical Center. Each awardee gave a brief introduction about their outstanding research. They were presented with an award plaque and a cash prize of $500 each.

 

The following roundtable discussions were set in 10 tables, each with a distinct topic ranging from career development, publication, grant application, to musculoskeletal biology and engineering. With 24 experts from their respective areas and 4 NIH officials (Program Director and Scientific Review Officials), these discussions were actively carried out for an hour with some tables that lasted beyond the meeting closing time.

 

At the end, a surprise guest, Dr. Savio Woo, a member of both the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, gave a closing remark by urging young investigators to pursue the best science in their career.

The International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS) will hold its 2018 ICMRS-ORS Membership Meeting at New Orleans, LA, USA on Saturday, March 10^th, 2018. The meeting is organized to provide a forum for ICMRS members to exchange the information in all frontiers of musculoskeletal research to bridge the knowledge gap between the scholars from different research fields. To recognize the achievement of young ICMRS members, three Webster Jee Young Investigator Awards will be presented to the winners at the meeting. The winners will be announced during the membership meeting and each awardee will receive an award certificate/plaque and a cash award of $500. All applicants are required to attend the meeting because the award will only be given to the attendees. The program of 2018 ICMRS-ORS Membership Meeting will be announced soon.

Eligibility

l  Current ICMRS member (for registration: http://www.icmrs.net/join-us)

l  First author of accepted ORS abstract for 2018 annual meeting

l  Current graduate and/or medical student, post-doc or equivalent, junior faculty  

and professionals who received PhD or MD no more than 5 years

l  Has not received the award previously

l  Applicants are not required to be of Chinese heritage

Selection

The accepted ICMRS abstract in both blind and un-blind ORS abstract formats should be submitted to the following e-mail address: icmrs@icmrs.net, no later than January 31st. The size of attached documents should be smaller than 10 MB. All submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed in blind fashion by a review panel appointed by the ICMRS Program Committee. The top scored abstracts will be selected as the winners. As a general rule, no more than one award will be given to the applicants from the same research laboratory/group.

The 2017 annual ICMRS-ASBMR Membership Meeting was held in Denver on September 8, 2017.   A total of 78 active ICMRS members attended this meeting. Earlier this year, our society conducted an election to vote for President-elect, officers, and board members (election results are listed below). Therefore, this meeting marks an important transition of our leadership team. Dr. Ling Qin, the outgoing Membership Committee Chair and new President-Elect, presided over the meeting. The meeting started with a summary report from the departing president Dr. James Wang on the achievements of ICMRS under his leadership over the past two years (2015-2017), including revamping ICMRS website, implementing membership reform, establishing Mentorship Program, enhancing educational services, expanding China Collaborating Centers, and improving the financial status. He also highlighted our society’s official meeting, the 3rd International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Conference (ICMRC), which was successfully held in Shihezi, China, last month.

Following Dr. Wang’s report, our new President, Dr. Tingting Tang, gave an inaugural address introducing his new leadership team members and outlining his strategies of expanding our society within the next 2 years. One major move is to create two new regional development committees: Australia and Asean Development Committee and Europe Development Committee. Another focus is to launch Scientific Committees that promote research excellence and collaboration among members.

Dr. Qin, the President-Elect, introduced herself as a long-term society member, briefly covered the society history, and requested continuous support from our members.

This meeting was highlighted by the announcement of Webster Jee Young Investigator Awardees: Ren Xu from Cornell University, Jun Li from Rush University, and Wei-Ju Tseng form the University of Pennsylvania. Each awardee gave a brief introduction about their outstanding research. They were presented with an award plaque and a cash prize of $500 each.

 

2017 Newly Elected and Appointed ICMRS Officers:

President-elect:  Ling Qin, USA

Chair of Membership Committee: Peng Shang, China

Chair of Communication Committee: Neil Dong, USA

Chair of China Development Committee: Bin Li, China

Chair of Education Committee: Herb Sun, USA

Chair of Australia and Asean development committee: Jiake Xu, Australia

Chair of Women's Committee: Liyun Wang, USA

Co-chairs of Junior Leadership Development Committee: Liu Yang, China and Lucas Lu, USA

Treasure: Sherry Liu, USA

 

2017 Newly elected ICMRS board members:

Wei Yao, USA

Wentian Yang, USA

Jean Jiang, USA

The International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS) successfully convened the 3rd International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Conference (ICMRC-2017) in Shihezi, Xinjiang, China on Aug. 17-20, 2017. This biennial conference, concurrent with the 5th International Biomedical Forum of West China, was co-organized by ICMRS and Shihezi University, and hosted by the First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University. The theme of ICMRC-2017 was to "Enhance basic research, promote scientific and technological innovation, and serve ‘The Belt and Road’". Aiming at enhancing communication among medical research colleagues, exchanging the latest research findings and expanding the international view of domestic scholars, leading scholars from the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and the mainland China were invited to present the worldwide leading-edge research findings and technologies in the basic medical study of musculoskeletal system.

Prof. James H-C. Wang, ICMRS President and Conference Co-Chair, delivered a speech in the opening ceremony of ICMRC-2017 on behalf of ICMRS.

Prof. Chenhui Shi, President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University and Conference Co-Chair, chaired the opening ceremony of ICMRC-2017.

With nearly 400 attendees, 3 parallel sessions (2 basic science sessions and 1 clinical study session), 108 podium presentations (including 13 plenary lectures, 57 invited talks, and 38 oral presentations), and 63 poster presentations, ICMRC-2017 turned out to be a great success.

Besides the regular scientific presentations, ICMRC-2017 also featured translational strategies by inviting venture capital professionals to present valuable information on topics such as start-up financing and venture investment. Prof. Xu Cao, Immediate Past President of ICMRS and Conference Co-Chair, presented a special talk on utilizing venture capital to promote translational skeletal disease research. In addition, ICMRS Junior Leadership Development Committee (ICMRS-JLDC), chaired by Profs Liu Yang and Lucas Lu, organized a special session on the topic "How to publish a high impact paper" by ICMRS Junior Leadership Development Committee (ICMRS-JLDC). Professors Xu Cao, Hong Zhou, and Anne-Marie Malfait shared their thoughts for preparing high quality academic papers as well as how to follow with a rebuttal and get animal studies accepted for publication in high profile journals.

During the conference, the China Development Committee (CDC) also organized an ICMRS China Collaborating Centers (CCCs) & CDC business meeting, which included the CCC representatives, CDC members, newly approved lifetime members (LTMs) of ICMRS, and specially invited guests. President James Wang presented an opening remark and a brief introduction of important society affairs. Honor plaques were presented to the newly approved LTMs who attended ICMRC-2017. Four newly approved CCCs briefly introduced themselves. In addition, the Orthopaedic Research Center in the University of Hong Kong - ICMRS Collaborating Center for Bone Diseases and Aging, directed by Prof. William W. Lu, made a brief introduction to show their interest in hosting the 4th International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Conference (ICMRC-2019) in Hong Kong.

The Award Committee selected and presented 28 prizes in total, including 14 best presentations in the oral and 14 best presentations in the poster categories.

Finally, the conference ended with the closing remarks from Prof. Tingting Tang, President-elect of ICMRS, and Prof. Xu Cao.

At the 2017 ICMRC meeting, the Youth Development Committee successfully held an education session "How to Publish a High Impact Paper." This session chaired by Dr. Lucas Lu and Dr. Liu Yang, invited three outstanding speakers Dr. Xu Cao, Dr. Hong Zhou, and Dr. Anne-Marie Malfait, with the following topics:

Strategies for Preparing High Quality Academic Papers -Dr. Xu Cao

How to do rebuttal? -Dr. Hong Zhou

Publishing Animal Studies in a Good Journal -Dr. Anne-Marie Malfait

In response to the overwhelming interest and request from the attendees at the meeting, and with the generous support of these speakers, the slides from their presentations from Dr. Cao and Dr. Zhou are on the ICMRS website now for members only. Dr. Malfait's presentation, upon her further revision, will be available on the website soon. I hope you will enjoy and learn from these presentations. Please also pass this information to your colleagues who may be interested, and encourage those who are not members to join ICMRS to become a member to enjoy the membership benefits such as these valuable resources.

 

At the occasion of the grand opening ceremony of the Third International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Conference hosted in the Henghe Hotel in Shihezi, Xinjiang, the International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS) convened the establishment meeting of ICMRS-Junior Leadership Development Committee (ICMRS-JLDC) on the evening of August 17th. Prof. Liu Yang from the Orthopaedics Institute of Xijing Hospital, who is Co-Chair of ICMRS-JLDC, officiated the meeting.

Prof. James Wang, the current President of ICMRS, Prof. Tingting Tang, the President-Elect of ICMRS, Prof. Yixian Qin, the Chair of the Board Committee, Prof. Bin Li, the Chair of the Board Committee of China, Prof. Ling Qin, the Chair of the Membership Committee, Prof. Huibin Sun, the Chair of the Education Committee, Prof. Xin Lu, the Chair of the Overseas ICMRS-JLDC and ICMRS consultants---Prof. Huazhu Ke, Prof. Hong Zhou and Prof. Ling Qin attended the establishment meeting. Seventeen members of the first ICMRS-JLDC were also present at the meeting.

Prof. James Wang, President of ICMRS, reviewed the process of establishing ICMRS-JLDC, and highlighted the goals of this ICMRS Committee, which are to establish and seek more ICMRS collaboration centers in China, and promote internationalization of Chinese musculoskeletal research on behalf of ICMRS. He also stressed that it was important to cultivate more academic talents to sustain an ever-growing impact of ICMRS in years to come.

Other members of ICMRS-BOD also projected a vision of future ICMRS-JLDC. Prof. Tingting Tang and Prof. Bin Li put forward specific requirements for the future work of ICMRS-JLDC namely, assisting collaboration centers to facilitate ICMRS’s work, and making good use of the WeChat to propagate and carry out plans of education and publicity for ICMRS.

Prof. Liu Yang, as the Chair of the first ICMRS-JLDC, delivered a speech summarizing the requirements of all ICMRS-BOD members for the future work of ICMRS-JLDC:

1. ICMRS-JLDC would function as the link and bridge between domestic cooperation centers and ICMRS and seek all kinds of opportunities for collaboration, including applying for collaborative scientific programs, jointly training postgraduates, encouraging young scientists’ exchanging programs and even promoting visiting scholarship to facilitate academic dialogues.

2. ICMRS-JLDC not only will be responsible for expanding its own members, but also could recommend domestic musculoskeletal researchers or institutes to become ICMRS members or new collaboration centers to enhance influence of ICMRS in China.

3. ICMRS-JLDC would actively respond to future conferences of ICMRS, conduct academic reports, organize workshops, and facilitate hosting academic competitions for young scientists.

4. ICMRS-JLDC would strengthen academic exchanges between ICMRS and communities or conferences in the field of bone and mineral research to expand the impact of ICMRS in this field.

At the end of the meeting, Prof. Yixian Qin, Chair of ICMRS BOD, sent his wishes and concluded, “ICMRS-JLDC consists of vibrant and enthusiastic young scientists and they will be the hope of ICMRS in future!”

Please click here for the PDF version of this announcement.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

WEBSTER JEE YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD

2017 ICMRS-ASBMR MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Colorado Convention Center, Denver, USA

September 8^th, 2017

The International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS) will hold its 2017 ICMRS-ASBMR Membership Meeting at Denver, Colorado, on September 8th, Friday. The meeting is organized to provide a forum for ICMRS members to exchange the information in all frontiers of musculoskeletal research to bridge the knowledge gap between the scholars from different research fields. To recognize the achievement of young ICMRS members, three Webster Jee Young Investigator Awards will be presented to the winners at the meeting. The winners will be announced during the membership meeting and each awardee will receive an award certificate/plaque and a cash award of $500. All applicants are asked to attend the meeting because the award will only be given to the attendees. Applicants may find details about ICMRS at http://www.icmrs.net. For ICMRS, this is an year of transition  for the Presidency and new leadership will be announced in the meeting too. The program of 2017 ICMRS-ASBMR Membership Meeting will be announced soon.

Eligibility

l  Current ICMRS member (for registration: http://www.icmrs.net/join-us)

l  First author of accepted ASBMR abstract for 2017 annual meeting

l  Current graduate and/or medical student, post-doc or equivalent, junior faculty  

and professionals who received PhD or MD no more than 5 years

l  Has not received the award previously

l  Applicants are not required to be of Chinese heritage

Selection

The accepted ICMRS abstract in both blind and un-blind formats should be submitted to the following e-mail address: icmrs@icmrs.net, no later than August 1, Tuesday. The size of attached documents should be smaller than 10 MB. All submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed in blind fashion by a review panel appointed by the ICMRS Program Committee. The top scored abstracts will be selected as the winners. As a general rule, no more than one award will be given to the applicants from the same research laboratory/group.

Meeting Information

Time: September 8th, 2017, Friday, 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Location: Colorado Convention Center Denver

Registration: Free for members 

The International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS) cordially invites you to submit abstracts to the 3rd International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Conference (第三届国际华人骨科研究大会, ICMRC-2017), which will be held in Shihezi, Xinjiang, China on August 17-20, 2017. ICMRC-2017 is jointly organized by ICMRS and Shihezi University. It will also be held in conjunction with the 5th International Biomedical Forum of West China (第五届西部生物医学国际论坛). The theme of this conference is to “Enhance basic research, promote scientific and technological innovation, and serve The Belt and Road”.

In addition to the presentations by distinguished ICMRS representatives, we are happy that eight world renowned scholars have confirmed to attend ICMRC-2017 and deliver plenary lectures as follows.

Prof. Anne-Marie Malfait, Rush University       

Title: Neurobiology of joint pain in osteoarthritis

Prof. Regis O'Keefe, Washington University in St. Louis

Title: TBD

Prof. Henry Kronenberg, Massachusetts General Hospital

Title: PTH receptor signaling in osteolineage cells and growth cartilage

Prof. Mone Zaidi, Mount Sinai Hospital

Title: Treating osteoporosis and obesity with a single agent

Prof. Jonny Huard, University of Texas

Title: Depletion of adult stem cells during aging and disease: implication for stem cell therapy

Prof. Stuart Goodman, Stanford University      

Title: Repair of bone defects in the 21st century: Is it as easy as it seems?

Prof. Rocky Tuan, University of Pittsburgh     

Title: Adult stem cell, tissue-specific extracellular matrix, and biomimetic scaffold for skeletal tissue engineering and regeneration: repair, restore, and re-create

Prof. Nicola Partridge, New York University

Title: Parathyroid hormone signaling to the nucleus and comparison to the new osteoanabolic, Abaloparatide

The conference welcomes abstracts from the following themes.

     - New Perspectives in Musculoskeletal Research

     - New Insights in Osteoporosis

     - Advances in Joint Biology

     - Advances in Tissue Regeneration       

     - Musculoskeletal Stem Cells

     - Targeting Osteoporosis

     - Musculosketal Tissue Regeneration

     - Heterotopic Ossification

     - Orthopaedic Biomechanics and Mechanobiology

     - Orthopaedic Biomaterials and Implants

     - Translational Medicine

     - Metabolic Bone Diseases

     - Spine Fractures and Innovative Therapies

     - Bone Tumors and Rare Bone Diseases

Please prepare your abstract using the enclosed template. The Scientific Committee of ICMRC-2017 will select oral/poster presentations from submitted abstracts on a merit basis. Please indicate whether the presenting author is willing to give an oral presentation (preferably in English) if the abstract is selected. A number of awards (1st prize, 1; 2nd prize, 3; 3rd prize, 6) will be presented to the most outstanding presentations and the presenting author should be at the meeting to accept these awards.

Abstract submission is open now. The submission deadline is June 20, 2017.  Notification of acceptance will be sent to the corresponding author on July 15, 2017. Please follow the abstract template and submit your abstracts to icmrs2017@sina.com. 

For more information, please visit the ICMRC-2017 website:

http://www.icmrs2017-shz.cn/

We look forward to seeing you in Shihezi soon.

Sincerely,

Conference chairs:

Prof. James H-C. Wang, President of ICMRS, University of Pittsburgh

Prof. Xu Cao, Immediate Past President of ICMRS, Johns Hopkins University

Prof. Jianxin Xie, Dean, School of Medicine, Shihezi University

Prof. Chenhui Shi, President, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University

Chairs of academic committee:

Prof. Ling Qin, University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Cunyu Wang, University of California, Los Angeles

Prof. Regis O'Keeffe, Washington University

Prof. X. Edward Guo, Columbia University

Chairs of organizing committee:

Prof. Youhui Chen, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Prof. Xinyu Peng, School of Medicine, Shihezi University

Prof. Tingting Tang, Ninth People‘s Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Prof. Li Cao, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University

Executive chairs:

Prof. Yi-Xian Qin, Stony Brook University

Prof. Bin Li, Soochow University

Prof. Mingxia Jing, School of Medicine, Shihezi University

Prof. Weishan Wang, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University