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Interview with Paul Townsend
Recently I had a chance to sit down with Paul Townsend, scientific chair of our first European cardiovascular meeting: Molecular Regulation of Cardiac Disease Symposium, May 14-15 2009, London, UK.
Paul was kind enough to share some of his insight as to why this is an Abcam event that is not to be missed.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your background and what type of research your lab is interested in?
A: I'm a molecular cell biologist by bachelors degree from York University, UK and have a biochemistry PhD. I was a PhD student with Professor Michael Horton at the then Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK). The focus of my lab's research is understanding cellular stress responses in the heart and a variety of cancer cells. We know that cells respond in very different ways to noxious stimuli, such as hypoxia and chemotherapeutics, and we are eager to discover how stresses are tolerated, how are death-inducing processes bypassed in disease and can they be manipulated for possible therapeutic targeting.
Q: How did you first connect with Abcam and come to chair the first European cardiovascular meeting?
A: In fact Abcam contacted me! I was chairing the apoptosis session at American Heart Association in Chicago and an Abcam Marketing Manager chased me after the session and basically interrogated me for ages! From there onwards my lab and Abcam have had a fruitful relationship.
Q: When planning this meeting you recommended quite a few invited speakers; any names that are familiar to fellow cardiovascular researchers?
A: Very much so, in fact all of the speakers I have invited are champions in their specialty. I wouldn't want to pinpoint anyone particularly but it's truly remarkable that we have been able to attract such esteemed US investigators. I can't thank them enough for taking time out of their busy labs to come and present their latest findings at our meeting.
Q: As the meeting chair you've had a chance to review all of the submitted oral and poster abstracts. What topics are you most excited about?
A: There was a huge amount of exciting development and stem cell abstracts, especially those focusing on cardiogenesis. I was also taken back by the quality of all the other subject material, especially that on cardiac hypertrophy.
Q: What types of things have you done differently to set this meeting apart from other cardiovascular-related meetings?
A: I have kept it small and in Europe. The AHA is a wonderful meeting but it's large and since it's later on in the year and always in North America it can be expensive for young researchers to attend. By holding our meeting in London and keeping the costs down, it has allowed early-career researchers the opportunity to hear and meet the world's leading eminent cardiobiologists.
Q: What type of researchers is this meeting targeted to? Who do expect will attend?
A: It's targeted towards researchers – both younger students, masters and PhD, but also the first and second-time post docs. It's a meeting that I hope will be interactive, integrative and fun.
Q: You've attended other Abcam conferences before, what are some of the benefits that you see with these conferences as opposed to other larger cardiovascular meetings?
A: They're focused – they aim to hone in one or two key areas in state-of-the art research. They also allow time for talking and sharing ideas. This can be lost in the larger meetings as you are running from one exhibition hall to another!
Q: When you're not leading the Apoptosis and Gene Regulation Lab in the Human Genetics Division at Southampton University, co-founding pharmaceutical companies or chairing Abcam meetings what types of things do you like to do and do you have time to do them?
A: That's a really good question! My wife Kathryn tells me I do too much and appear to have my Blackberry permanently attached to my hand! I have recently become a father and I have a 16 month old son. He means the world to me and he's given me the opportunity to enjoy myself that little bit more! I adore science and my team's research and really get excited by teaching. But having my son and teaching him to swim for example are just the happiest times of my life. I also love Scuba diving when I get the chance and watching my beloved Derby County play football (and hopefully winning!).
If you would like to meet Paul, along with many other top cardiovascular researchers, registration for Molecular Regulation of Cardiac Disease Symposium is still open. Better yet, if you're interested in presenting a poster, poster abstracts are being accepted until Friday March 27, 2009. I hope to see you there!
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