From owner-vectors@net.bio.net Wed Apr 01 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: Menoret Newsgroups: bionet.biology.vectors Subject: hsp-immunity Date: 2 Apr 1998 03:53:09 -0800 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 6 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: vbmod@klab.agsci.colostate.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <6fvu75$hvj@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net The Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases organize the first international conference on : Heat Shock Proteins in Immune Response. For more information visit ; http://www.hspimmunity.com From owner-vectors@net.bio.net Tue Apr 07 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: St=E9phane Blanc Newsgroups: bionet.biology.vectors Subject: Post-Doc offer Date: 8 Apr 1998 03:12:11 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 55 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: vbmod@klab.agsci.colostate.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <6gfihr$cf3@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net POST-DOCTORAL POSITION A post-doctoral position, starting between september and december 1998, is available with St=E9phane Blanc at the Station de Recherches de Pathologie Compar=E9e, Saint-Christol-lez-Al=E8s, FRANCE. The Lab is currently working on the elucidation of the molecular mechanims of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) aphid transmission. Several projects are in progress such as: (i) study of the interaction between the aphid transmission factor and cellular microtubules (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93, 15158-15163); Possible applications of this property in plant pathology and beyond. (ii) Characterization of an additionnal (viral) factor involved in aphid transmission. Indeed virus particles and aphid transmssion factor are not sufficient for aphid transmission to occur. An additional viral gene product is now identified as a co-factor regulating the interactions between virus and vector. This is so far a unique phenomenon among viruses transmitted in a non-circulative, helper-dependent manner. etc....... The post-doc will be expected to develope a project related to either (i) or (ii) in agreement with St=E9phane Blanc. Post-doctoral position is for 1 year with possible extension for a second year and the salary will be around 10 000FF a month, after tax. CV and applications are to be ready by june 1998 and the candidate will be selected during july or august. FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONS PLEASE CONTACT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (E. Mail preferred) Stephane BLANC Station de Recherches de Pathologie Comparee INRA-CNRS 30 380 Saint Christol-lez-Ales FRANCE phone +33 04 66 78 37 15 Fax +33 04 66 52 46 99 E. Mail Blanc@ensam.inra.fr From owner-vectors@net.bio.net Mon Apr 13 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: Matthew Baylis Newsgroups: bionet.biology.vectors Subject: PhD studentship in UK Date: 14 Apr 1998 10:13:26 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 59 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: vbmod@klab.agsci.colostate.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <6h05fm$ai0@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net We have a PhD studentship on offer from October 1998, based at Pirbright, Surrey, UK (near London). Title: Entomological aspects of the transmission of arboviral diseases by Culicoides biting midges to be supervised by Dr Matthew Baylis and Dr Philip Mellor, Department of Arbovirology, Division of Epidemiology, starting September 1998 for 3 years. Biting midges of the genus Culicoides are the vectors of certain viral diseases of livestock, including bluetongue (BT), a common disease of ruminants, and African horse sickness (AHS), a disease of equines. Both are OIE List A' diseases, causing high mortality and morbidity in susceptible animals, and are economically of great international importance. BT virus has a wide geographical distribution between 400N and 350S, while AHS virus is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Both viruses may be epidemic outside of these areas. The major old-world vector of the viruses is Culicoides imicola, while in North America BT virus is transmitted by C. variipennis. Simulation modelling of the epidemiology of African horse sickness has highlighted several factors of which little is known and which add considerable uncertainty to model predictions. These factors have been listed as priorities in empirical research. This PhD will attempt to derive accurate estimates of 3 of these factors using a combination of field, laboratory, mathematical and statistical techniques, and will prove invaluable in further developing mathematical models of African horse sickness, bluetongue and other Culicoides-borne arboviral diseases. The most important factors to be derived are: (1) The proportion of the midge population that feeds on suitable hosts. This will be achieved using ELISA of blood meals in trap-caught midges. (2) The feeding frequency of the midges. This will be achieved by nightly sampling of Culicoides populations over extended periods of time (months) and utilising time-series analysis to identify cycles within the data. (3) The mortality rates of midges. This will be achieved using the same data collected in (2) by statistical examination of parous rates and, thence, derivation of mortality rates. (4) The relative population size of midges to hosts. A variety of techniques will be used, including MRR (Mark, Release, Recapture), use of sticky cloths fixed to hosts, and calculations based on the combination of (1) and (2) above. All field work will initially be conducted at Pirbright on the potential vector species, C. obsoletus and will involve some work with large animals (horses, sheep). Having obtained preliminary data, and having established appropriate techniques, parts of this work will be repeated on the AHS and BT virus vector, C. imicola, at a suitable site in Africa. Application deadline: 15th May 1998 For informal enquiries email matthew.baylis@bbsrc.ac.uk or telephone 01483 232441 ext 255. For more information on IAH see http:/www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk For application forms contact Samantha Cook, Institute for Animal Health, Compton, near Newbury, Berkshire RG20 7NN (tel: 01635 577261; fax 01635 577263; email samantha.cook@bbsrc.ac.uk). From owner-vectors@net.bio.net Mon Apr 27 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: BIOSCI Administrator Newsgroups: bionet.biology.vectors Subject: BIOSCI/bionet miniFAQ & Fundraiser Date: 28 Apr 1998 04:21:06 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 234 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: vbmod@klab.agsci.colostate.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <6i4e32$rt7@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net (LAST REVISION: 30-JUL-95) This BIOSCI "miniFAQ" is designed to answer the questions that come up the *most frequently*. The main BIOSCI FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is accessible on the World Wide Web at URL http://www.bio.net/. If you can not find an answer to your question in this or other documentation, the BIOSCI technical support staff answers e-mail queries sent to biosci-help@net.bio.net We can only answer questions about the use of the newsgroups and mailing lists. We unfortunately do not have the staff to do Internet information searches or answer scientific questions. Please post those to the appropriate BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups. Contents: -------- 0) BIOSCI NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!! 1) Using the WWW to access the BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups. 2) What to do about "spams," i.e., junk mail, ads, etc. 3) Examples of subscribing and unsubscribing to the mailing lists. 4) The BIOSCI user address and research interest directory. 0) BIOSCI NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!! ------------------------------ BIOSCI's government funding has been expended, and we are now operating solely from advertising revenue that we have raised from our Web site at http://www.bio.net/. We need just a few minutes of your time to help us serve you. You can do two important things which will take very little time for you individually and will immensely help us continue to help you. First, please use our WWW system at http://www.bio.net/ to access the archives. You can post or reply to messages via your Web browser as described in item #1 below. Your usage helps attract sponsors. If you contact any of our sponsors, please be sure to thank them for supporting BIOSCI. It is critical for them to get this feedback if they are to continue their sponsorship for the long term. Second, if you work for a company or organization that provides products or services of interest to the biology community, please pass this message on to your marketing or marketing communications department or other appropriate group. Please ask them to help support BIOSCI by sponsoring our Web site and explain the uses and benefits of the system to the biology community. If they are interested, they can then contact us for further information at our tech support address, biosci-help@net.bio.net. 1) Using the WWW to access the BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups. -------------------------------------------------------- As of 10 December 1995, all BIOSCI/bionet full newsgroups are accessible through the World Wide Web (WWW) at URL http://www.bio.net. One can read and reply publicly or privately to both recent postings and archived messages through one's Web browser if it is configured properly to send e-mail. Each newsgroup is equipped with its own WAIS index. The main BIOSCI home page also has access to the BIO-JOURNALS Table of Contents database WAIS index and the BIOSCI user address database described in another item further below. 2) What to do about "spams," i.e., junk mail, ads, etc. ------------------------------------------------------- BIOSCI is a set of parallel USENET newsgroups (the "bionet" groups), mailing lists, and a hypermail archive at URL http://www.bio.net/. The same postings are distributed on all media (except for a small number of mailing-list-only groups at net.bio.net). Unfortunately it is becoming a despicable practice on the Internet (by a few people out to make a fast buck) to do automated mass postings to thousands of newsgroups and mailing lists. These attempts to grab free advertising are refered to as "spams" in the usual, somewhat boneheaded, net terminology. USENET is more susceptible to this practice, and many spams originate on the USENET groups and then are passed on to the mailing lists. However, spammers also get lists of mailing addresses and hit these too, so neither medium is immune. What should you do personally if you get junk mail? --------------------------------------------------- Just delete it and move on without reading it further. Filing a protest is becoming increasingly useless because spammers are often disguising the addresses where the messages are sent from. Unless you really understand Internet mail systems, your attempt at protest by sending replies to the message will often end up being sent to the address of an innocent person that the spammer is victimizing. What can BIOSCI/bionet do to protect its newsgroups? ---------------------------------------------------- The only solution currently available is to moderate the newsgroup. If this newsgroup is already moderated, then you are in good shape. Moderation protects the USENET distribution from about 95% of the spams that are being sent to date and protects the mailing lists completely. Moderation means, however, that someone has to take the time to review each message before it goes out. We have set up software here that simply allows the moderator to forward to an address at net.bio.net messages that (s)he wishes to have distributed. This takes no more time than that needed to read the message and pass it on, say about 1 min. per message. Most newsgroups currently have a discussion leader who is responsible for their newsgroup. The discussions leaders and their e-mail addresses are listed in the BIOSCI Information Sheet which is available on the Web at http://www.bio.net/. If a newsgroup is being hit with too many junk postings, please contact the discussion leader for that group and see if there is interest in moderating the group. Please do not assume that by simply posting a complaint to the newsgroup itself, anyone on the BIOSCI staff will act on your complaint. 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For those of you with local USENET news systems, the Web interface will also give you faster access to new newsgroups and recent postings. 3) Examples of subscribing and unsubscribing to the mailing lists. ------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE NOTE: The BIOSCI management does NOT act on subscription/unsubscription requests that are posted improperly to the newsgroups and mailing lists. People who do this only bother everyone on the lists to no avail. Please be sure to follow the proper procedures below. Gory details are in the BIOSCI Information sheets on the Web at http://www.bio.net. Below we give an example utilizing the METHODS-AND-REAGENTS list at both of our two BIOSCI sites: Users in the Americas and Pacific Rim countries who use the BIOSCI ------------------------------------------------------------------ node at computer net.bio.net: ---------------------------- A) Determine the "listname" which is the <=8 character mail address ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ for the group. These can be found in the BIOSCI Info. Sheet. For the METHODS-AND-REAGENTS group the mailing address is methods@net.bio.net. The listname is the portion of the address to the left of the @ sign, i.e., "methods". The listname is used with the "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" commands illustrated below. B) Mail all commands in the body of a mail message addressed to biosci-server@net.bio.net. Do NOT send commands to the newsgroup posting addresses! Leave the Subject: line blank, any text on it will be ignored. 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For the METHODS-AND-REAGENTS list the USENET newsgroup name is bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts, thus the appropriate commands are sub bionet-news.bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts unsub bionet-news.bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts These commands are included in a message addressed to mxt@dl.ac.uk, NOT to the newsgroup mailing addresses. As usual, include the text in the body of the message as text on the Subject: line is ignored. To unsubscribe from all the lists at the UK node, use unsub bionet-news Please note that if the address in the list is different than the one in your mail message header, you will not be able to unsubscribe by this method. If you have problems, please mail biosci@daresbury.ac.uk. 4) The BIOSCI user address and research interest directory. ----------------------------------------------------------- Please take this opportunity to add your name, address, and research interest information to the BIOSCI User Address Database if you have not already done so. You can fill out the address form directly through our Web page at URL http://www.bio.net/adrform.html. The address database is reindexed nightly for WWW access (the URL is http://www.bio.net/). If you are not directly on the Internet but can reach it by e-mail, please use our waismail server to access the user directory. waismail use is described above. You can also request a user address form by e-mail from biosci-help@net.bio.net. Please check your database entry from time-to-time to see if your address information is still up-to-date. Because of our limited personnel resources, we ask that you resubmit a *complete* form to revise your entry; we only replace complete entries and do not have resources to edit old forms. From owner-vectors@net.bio.net Thu Apr 30 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena Newsgroups: bionet.biology.vectors Subject: Postdoctoral Position in Mosquito Molecular Genetics Date: 1 May 1998 04:48:56 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 63 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: vbmod@klab.agsci.colostate.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <6iccr8$o5a@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net POSTDOCTORAL POSITION OPEN=20 Mosquito Molecular Genetics =09A postdoctoral position is open in my laboratory to study gene expression in the mosquito. The mosquito is essential for transmission of Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria. When the mosquito ingests an infected blood meal, the gut is the first site of interaction between the insect host and the parasite.=20 =09One of our objectives is to characterize gut-specific promoters. These may be used to express anti-parasite molecules in the gut of genetically modified mosquitoes. Most gut-specific genes characterized to date are induced relatively late (~24 h) after ingestion of a blood meal, at a time when the parasites are separated from the secretory epithelium by a thick chitin-containing peritrophic matrix. However, we have recently identified a gene that is activated strongly (~10-fold) and early (< 30 min) after blood ingestion (Edwards et al., Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 27:1063-1072, 1997). We are functionally characterizing the corresponding promoter by expression in transgenic Drosophila (see Xiong and Jacobs-Lorena, PNAS 92:9313-9317, 1995) and by introducing the gene into mosquitoes either with retroviruses (in collaboration with Jane Burns) or with transposable elements.=20 =09Another objective is to identify genes encoding 1) components of the chitin-containing, extracellular peritrophic matrix (a potential barrier for Plasmodium development) and 2) =93early=94 regulatory genes (transcription factors?) required for the activation of the =93late=94 digestive enzyme genes. By use of subtractive libraries and by immunoscreening we have identified a gene encoding a gut-specific chitinase (Shen and Jacobs-Lorena, J. Biol. Chem. 272:28895-28900, 1997), a gene encoding a peritrophic matrix protein hypothesized to be a =93molecular crosslinker=94 of chitin fibrils (Shen and Jacobs-Lorena, J. Biol. Chem., in press) and a gene encoding a major mucin-like surface protein which is a candidate receptor for Plasmodium invasion (submitted for publication). =09We are also using a =93phage display library=94 to define peptide sequen= ces that interact with specific mosquito organs. This project may lead to identification of host receptors used by mosquito-transmitted parasites.=20 =09Malaria kills about 2 million people per year. The situation has been worsening because of increased drug and insecticide resistance, and for lack of an effective vaccine. Studying insect-parasite interactions may lead to novel approaches to disease control. In addition to the high medical relevance, it is worth pointing out that this rapidly expanding research field has recently been receiving increased attention and financial support from the NIH and other funding agencies. =09For further information please contact: Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena Case Western Reserve University =09 School of Medicine =09 Department of Genetics =09 10900 Euclid Avenue=09genetics/ Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4955 Tel: (216) 368-2791 FAX: (216) 368-3432 Internet mxj3@po.cwru.edu Web site: http://meds20547.meds.cwru.edu/dept/