Cell Stress Society International Records

The Cell Stress Society International promotes collaboration among the various fields of stress research, international scientific cooperation, and public awareness. The society is made up of scholars investigating stress responses using molecular and cellular approaches, or bridging from the molecular and cellular level to organismal biology including studies of natural populations and to clinical and environmental applications. The idea to organize an international cell stress society has it roots deep in Asia and in three events in particular.

The first event was the launch by Churchill Livingstone publishers of the journal Cell Stress & Chaperones in the fall of 1995 at the urging of attendees at an international meeting in Japan earlier that year. By 1999, the CSSI had taken ownership of its journal, assuring its successful survival. Takashi Yura was appointed Asia-Australia Regional Editor, and all of his successors have been Japanese scientists, including our current regional editor, Kazuhiro Nagata. These appointments acknowledged the major contributions that Japanese scientists have made to the cellular stress response field and their scientific leadership, especially in greater Asia.

The second event was the first World Congress of Stress, organized by Peter Csermely in Budapest in 1997. With an attendance twice the size of the largest previous meeting, the Budapest meeting demonstrated that there was great interest and enthusiasm from the global scientific community to support and attend international meetings in our field.

The third event was a workshop entitled “Molecular Biology of Stress Responses”, held in Varanasi later in 1997, and organized by Subhash Lakotia (India) at the encouragement of Wolfgang Schumann (Germany). Workshop participants agreed on the value of continuing these workshops in developing countries with an emphasis on giving international students access to our field.

By the second international workshop organized by Tangchun Wu and Robert M. Tanguay in Wuhan, P.R. China in 1999, the CSSI was a reality and the Wuhan workshop became the first event officially sponsored by the Society. With the sponsorship of the CSSI, the international workshops have continued with the third held in Mendoza, Argentina (Daniel Ciocca, organizer), the fourth in Wuhan, P.R. China (Tangchun Wu, organizer), the fifth in Concepción, Chile (Antonio De Maio, organizer), the sixth in Bangkok, Thailand (Wolfgang Schumann and , organizers) and the seventh in South Korea (organized by Eunil Lee). On a larger scale, the First CSSI International Congress (Quebec, 2003) was organized by Robert M. Tanguay. The Second CSSI International Congress (Tomar, Portugal, 2005) was organized by Claudina Rodriguez-Pousada, the third in Budapest (2007) by Peter Csermely as part of the Second World Congress of Stress, and the Fourth CSSI International Congress in Sapporo (2009), was organized by Noriyuki Sato. The upcoming Fifth CSSI Congress (2011), organized by Robert M. Tanguay, will be held in Quebec City. The CSSI Medallion for career achievement has been awarded to Takashi Yura, Susan Lindquist, Aaron Ciechanover, John Ellis, Costa Georgopoulos and Ferruccio Ritossa. The Alfred Tissières Young Investigator Award has gone to Anton Vila-Sanjorjo, Ellen Nollen and Wanping Xu. The Society continues to grow both in numbers and in international stature.