International Society for Applied Phycology

1. International Society for Applied Phycology

2. Brief report of the President on the activities of the International Society for Applied Phycology for the period 2002 to 2005

3. The Society - from the foundation in Montecatini, Italy (1999) to the Kunming (China) Conference (2005) During the 8th meeting of the International Association for Applied Algology held in Montecatini (Italy) on 29 September 1999, the decision was taken to form the International Society for Applied Phycology (ISAP). Prof. Johan Grobbelaar was elected as President and Prof. Mario R. Tredici as President Elect. Prof. Roberto de Philippis accepted to be the first Secretary/ Treasurer. Three years later, on 30 May 2002, during the 1st meeting of the ISAP in Almeria (Spain) Prof. Mario R. Tredici took the Presidency and Prof. Michael Borowitzka was elected as President Elect. Prof. Roberto de Philippis accepted to continue his activity as Secretary/ Treasurer. Today, in Kunming, the President Elect, Prof. Michael Borowitzka will take the Presidency, and the Assembly will Elect an Executive Committee that will nominate one of its member “President Elect”.

4. The Executive Committee (2002-2005) In Almeria (2002) an Executive Committee was elected and consisted of the following members Amha Belay USA Michael A. Borowitzka Australia Graziella Chini Zittelli Italy Alan T. Critchley Namibia Johan U. Grobbelaar South Africa Miguel Guerrero Spain Yuan Kun Lee Singapore Ralph A. Lewin USA Yong-ding Liu China Emilio Molina Grima Spain Arnaud Muller-Feuga France Luuc R. Mur The Netherlands Otto Pulz Germany Phang Siew Moi Malaysia Olav M. Skulberg Norway Giuseppe Torzillo Italy Avigad Vonshak Israel Rene Wijffels The Netherlands Brian A. Whitton United Kingdom Graziella Chini Zittelli, Avigad Vonshak and Giuseppe Torzillo resigned in 2003 and their place was taken by Sammy Boussiba (Israel), Shigetoh Miyachi (Japan) and Amos Richmond (Israel). To them all: thank you very much for the continuous help and support

5. Honorary members of the ISAP: In Almeria (2002) the following scientists received from the ISAP the title of Distinguished Applied Phycologist for their outstanding contibution to this field of science: Prof. Hiroaki Iwamoto Prof. Ralph Lewin Prof. Riccardo Materassi Prof. Shigetoh Miyachi Prof. William J. Oswald Prof. Amos Richmond Prof. Hiroaki Iwamoto passed away on the 1st of December 2004. His wife wrote to the President of the ISAP expressing her appreciation that the Society had honoured Prof. Iwamoto with the title of Distinguished Applied Phycologist.

6. Membership To date the Society has 170 full members, 31 student members and a corporate member. Web Site Thanks to the work of Roberto de Philippis, the Society web-site, where information about the Society life, events, and the association forms can be found, is regularly updated. Awards 2005 The Society will honour three senior scientists who have distinguished themselves in the applied phycology field. The Awards will be announced this evening at the Banquet. Constitution The by laws of the Society need to be modified to help the transition. Modifications and additions will be brought by the President Elect to the consideration and acceptance of the General Assembly. Finances Through the work of our Secretary/Treasurer we managed to end the term with a positive bank balance of about Euro 1800. Details will follow in the Treasurer’s report.

7. Organization of courses and congresses

8. Curso de Posgrado "Biotecnologia, Cultivo y Aprovechamiento Integral de las Microalgas (Trelew, Chubut)  The Course was organized by the Facultad de Ciencias Naturales of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia (Prof. Isabel Espindola, Dr. Edith Bocca, Dr. Cesar Arias) 54 students (from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela) attended the course  19 students could attend thanks to the support from the ISAP  All the students have expressed their appreciation and most of them the wish that the course might be repeated in the future.  During the course, 14 new members joined the Society

9. Curso de Actualización Profesional “Curso Regional de Postgrado en Biotecnología de Microalgas” 29 November - 7 December 2004 (Puntarenas - Costa Rica) Ofrecido por: Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Laboratorio Biotecnología de Microalgas (LABMA), Universidad Nacional (UNA) y la Escuela de Biología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Coordenadoras: Clemencia León; Margarita Silva Expertos invitados: Dr. Avigad Vonshak, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Dr. Sammy Boussiba, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Dr. Giuseppe Torzillo, Centro di Studio dei Microorganismi Autotrofi – CNR, Scandici, Italia. ISAP supported two students that could thus attend the course

10. CLABA 2004 ISAP promoted and supported the organisation of the 1st Latin American Congress on Algal Biotechnology (CLABA 2004) which was held in October 2004 in Buenos Aires. Organized by the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (Dr. Visitacion Conforti, Dr. Monica Storni, Dr. Cristina Zaccaro, Dr. Gloria Zulpa)  the congress was declared of national significance by the Senate  more than 100 participants  9 young researchers and students from Latin America could attend thanks to the support from the ISAP 12 lectures and numerous posters were presented by members of our society. The support of ISAP was much appreciated and formally recognized by the organizers.  during the symposium, 13 new members joined the Society  The 2nd Latin American Symposium on Algal Biotechnology will be held in Xalapa (Veracruz, Mexico) in 2007. For Information  Prof. Eugenia Olguin

11. Activities discussed or planned, but not finalised • 1 – The following ad hoc “Committee on standards and quality control of algae • for human consumption” was appointed: • Amha Belay (USA) • M. Borowitzka (Australia) • Alan Critchley (South Africa) • J. Grobbelaar (South Africa) • Yong-Ding Liu (China) • O. Pulz (Germany) • B. Whitton (G.B.) • M. Tredici (Italy) • A. Ben Amotz • TASKS • establish a database of all producers of algae and algal products used in food. • put together a complete inventory of existing official and unofficial standards including QC data from actual producers • compile a list of the potential key regulatory agencies in as many countries as possible, but in particular the EC, USA, Australia, India, Japan, China, Korea, etc. • 2 - A course on Algal Biotechnology to be held in Africa was suggested by Dr. Amha Belay • 3 - A course on Basic and Applied Phycology to be held in Wageningen (The Netherlands) was discussed with Prof. R. Wijffels, who diligently prepared a detailed programme • 4 - A training workshop on Algal Biotechnology, to be organised in Malaysia, jointly with APSAP, was discussed with Prof. Phang Siew Moi.

12. Acknowledgements The support from the EC, as well as that of Roberto de Philippis, is greatly acknowledged. A special word of thanks deserves the LOC of the Kunming Congress. Prof. Mario R. Tredici President