NEWS

New Committee!
The last 12 months have seen some turnover in the membership of the steering committee which coordinates the IgA nephropathy research community. We bade a fond and grateful farewell to Bob van Es (Leiden), Tony Clarkson (Adelaide) and Guiseppe D'Amico (Milan), who had been members since inception and had served the group faithfully for over 20 years. In their place we welcome John Feehally (Leicester), Rosanna Coppo (Turin) and John Knight (Sydney). Hideto Sakai (Tokyo) and Bruce Julian (Alabama) will stay on the committee to provide continuity. John Feehally has been acting as convenor, and John Knight has agreed to take on the role of secretary-treasurer

New Committee Meets!
Those committee members who were available met at the EDTA-ERA meeting in Nice in September 2000 and again at the ASN meeting in Toronto in October 2000. It was agreed that the group name might need to change; that a website and a newsletter would assist in communication between members of the group, and that a modest fee structure might be required to support these activities and to allow the committee to confer on a regular basis by teleconference.

New Name!
After some discussion, the committee agreed that the name of the group should become 'The International IgA Nephropathy Network' - a phrase which captures the complex web of friendships and research collaborations which has grown up over the years.

New Newsletter!
This is the first of a series of regular newsletters - perhaps two or three a year. The newsletters will be be emailed to everyone who joins the group and provides an email address. They will be placed on the website and on relevant list-servs. We will make them available to the editors of national and international nephrology society newsletters for part or full reproduction in those organs. Distibution on paper will be possible for those who don't have email. Contributions to the newsletter will be gladly received and should be sent to the webmaster@igan.net or to the address below.

New Website!
The IIgANN web site was launched in March 2001 and can be found at www.igan.net. It features information pages for patients and their families, for clinicans, and for researchers - with links to useful sites elsewhere on the Internet. There is a section on the forthcoming scientific meeting in Korea, and a constantly updated database of over 3000 articles on IgA nephropathy culled electronically from the PubMed archive. Your suggestions on additional material to be incorporated into the website will be gratefully received.

New Logo!
The web site incorporates a proposed new logo for the IIgANN. It is a stylised pen and ink drawing of a dimeric IgA molecule, with more than a passing resemblance to an octopus, or perhaps a spider. The octopus could be seen to represent the many arms of our research effort; the spider recalls the complex, fragile web of scientific and personal relationships with sustain the network. Do let us know what you think of it.

New Symposium!
The next International Symposium on IgA Nephropathy will be held in Kyongju, the ancient capital of Korea, on 1st-2nd November 2001. Professor Myung-Jae Kim and his committee are looking forward to welcoming delegates and have assembled a first rate array of invited speakers. Information about the meeting can be found on the website at www.igan.net/korea.htm

New Fee Structure!
Newsletters, websites committee meetings and the rest do cost money - not a lot of money, it's true, but enough to warrant the establishment of a modest fee structure for the network. In discussing this the committee was conscious that incomes vary widely around the world, and that information about IgA nephropathy research needs to be made available to everyone who might benefit from it, not just to those who can afford it. The decision has been made to introduce a voluntary annual subscription to the IIgANN of US$20. This can be most easily paid by credit card on the website. If you feel the need to send money right away, an alternative will be to send cash, a cheque or money order to the address below.

New Collection of Old Stuff!
Over the next few months we hope to capture some of the flavour of past scientific meetings. If you have programs, abstracts or other materials saved from the meetings contact the webmaster. Photos or other memorabilia would also be very welcome, particularly if they depict now distinguished elder statesmen in youthful indiscretions.

New Contact Details!
The International IgA Nephropathy Network
Centre for Kidney Research
The Children's Hospital at Westmead NSW Australia 2145
phone +61 2 9845 3037
fax +61 2 9845 3038
email webmaster@igan.net