Tissue Culture Association records - Historical Note
On November 10-13, 1946, a conference on tissue culture was held in Hershey, Pennsylvania and sponsored jointly by the panels on cellular physiology, cytochemistry, and nutrition of the Committee on Growth and was paid for by the American Cancer Society. After the final session of the conference a group of sixteen interested persons met to establish an informal organization of investigators who use tissue culture techniques. Primary objectives were discussed and a slate of temporary officers were elected. Keith Porter was elected Chairman, Margaret Murray, secretary, George O. Gey, Duncan Heatherington and C.M. Pomerat, Executives and Honor Fell, European Member at Large.
It was decided that the initial aims of the new Tissue Culture Commission (TCC) would be twofold. The first was to look at kinds of media needed by workers in the field and to examine the possibility of preparing these ingredients at a central lab for distribution at a moderate cost. The second aim was to prepare a bibliography of published research in tissue culture since its inception and cross-index it for publication. In addition it was decided that membership would be open to any investigator using tissue culture methods in research.
The first meeting of the Executive Committee was held in March 1, 1947 at the Rockefeller Institute. At that time, much of the discussion was centered around the subject of media production. It was determined that the TCC should certify the products it offered. In addition, methods for developing the proposed publication of a Bibliography were considered.
In October of 1948, a testing laboratory, where media could be certified for distribution, was set up by Keith Porter at the Sloane-Kettering Institute and was supervised by the Executive Committee. In addition, 1948 saw the first in a series of annual tissue culture courses taught. This first course was held at the University of Toronto, and thereafter at different institutions around the country.
In 1948 and 1949, meetings were held in conjunction with those of the American Association of Anatomists. At the 1949 meeting the first slate of officers was elected with George Gey becoming the first president. At that time the commission adopted a constitution and officially became the Tissue Culture Association (TCA). By this time Dr. Margaret Murray had begun the process of directing the work on the Tissue Culture Bibliography and the initial results of that effort were published in 1952.
By 1958, due to changing conditions, some within the Executive Committee began to feel that it was time to move away from a methods based society and evolve into a new form. To this end a committee was formed to look into the possibility of reorganizing TCA. Discussions centered around the notion that the reorganization would bring into being essentially a new society with a new name but have a continuity of officers and TCA activities. The focus of this new society would be cell biology or cytology. It was determined that a referendum of the membership should be held to determine their views. The results of the letter sent to the entire membership showed that they were generally favorable toward the idea of reorganization. It was decided that one of the first steps should be a change to the TCA constitution and possible names for the newly reorganized society were proposed.
By April 1959 discussions and planning had progressed to the point where an organizing committee was formed, with Keith Porter as chair, to begin the process. On January 9, 1960 this committee met in New York and essentially drew up the blueprint for what would become the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). There were some among the membership however, including former officers, who felt that TCA was being railroaded out of existence and that the proposed new society would not adequately represent the interests of all current members. Further, there had been no vote to authorize changes to the TCA constitution and no vote of the membership had been taken. As a result, by the time that the organizing group again met in May of 1960, it had been decided that the two ‘entities’ would run concurrently for a period and they would let nature take its course. Ultimately both TCA and ASCB continued independently and the reorganization of TCA never materialized and in 1964 TCA was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia.
That same year TCA began looking for a more permanent place for their education programs. To this end Dr. Gey met with Mrs. W. Alton Jones, mother of Patricia Edgerton, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Lab. She donated land in Lake Placid, N. Y. as a permanent home for the Society’s education programs. In 1969, a board was formed to manage the new science center with Donald Merchant as Director. In June 1971 the new W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center (WAJCSC) was dedicated.
For some years thereafter the Society was effectively managed out of offices at the WAJCSC though it had no official office on site. Then in 1978 the first Executive Director William Momberger was hired and subsequently the first Executive Office was opened in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Under the auspices of the national organization, many individual branches were created to meet the needs of specific geographical areas. They were: California, Central States, Michigan, Midwestern, Montreal, National Capitol Area, New York, Northeast, Rocky Mountain, Texas. In addition, there were specific divisions within the organization such as the Honor Fell Division, the Invertebrate Division, the Organic Culture Division, and the Plant Division.
Over the years, TCA has put out a number of publications the first of which was the bibliography titled Index of Tissue Culture, initially published in 1952. Other publications followed such as the official TCA journal In Vitro, the Bulletin, and the TCA Newsletter along with many ‘special’ publications.
At the Annual Meeting in June of 1994 the Society voted to change the name to the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB). The SIVB offices are currently in Largo, Maryland.
