A stress-free and grateful farewell

As I approach retirement from my scientific career at the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), I write this letter to express my gratitude to my colleagues in the Cell Stress Society International (CSSI). Over many years of scientific activity, several of these colleagues have become my dear friends. My first contact with the Society was through Dr. Robert M. Tanguay. At that period of my career, I usually presented my work at cancer congresses attended by thousands of colleagues. I was presenting a poster about HSP27 in cancer at one of these large congresses when Robert approached me and suggested I join the CSSI, a small society that offered more opportunities for personal interactions and collaborations. After I became a CSSI member, I saw the truth of what Robert had told me; today I can say that the CSSI changed my scientific life. I learned to attend smaller meetings where colleagues were really interested in my work and I in theirs. Soon, the possibility arose for one of my students to study with Dr. Andrei Laszlo of St. Louis, MO, where she was trained to make the comet assay that she uses to this day in her career as a researcher.

From its earliest days, the CSSI has organized international workshops in developing countries to bring scientific knowledge and activity to their researchers. This is how I had the opportunity to travel and meet interesting people in Wuhan, China and Tomar, Portugal among other fascinating places. I had the honor of organizing one of the international workshops in Mendoza in October 2001 (Fig. 1). My collaborators and I were delighted to welcome colleagues from all over the world, and especially those from the USA, who traveled so soon after the September 11 attacks, telling us that “it’s part of our job and they will not stop us from doing it.” Nowadays, the CSSI organizes international congresses every 2 years, alternating with the continued tradition of international workshops.

Fig. 1.

Professor Daniel Ciocca, organizer of the Third International Workshop on Molecular Biology of the Stress Responses, giving the opening address of the CSSI workshop in October 2001

I spent most of my scientific career in my native city of Mendoza (Argentina), a city that is very dear to me, but which is unfortunately a long way from the international scientific world and from the resources that stimulate relationships and research. This is the experience of many Latin American researchers and I invite you to read a recently published article on this topic (Ciocca and Delgado 2017). After my article appeared in Cell Stress & Chaperones, I received many emails from young Latin American scientists who felt the same sense of isolation and lack of support that I have felt.

The journal Cell Stress & Chaperones deserves a special mention. CSC has grown significantly in recent years and has earned an excellent international reputation. CSC offers researchers the opportunity to publish free of charge, which is especially important for Latin American scientists. Recently, I was a Guest Professor at the National University of Mexico where I was introduced by my colleague Dr. Carlo C. Cortes-Gonzalez. He noted how unusual it was for a scientist to be so frequently cited in the scientific community despite not publishing in high-impact journals. Cell Stress & Chaperones has created this opportunity by offering the free publication and global distribution of quality research by scientists who cannot afford publication costs elsewhere.

My special gratitude goes to Larry Hightower, Helen Neumann, Stuart Calderwood, Antonio De Maio, Patrick Frayssinet, Mario Galigniana, Cristina Bonorino, Patrick Arrigo, Francesco Cappello, and Marcelo Montorzi.

My dear colleagues and friends, you will now understand why I will no longer serve as a Reviewing Editor of Cell Stress & Chaperones; my place can be taken by a young researcher who will be part of the future of the Society. For more than 35 years, my scientific career has added great meaning to my life. As I seek other reasons to move forward with my life, I look back happily on all I achieved from the scientific point of view. Young graduates, let me tell you that science is an endless story; go for it!

Editor’s note

On behalf of the Senior Editors and Managing Editor Helen Neumann, I extend our heart-felt thanks to Dr. Daniel Ciocca for his excellent work as an author and reviewer for Cell Stress & Chaperones from the very beginning of our journal. At a critical time in the development of the Cell Stress Society International, Daniel stood up during our banquet at the Second International Workshop in Wuhan, China, 1999, and he offered to organize the next workshop in his home city of Mendoza, Argentina (Supplementary Fig. 2). During the International Symposium on Heat Shock Proteins in Biology and Medicine held at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, in 2010, Daniel and Stuart Calderwood were recognized for authoring the most cited paper published in Cell Stress & Chaperones (Ciocca and Calderwood 2005). Each received a certificate of recognition and a bottle of single malt scotch, a reminder of the launch of Cell Stress & Chaperones in 1995 by Churchill Livingstone publishers located in Edinburgh (Supplementary Fig. 3). In recognition of his scientific accomplishments and of his contributions to our society and journal during his distinguished career, Daniel was designated as a Senior Fellow by the CSSI Executive Council at the CSSI congress in Huangshan, China in 2015 (Supplementary Fig. 4). We all wish Daniel the best for a long and enjoyable retirement.—Lawrence E. Hightower, Founding Editor-in-Chief.