Date: Wednesday 27 November 2024
Time: 9:30am – 10:15am ET
Place: Virtual (Zoom)
Meeting slides: http://site.ieee.org/comsoc-nmqn/files/2024/12/SLIDESMBMCTC_Meeting_20241127.pdf

Attendees (19):
Adam Noel (AN), TC Chair, Memorial University, Canada
Nan Yang (NY), TC Vice-Chair, Australian National University, Australia
Werner Haselmayr (WH), TC Secretary, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Sasitharan Balasubramaniam (SB), EiC T-MBMC, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Michael Barros (MB), University of Essex, UK
Dadi Bi (DB), King’s College London, UK
Laura Galluccio (LG), University of Catania, Italy
Pit Hofmann (PH), Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Dongliang Jing (DJ), Northwest A&F University, China
Sebastian Lotter (SL), Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Shiwen Mao (SM), Auburn University, USA
Daniel Martins (DMa), University of Essex, UK
Deepak Mishra (DMi), University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
Massimiliano Pierobon (MP), University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Rudolf Rabenstein (RR), Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Robert Schober (RS), Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Fardad Vakilipoor (FV), Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Yesenia Elizabeth Cevallos Villacrés (YV), Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo, Ecuador
Kun Yang (KY), University of Essex, UK

Minutes:

1. Call to Order

AN opened the virtual meeting and calls to order. No additional items were raised by the attendees.

2. Chair’s Report (AN)

  • AN talked about various aspects of the MBMC-TC, such as purpose/focus/history, membership, officers, and links with IEEE ComSoc
  • AN presented various activities of the MBMC-TC, such as support of IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications (T-MBMC), organization of SAC MBMC tracks at IEEE ICC and Globecom, and the endorsement of various technical activities
  • AN presented the current status of the ratification of the new policies and procedures. The changes have been approved by the ComSoc Governance Committee in November 2024 and the ratification by the TC board is expected in January 2025.
  • AN reported that the TC recertification, which is required every 3 years, was passed, with the feedback to increase the number of active members
    • RS commented that as long as we can show that there is technical activity (journal, conferences and meetings are going well) there is a low risk that the TC will be closed down
    • DMi suggested to reach out other groups/communities to join and help to the growth of the community
  • AN presented the status of ComSoc TC restructuring plans. The number of TC should be reduced from 26 to approximately 12, where the MBMC-TC would most likely be converted into a Technical Working Group (TWG). The transition process is anticipated to happen in 2025
    • SM (restructure subcommittee chair) provided some additional remarks on the restructuring process, such as the subcommittee works closely with the TC officers
  • WH presented the winner of the MBMC-TC logo competition: Timo Jakumeit, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Moreover, WH showed some statistics of the logo competition and thanked everyone who took part. The new logo can be found on the TC website (https://mbmc.committees.comsoc.org/winner-logo/) and will be used in all our future activities.

3. T-MBMC Report (SB)

  • SB presented the journal performance for 2024 so far: 120 submissions and 51 accepted papers (acceptance rate: 42.5%) and impact factor 2.4. The journal hits all targets of 100 papers/year and minimum 500 pages/year. Since the journal performance is steadily increasing over the last years it has been removed from the ComSoc journal “watch list”.
  • SB presented various recently-published special issues/features, such as “Microfluidic Systems for Molecular Communications” and “Seeing Through the Crowd: Molecular Communication in Crowded and Multi-Cellular Environments”
  • SB presented on-going and planned special issues/features, such as “The Internet of BioNanoThings – Applications, Components, and Challenges” and “Interconnecting Molecular and Terahertz Communications for Future 6G/7G Networks”. The current list of special issues/features can be found here: https://www.comsoc.org/publications/journals/ieee-tmbmc/cfp
  • SB presented the average time until the first decision and online post. SB noted that the times have been significantly reduced, but should be further reduced in the future.
  • SB introduced three new members for the editorial board, which has currently about 40 members
  • RS credited SB for his great leadership on the T-MBMC and in particular for the achievement that the journal is no longer on the ComSoc journal “watch list”

4. Conference Reports

a. IEEE Globecom 2024, Cape Town, South Africa (AN on behalf of track chair)

  • Date: 8 December – 12 December 2024
  • Track Chair: Prabhat Sharma, VNIT Nagpur, India
  • 12 valid submissions
  • 6 accepted papers (5 in regular MBMSC session and 1 in poster session)
  • MBMSC session chair: Dadi Bi, King’s College London, UK

b. IEEE ICC 2025, Montreal, Canada (AN on behalf of track chairs)

  • Date: 8 June – 12 June 2025
  • Track Chairs:
    • Maximilian Schäfer, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
    • Dimitrios Makrakis, University of Ottawa, Canada
  • 20 submitted papers (close to pre-COVID submissions!)
  • Reviews have been assigned, planning 3-4 reviews per paper
  • Notification in January 2025

c. 2nd Workshop on MBMC, Montreal, Canada (AN on behalf of organizers)

  • Date: 12 June – 13 June 2025 (immediately after ICC 2025)
  • Organizers:
    • Yansha Deng, King’s College London, UK
    • Andrew Eckford, York University, Canada
    • Adam Noel, Memorial University, Canada
    • Maximilian Schäfer, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
  • Program includes invited speakers and sessions for PhD students to present their recent work. In particular, PhD students will have the opportunity to present their work from ICC 2025 at the workshop.
  • URL: http://mbmcworkshop.org/2025

d. 9th Workshop on Molecular Communications, Catania, Italy (AN on behalf of organizers)

  • Date: 9 April – 11 April 2025
  • Organizers:
    • Laura Galluccio, University of Catania, Italy
    • Nunzio Tuccitto, University of Catania, Italy
  • Program includes keynote talks and technical sessions
  • Keynote speakers have been recently announced
    • Christine Faulkner, the John Innes Centre, UK: “Exchange of signals and resources between cells in plants”
    • Silke Harteis, University Regensburg, Germany: “Bridging the Gap: Implementation of a 3D In Vivo Molecular Communication System”
    • Ilangko Balasingham, NTNU, Norway: “Intra-body Molecular Communication Technology: Applications for Brain and Heart Diseases”
  • URL: https://molecularcommunications.org

e. IEEE Globecom 2025, Tapei, Tawain (AN on behalf of track chair)

  • Date: 8 December – 12 December 2025
  • Track Chair: Lin Lin, Tongji University, China
  • Initial paper submission deadline: 1 April 2025

5. Educational Services Report (AN on behalf of Maximilian Schäfer, Educational Service Coordinator, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany)

  • AN reported on two well attended seminars since the last meeting and pointed out that the recordings are available on the MBMC-TC YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ieeecomsocmbmc-tc2112)
  • The next seminar will take place on 19 December, 2024, 3pm CET
    • “Advances in Monitoring Organ Crosstalk and its Impact on Toxicology and Personalized Medicine” by Dr. Martin Frauenlob, Technical University Vienna, Austria

6. Social Media Report (AN on behalf of Prabhat Sharma, Social Media Chair, VNIT Nagpur, India)

  • AN reported that the TC has quite a few social media channels (e.g., Facebook, X). The most regular activities are on LinkedIn (e.g., events, highlight papers of T-MBMC) and YouTube (e.g., webinars)

7. New Business

No new business was raised in advance or during the meeting.

8. Adjournment

AN adjourned.