Date: Tuesday 9 May 2023
Time: 7:30am—8:30am ET
Place: Virtual (Zoom)

Attendees (16):

  • Lin Lin (TC Chair), Tongji University, China
  • Adam Noel (TC Vice Chair), University of Warwick, UK
  • Nan Yang (TC Secretary), Australian National University, Australia
  • Prabhat Kumar Sharma (TC Social media chair), VNIT Nagpur, India
  • Chia-Han Lee, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
  • Dadi Bi, King’s College London, UK
  • Hamdan Awan, Munster Technological University, Ireland
  • Lukas Brand, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
  • Massimiliano Pierobon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
  • Maximilian Schäfer, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
  • Mitra Rezaei, University of Warwick, UK
  • Rinrada Jadsadaphongphaibool, King’s College London, UK
  • Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
  • Sebastian Lotter, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
  • Tatsuya Suda, University Netgroup, Inc., USA
  • Yesenia Cevallos, Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo, Ecuador

Minutes:

1. Call to order

Prof. Lin opens the virtual meeting and calls to order. No additional item was raised by attendees.

The minutes of the MBMC-TC mid-year meeting, held on 29 November 2022, were endorsed by the TC.

2. Chair’s report

a) Prof. Lin described the TC:

  • Becoming a full ComSoc TC in 2019;
  • Being dedicated to promoting MBMC research;
  • Providing a forum for discussion and broadening professional opportunities of its members, professional resources and support;
  • Managing MBMC SAC tracks in the IEEE ComSoc flagship conferences (such as ICC and Globecom) and upporting IEEE TMBMC;
  • Co-sponsoring or endorsing other events;
  • Owning mailing list and four social media platforms, including
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IEEE-Comsoc-MBMB-TC-110159238344866
    • Twitter: @mbmctc
    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14247935/
    • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxklmPswA-uQPZmdO5GJsxw

b) Prof. Lin introduced the TC officers (2022—2023), including the chair, vice-chair, secretary, and social media chair. Then, Prof. Lin shared the newly appointed IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturers, including Prof. Andrew Eckford and Prof. Nan Yang, and encouraged committee members to contact them if they are interested in hosting a lecture. After this, Prof. Lin introduced the recent and upcoming workshops and session endorsed by the MBMC TC, including:

  • Online Workshop on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications, KCL, UK, held on 19 January 2023
  • 4th EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies (BICT), Okinawa, Japan, held on 11-12 April 2023
  • 7th Workshop on Molecular Communications, FAU, Erlangen, Germany, held on 12-14 April 2023
  • Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications track/session at IEEE ICC 2023, Rome, Italy, held on 28 May 2023

c) Prof. Lin discussed a proposal for MBMC TC logo design. Particularly, there is no logo for the MBMC TC. To create the best logo, a challenge can be initiated and a small group of 3 or 4 TC members can be formed to complete the selection process.

3. IEEE TMBMC report

Prof. Balasubramaniam has started his leadership role as the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the IEEE TMBMC since January 2023. He provided a report on the IEEE TMBMC where some updates include:

  • March issue: 11 publications
  • June issue on track:11—12 publications
    • Special Feature on quantum biology
    • IEEE Globecom 2022 fast track (3 papers)
  • Expand the Editorial Board of IEEE TMBMC
    • 29 editors (5 female editors, 1 from industry – IBM Zurich)
  • Current status of special issues
    • Special Features
      • Quantum biology (Harun Siljak) – Closed
      • IEEE ICC 2022 Fast track (Michael Barros) – Confirmed
    • Special Issues
      • Bio-Chem-ICTs: Synergies between bio/nanotechnologies and molecular communications (Murat Kuscu, Michael Barros, Malcolm Egan, Pasquale Stano, Bige Unluturk) – Closed
      • Microfluidic systems for molecular communications (Yansha Deng, Werner Haselmayr) – CFP live
      • Development of experimental molecular communications (Lin Lin, Tadashi Nakano, Hao Yan) – CFP live
      • Seeing through the crowd: Molecular communication in crowded and multi-cellular environments (Adam Noel, Andrew Eckford, Radek Erban, Matteo Icardi, Gregory Reeves) – CFP live
      • Understanding communicable diseases in developing nations through the lens of molecular communications (Prabhat Sharma, Mauro Femminella) – Confirmed
      • BICT Fast track (Yifan Chen, Tadashi Nakano) – Confirmed
    • Possible Special Issues
      • Biophysical computational modeling
      • Internet of Nano and Bio-Nano Things
      • AI and ML in multi-scale biological communications
  • The EiC’s goals for the next phase include:
    • Target to get to 500 pages per year – need to increase the number of submissions
    • Lower acceptance rate (51% in 2021)
    • Increase the size of the community
    • Increase AEs from industry
    • The journal will receive its first impact factor when the report is released at the end of June

4. Conference reports

a) IEEE ICC 2023 report (Track chair: Prof. Michael Barros)

  • Location: Rome, Italy, 28 May – 1 June 2023
  • Conference format: In-person.
  • Paper submission: 18 papers covering different areas.
  • 7 papers accepted (i.e. acceptance rate of 38.9%).
    • Overall great quality of submitted papers.
    • The track chair suggested more papers to be accepted but this suggestion was not adopted by TPC chairs.
  • Accepted papers were invited for a fast-track submission at the IEEE TMBMC.
  • Single interaction session was allocated at 17:15 – 18:00 (CEST) on Tuesday 30 May.

b) IEEE Globecom 2023 report (Track chair: Prof. Masoumeh Nasiri-Kenari)

  • Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 4—8 December 2023
  • Conference format: In-person.
  • Paper submission: 16 papers were received.
  • Paper review: 33 TPC members were invited.
  • Deadline extension: 21 May 2023.

c) Future conferences

  • IEEE ICC 2024, Denver, CO, USA. 9–13 June 2024. Hamdan Awan will act as the Track Chair.

Track chairs are typically appointed 2 years ahead of the conference. If you’re interested to serve as the track chair, please contact the TC chair.

5. Discussions

a) Prof. Lin presented the update and draft of ComSoc TC restructure. No update is available.

b) Prof. Lin shared the 2023 ComSoc TC Innovation Support project. Aiming to incubate, nourish, and grow breakthrough innovations in communications technologies, the project offers incentive funds to TC, SIG, and ETI to provide original and revolutionary ideas, concepts, techniques, methods and solutions that may lead to the breakthrough in communications technologies.

  • Some ideas are made by the attendees, such as education program for graduate students, summer school together with ICC/Globecom, MolCom based project competition, organisation of a special session at ICC/Globecom along one of the topics in the TMBMC’s special topics.

c) Prof. Lin shared the 2023 ComSoc TC Campaign Video project, which aims to make members and public aware of what our technical committees are doing and how we guide the high-interest initiatives in communication technologies.

d) Prof. Lin shared that a committee will be formed soon for the IEEE P1906.1 update.

6. New business

No new business was raised.

7. Adjournment

Prof. Lin Lin adjourned.