Eight FASEB-MARC travel awards were given to SDB members presenting papers at the upcoming SDB 70th Annual Meeting in Chicago.  For details please see: http://www.faseb.org/Portals/2/Content/PR_2011SDB.pdf

Over the past year, the National Science Board's (NSB) Merit Review Task Force did a careful review of the National Science Foundation's two merit review criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts). Substantive input from a wide variety of stakeholder groups helped guide the work of the Task Force, which recently proposed maintaining the two criteria, but revising the text to clarify the intent of the criteria and how they are to be used during the review process.  The NSF and NSB are now interested in getting feedback on the revised criteria and the underlying principles upon which they are based, and have issued a joint Dear Colleague Letter requesting your input. The merit review process is at the heart of NSF's mission, and the merit review criteria form the critical base for that process. Comments are being collected through July 14 and can be submitted to meritreview@nsf.gov.

President-elect: Vivian Irish, Yale University

Treasurer: Sally Moody, George Washington University Medical Center

Southwest-Gulf Representative: Richard Behringer, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Northeast Representative: Oliver Hobert, Columbia University

Midwest Representative: Carole LaBonne, Northwestern University


The newly elected officials will take office immediately after the 70th Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, July 21-25, 2011.

The journal Developmental Biology, Elsevier and the Society for Developmental Biology wish to apologize for a temporary computer problem which affected some of the abstracts from the 2007 SDB Annual Meeting held in Cancun, and published in Developmental Biology.

As a consequence of an error in a data-feed to PubMed a small number of these abstracts appeared with a “Withdrawn” notice on PubMed for a very short time. Elsevier has been working with PubMed to have this mistake corrected and put in place safeguards to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Elsevier and PubMed believe all the mistakes have been removed and they will be checking the system to validate this over the next few days. 

We extend our sincere apologies to the authors of the affected abstracts and the scientific community for this problem and any confusion it created. We deeply regret this problem occurred- please be assured that we are doing all we can to rectify the situation and prevent future events like this from happening.

Should you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact the Publisher at c.schwarz@elsevier.com
Robb Krumlauf, Editor-In- Chief Developmental Biology
Jasna Markovac, Chair, SDB Publications and Communications Committee
Carl Schwarz, Publishing Director, Life Sciences, Elsevier (c.schwarz@elsevier.com)

The Trans-NIH Zebrafish Coordinating Committee has reissued two Program Announcements with special receipt dates (PARs) soliciting applications for genetic screens or the development of tools and techniques.  Please follow the links below to the NIH Guide for the Funding Opportunity Announcements.  Please note that the NIH Institutes participating in each announcement vary and do not include all Institutes and Centers that participate in the Trans-NIH Zebrafish Coordinating Committee. 

Genetic Screens to Enhance Zebrafish Research (R01) (PAR-11-130); Application Receipt Date(s): September 19, 2011; September 19, 2012; September 19, 2013

Enhancing Zebrafish Research with Research Tools and Techniques (R01)  (PAR-11-131); Application Receipt Date(s): September 19, 2011; September 19, 2012; September 19, 2013

The 2011 Edwin G. Conklin Medal will be awarded to Ruth Lehmann, Director of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, for her seminal contributions to our understanding of mechanisms of embryonic development.  Lehmann demonstrated the importance of RNA regulation within germ cells through her work on the Drosophila genes oskar, nanos, and pumilio, and identified a conserved role for lipid signaling in germ cell migration.

The Developmental Biology-SDB Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to Peter A. Lawrence of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) for his sustained contributions to the field of developmental biology.  Lawrence’s work on cell lineage, developmental compartments, and segmentation have clarified the mechanisms by which cells achieve their identity.

The 2011 Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize recipient is Mary S. Tyler of the University of Maine for her dedication to developmental biology education.  Tyler pioneered digital media for developmental biology instruction with Fly Cycle, Vade Mecum, and Differential Expressions: Key Experiments in Developmental Biology, an invaluable collection of short movies about scientists who have contributed greatly to the field of developmental biology.

Non-SDB Meeting Grants to help defray costs of meetings organized by SDB members.

Non-SDB Education Activities Grant to help defray costs of educational projects organized by SDB members.

Former SDB junior faculty representative Dominique Bergmann of Stanford University and Amy Wagers of the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard University were named Presidential Early Career Scientists.  This is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

SDB Board of Directors invites members to actively participate in the many programs the Society carries out.  Find one that fits your personality and membership status and volunteer!  We also welcome suggestions and comments.  Details in “SDB Call for Volunteers”