2018 Meeting Report

Society for Developmental Biology 77th Annual Meeting
Portland, OR, July 20-24, 2018

(Click Images to Enlarge)

The Numbers

Total attendance was 683 people from 16 different countries. There were 313 faculty/staff, 105 postdoctoral fellows, 241 students and 24 exhibitors. 470 abstracts were submitted, of which 390 were poster presentations.

2018 SDB Awards

Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award - Christian P. Petersen, Northwestern University
Blanche Capel (past-President) and Christian Peterson
Edwin G. Conklin Medal - Robb Krumlauf, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Robb Krumlauf and John Wallingford (President)
Society for Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award - Eric Wieschaus, Princeton University
Lilianna Solnica-Krezel (President-elect) and Eric Wieschaus
Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize - Drew Noden, Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine
Bill Anderson (PDEC Chair) and Drew Noden

Paul D. Henion Graduate Student Travel Award

John Wallingford, Andrea Hallberg, and Marsha Lucas

Andrea Hallberg, of University of Iowa, was the recipient of the Paul D. Henion Graduate Student Travel Award. The award provided $500 travel assistance to Andrea, a post-candidacy graduate student, to attend the meeting and present her work SoxE paralogs are direct targets of Tfap2 paralogs in the gene regulatory network governing neural crest specification. (Abstract #398)

Best Postdoctoral Presentation at the Hilde Mangold Postdoctoral Symposium

Jeffrey Rasmussen, University of California, Los Angeles. Prize- Travel Award to Meeting/Course of Choice sponsored by Chroma Technology. Fish scales pattern sensory axons and blood vessels during skin maturation (Abstract #30)

Best Student Poster Competition Winners

(l-r) John Wallingford, Amber Rock, Raquel Maynez, Yu-Chia Chen, Danelle Devenport, Amelia Hunter, Jenica Van Gennip, Victor Lewis, Megan Rothstein

Undergraduate Winners

1st: Amber Rock, Bowdoin College. Prize - $300 from NIGHTSEA and the Society for Developmental Biology. The maternally expressed Hox gene Ax6a is required for gastrulation and the formation of bilateral symmetry in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. (Abstract # 264)

2nd: Raquel Maynez, University of Utah. Prize - $200 from the Society for Developmental Biology. Determining the Effects of a Coding Mutataion in a Pigmentation Patterning Gene. (Abstract #223)

Honorable Mentions: Yu-Chia Chen, Yang-Ming University. Prize - textbook donated by Scott Gilbert and Sinauer/Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press. Unraveling the role of Yorkie-interacting proteins during Drosophila oogenesis. (Abstract #377); Nelson Perez Catalan, University of Oregon. Prize - textbook donated by Scott Gilbert and Sinauer/Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press. Dissecting the role of astrocyte-derived proteins during synapse formation in Drosophila. (Abstract #452)

Graduate Winners
1st: Megan Rothstein, Cornell University. Prize- Travel to 2019 BSDB Spring Meeting sponsored by Wiley on behalf of WIREs Developmental Biology and the British Society for Developmental Biology. A Tfap2-mediated molecular switch for neural crest induction and specification. (Abstract # 100)

2nd: Victor Lewis, University of Washington. Prize- $500 sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology. Distinct genetic requirements underlie convergent pigment phenotypes in Danio fishes. (Abstract #103)

3rd: Jenica Van Gennip, University of Toronto. Prize- $300 sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology. Focal neuroinflammatory signals drive spinal curve formation in zebrafish models of idiopathic scoliosis. (Abstract #247)

Honorable Mentions: Amelia Hunter, University of British Columbia. Prize textbook donated by Scott Gilbert and Sinauer/Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press. Basigin regulates perineurial glia and nerve morphology in the Drosophila peripheral nervous system. (Abstract #447)

Choose Development!

Choose Development! Fellows presented their summer research.

Alexis Avila (2017-2018) fellow and academic mentor Crystal Rogers	Evan Brooks (2016-2017) fellow and academic mentor Nanette Nascone-Yoder
Christian Wilson (2017) fellow and academic mentor Mariana Wolfner	Amber Rock (2017) fellow and academic mentor Mark Martindale
Josean Reyes Rivera (2016, 2018) fellow and his mentors, David Weisblat and Chris Winchell	Raquel Maynez (2017) fellow and lab mentor Anna Vickrey

Photos from Meeting

Choose Development! Luncheon	Theme Tables
Theme Tables	Trainee Reception
Choose Development! Fellows with Eric Wieschaus at awards banquet	Society for the Down Beat jamming before banquet (Credit: Tara Finegan)
SDB 7th Boot Camp for New Faculty Group Photo