Included in this Issue:

• Society News

• The GSA Journals

• Members in the News

• Education and Professional Development

• Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

• Policy

• And finally...

October Issue October Issue

NEW POSTINGS IN GeneticsCareers.org Preclinical Faculty Position in Psychiatry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD Post-Doctoral Fellowships Available, Duke University Medical Center, Dept. Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Durham, NC Assistant Professor in Stress Biology, Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Iowa State University, Department of Genetics, Development & Cell Biology, Ames, IA Tenure-Track or Tenure-Eligible Position in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, NIDDK, NIH, NIDDK / NIH, Bethesda, MD Assistant Professor, Geneticist, Millersville University, Millersville, PA Faculty Positions in Life Sciences, Yale-NUS College, Singapore Geneticist/Clinician, Carter Consulting, Inc., Atlanta, GA Multicultural Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Genetics, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI Plant Geneticist, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA Programmer Analyst I: Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA Postdoctoral Fellows – Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA Postdoctoral Fellows - Computational Biology of Psychiatric Diseases, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA Sr Territory Account Manager Informatics Solutions - Western US, Illumina, Santa Clara, CA Postdoctoral Fellow: Genomics , High-Throughput Sequencing, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA Postdoctoral Fellow: Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA Bioinformatics Scientist, Illumina, Santa Clara, CA Curation Scientist, Illumina, Santa Clara, CA Post-doctoral Research Fellows in Human Genetics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York

Three GSA members were honored at last week's annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). Victor Ambros (Univ of Massachusetts Med School) and Gary Ruvkun (Harvard Med Sch and Mass General Hosp) received the Gruber Prize in Genetics (pictured at left) in recognition of their pioneering discoveries of the existence and function of microRNAs and small interfering RNAs. Ambros, Ruvkun, and plant biologist David Baulcombe received the $500,000 prize and a gold laureate pin at ASHG's annual meeting. David Valle (Johns Hopkins Univ), a GENETICS editor and a member of GSA's Education Committee, received ASHG's Victor A. McKusick Leadership Award, including a plaque and $2,500 prize, in recognition of his significant impact on human genetics research and education. [more...]

Congratulations to GSA member Joseph S. Takahashi for his election to the Institute of Medicine. He is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and professor and chair, department of neuroscience, and Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. [more...]

The Washington Post is among the media outlets covering new research from GSA member Douglas Portman (Univ of Rochester Sch of Med & Dentistry) showing that C. elegans males will opt for a mate rather than a meal. The research further ties this change in behavior to the number of food receptors that males and females display.

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates recently blogged about a visit to Cornell University, saying that he "probably had the most fun brushing up on how plants have sex." This is thanks to GSA member Ed Buckler (USDA and Cornell Univ), who helped guide Gates through the contributions that genetics is making to improving crops and increasing the efficiency of plant breeding. Buckler and his colleagues are developing sophisticated computer models incorporating plant genetic maps and details about their traits to assist in the design of the most effective crosses to achieve desired characteristics.

Congratulations to GSA's Tracey DePellegrin for being appointed editor-in-chief of the Council of Science Editors journal, Science Editor! Tracey is the executive editor of our journals GENETICS and G3. "I hope to continue the scholarship and reputation for excellence that Science Editor is known for," says DePellegrin. "We want to provide an authoritative voice and venue for discussion on the latest developments affecting scientific publishing, including topics as diverse as journal data policies, ethical, legal and social issues, public access, research funding, and new publishing models, among others."

Education and Professional Development

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded approximately $31 million to three initiatives in the "Diversity Program Consortium," intended to increase diversity in the biomedical workforce. The program has three components, one of which is the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), which will be a "nationwide network of mentors and mentees spanning all disciplines relevant to NIH missions." GSA is thrilled to be a partner with the funded NRMN consortium; we will soon be actively recruiting mentors for underrepresented minorities in genetics as well as geneticists to be mentored. In addition to NRMN, GSA will also be introducing our own mentoring activities in the near future as part of a separate initiative for our members.

Are you interested in a job in industry? If so, check out this blog post with some tips on how PhDs can make the transition. Suggestions include avoiding over inflation of your title, but making sure not to undervalue yourself.

The White House Office of Management and Budget has clarified that students and postdocs are engaged in both research and training, meaning that career development activities are integral to the position. This announcement makes it clear that participation in activities designed to expand scientific experience and knowledge or directly prepare postdocs for future employment can be charged to federal research grants.

Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

This is the last chance to apply for the National Science Foundation's 2015 Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $32,000 (anticipated to increase to $34,000) and a $12,000 annual cost-of-education allowance. The award provides three years of funding over a five-year fellowship period. Application deadlines vary by discipline, with life science applications due November 4, 2014.

Nominations are being accepted through November 30 for the Dan David Prize. Three prizes of $1 million each will be awarded, including one in bioinformatics. The Dan David Prize also offers 20 scholarships each year to outstanding doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers studying related topics. Applications for these scholarships are due March 10, 2015. Several GSA members have received the Dan David Prize in recent years.

The Gruber Genetics Prize is seeking nominations of individuals "who have made original discoveries in the fields of genetic function, regulation, transmission, or variation or in genomic organization" to be considered for its 2015 award. The $500,000 award is given annually to 1–3 scientists in recognition of groundbreaking contributions to any realm of genetics research. Nominations, which must be submitted by December 15, are evaluated by a Gruber Foundation committee made up of individuals nominated by GSA and ASHG.

Nominations are also open for the $500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, which is designed "to encourage and recognize extraordinary and sustained contributions to improving healthcare and promoting innovative biomedical research." Submissions are due December 3, 2014.

Policy

As we approach election day in the United States, several journalists are looking forward to the prospects for federal research funding after the election. See, for example, coverage from Science and Nature.

The National Science Foundation has been engaged in a prolonged battle with the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the integrity of peer review. The committee's chair, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has been asking for copies of NSF's confidential peer review documents because of concern that the agency is wasting taxpayer dollars. The committee's ranking member, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), responded that the chairman's actions "are sending a chilling message to the entire scientific community that peer-review may, at any time, be trumped by political review."

Thanks to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) for shining the spotlight on GSA in its current issue of the FASEB Washington Update, where they described several of our major 2014 advocacy activities. GSA members are encouraged to subscribe to FASEB's Washington Update to keep current on the latest policy developments impacting biomedical and biological research.

And finally...

Thanks for helping us reach 3,000 likes on Facebook and more than 3,800 followers on Twitter! Keep up with recent highlights like these by joining us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+:

Scientists at IRB Barcelona dance for cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes research! Show your support by viewing and sharing - a donation will be made by their sponsors for every view. Dancing along is optional.

• The oldest modern human genome sequenced to date, from a 45,000-year-old leg bone found in Siberia, provides insight into the history of human-Neanderthal interbreeding.
• Do humans have self-domestication syndrome? Science Magazine reports on the CARTA Domestication and Human Evolution symposium. Read more about Wilkins, Wrangham, and Fitch's domestication syndrome hypothesis published in GENETICS on the GSA journals blog and watch the whole symposium on YouTube.
• Nobel laureates Tom Cech and Steve Chu make the case in the Wall Street Journal that sustained support for basic research is an essential underpinning for future Nobel Prizes.
• Genomics research is helping us to understand the Ebola virus. "If Ebola can change, we can change, too, and maybe faster than Ebola," writes The New Yorker.

Deadline for next issue: November 6, 2014. Send items (and feedback) to GSA's Communications and Engagement Manager, Raeka Aiyar, raiyar@genetics-gsa.org.

UNSUBSCRIBE