The GSA Journals

Heading to GSA’s 2014 Drosophila Research Conference next week? Visit the GSA Journals Booth and let’s talk publishing! Join us at the How to Get Published Breakfast, Thursday, March 27, 7:15–8:30 am, hear from journal editors, ask questions, learn tips and tricks, and understand how you can help your articles to have more impact. GENETICS Editor-in-Chief Mark Johnston, and editorial staff Tracey DePellegrin, Ruth Isaacson, and Cristy Gelling will attend, as well as other senior and associate editors of GENETICS and G3.

For those of you who participated in the GSA Journals Community survey – thank you! We had 1,359 participants, and uncovered a lot of information about what the genetics and genomics community value about our journals and about peer-review and publishing—and what kinds of topics you’re most interested in. Look for highlights in an upcoming e-News.

Members in the News

During the past two weeks, quite a few GSA members were in the spotlight.  Some highlights:

• GSA member Jack Bateman (Bowdoin Coll) explains the research behind his successful NSF CAREER grant.
   
• GSA member Vanessa Auld (Univ of British Columbia) has won first place in the high- and super-resolution microscopy category of the GE Healthcare Life Sciences Cell Imaging Competition. Her image of a Drosophila neuromuscular junction will be displayed with the other winners’ images on the big screen in Times Square!
   
• GSA member Weizhe Hong (Caltech) has been named a second runner-up in the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists for his essay on “Assembly of a Neural Circuit. ” Dr. Hong received the Larry Sandler Memorial Award at last year’s GSA Drosophila Research Conference and published a review in the January 2014 issue of GENETICS on the “Genetic Control of Wiring Specificity in the Fly Olfactory System.”
   
• GSA member Chris Doe joined with colleagues at the University of Oregon to help bolster local public schools, including preparing students after AP courses were cut.  His efforts were profiled in the winter 2014 issue of the HHMI Bulletin.

Education and Professional Development

Postdocs who will soon be seeking their first independent position may wish to attend the 2014 Postdoctoral Preparation Institute, June 5–6 in Bethesda, MD.  The institute will have approximately 120 participants, and will cover topics such as making the right career choice, finding the right institution, applying for a position, succeeding in the job interview and seminar, negotiating a start-up package, and more.  Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about other scientific careers outside of academia. All eligible applicants selected to attend will receive travel awards to facilitate their participation. The application deadline is April 18, 2014.

Does the concept of networking cause you to break out in a cold sweat? Melissa Vaught, a self-described introvert, tells how she came out of her shell in an article on the Science Careers blog.  She did so by (unintentionally) practicing networking online, taking stock of her accomplishments, choosing the right networking venue to maximize her comfort level, and engaging more with peer groups.

Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

HHMI’s Janelia Farm Research Campus is now accepting applications for its Janelia Visitor Graduate Fellowship.  PhD students in this fellowship program will spend 1-3 years working with a Janelia mentor on all or part of their thesis research, and will also benefit from the extensive collaborations, resources, and facilities on the Janelia campus.  Students enrolled in a doctoral program in the U.S. or abroad are eligible to apply after completion of required coursework at their home institution.  Areas of study include biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, engineering, genetics, mathematics, evolutionary biology, neurobiology, and physics.  Application deadline for the fellowship is July 15, 2014.

The application deadline is April 1 for the new National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Genetics Education Award, co-sponsored by GSA and the American Society of Human Genetics. The Genetics Education Award recognizes K-16 educators for innovative, student-centered classroom instruction promoting the understanding of genetics and its impact on inheritance, health, and biological research. The award includes a combined $1,000 cash prize ($500 from each sponsor), a recognition plaque to be presented at the NABT Professional Development Conference, and a one-year, complimentary membership to NABT.

Policy

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) unveiled his American Cures Act last week, saying the “faith in scientific progress is part of our national DNA.” The act—which would create a mandatory fund to provide steady, predictable, funding for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Veterans Administration Medical & Prosthetics Research Program—would dedicate a total of $150 billion over the next ten years to high-reward medical research.

NSF and the U.K’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have announced a bilateral pilot opportunity that will fund collaborations between U.S. and U.K. bioscience researchers in systems biology, computational biology, bioinformatics and synthetic biology.  It will use a “simplified, flexible review process that will allow U.S./U.K. research teams to submit a single proposal that will undergo a single review process by only one of the partner agencies.”

New data suggest that the number of PIs supported by NIH grants has dropped by more than 500 investigators—and possibly by up to 1,000 investigators—in just the last year.  Though there had been minimal budget growth at NIH from 2003 to 2012, the number of investigators had remained relatively steady.  However, with sequestration in 2013, there seems to be a contraction in the number of labs supported by NIH.

And finally…

Recent highlights from the GSA’s social networking platforms.  Keep up with the buzz by joining us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn:

• The president and med school dean at Johns Hopkins write in The Wall Street Journal about the need to restore the commitment to science funding and support young scientists.
• The New York Times reports on Crispr and its many potential applications.
• The University of Toronto’s student newspaper talks with a researcher using zebrafish as a model system for studying cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
• National Human Genome Research Institute Director Eric Green writes about the distribution of the genome institute’s extramural funding, which will remain relatively steady for fiscal year 2014.
• NIH’s Sally Rockey provides a look at funding, success, and award rates over time for research project grants and R01-equivalents.
• One of the finalists in the Wellcome Image Awards this year is a scanning electron micrograph of a four-day-old zebrafish embryo.
• NIH is working to collect data on the benefits offered to postdocs by surveying institutional officials. The agency will use this information to consider policy options for equalizing benefits across NIH support mechanisms and improving consistency with other employees.

Do you have a brief announcement to submit to GSA e-News? e-News items include news about GSA members – new positions, book publication, awards or grants received and obits; short policy items; brief research news items and grant programs; and, award nomination announcements. Deadline for next issue: March 28, 2014.  Send items to Beth Ruedi, eruedi@genetics-gsa.org.