Coral reefs around the world are “bleaching,” a threat caused by breakdown of the symbiosis between the coral animals (cnidaria) and the dinoflagellate algae that live within their cells. Yet this crucial symbiotic partnership is poorly understood. In the February issue of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, Lehnert et al. study gene expression patterns associated with the symbiotic state using the sea anemone Aiptasia. This fast-growing cousin of corals maintains a similar symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates, but it can also survive without its symbionts. This allowed the authors to compare transcript abundances between symbiotic and aposymbiotic (dinoflagellate-free) anemones. The results provide important clues to how the symbionts regulate their relationship and serve as a crucial genomic resource for future studies.

Education and Professional Development

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is recognizing that many more PhDs are finding careers outside of traditional academia rather than tenure-track positions; to support this, NIH has committed to two rounds of funding for the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) award program. BEST awards give academic biomedical training programs resources to help their trainees enter the research workforce outside of academia.  A report on the program from Science Careers explains that “BEST programs expose trainees to a variety of careers, such as policy, biotechnology, or science writing. NIH views BEST awards as catalysts, and expects institutions to foot the bill eventually.” Several members from the GSA community are involved in these efforts.

GSA PREP original resources now have DOIs! GSA is committed to publishing top-quality, useful resources in genetics education in our peer-reviewed education portal. We're also committed to promoting and disseminating your work so it receives the most usage in the classroom, and makes the most impact on you CV. To that end, we have secured a Crossref Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for these resources. The DOI prefix is associated with GSA and used with our journals, GENETICS and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. Submit your in-class exercises, laboratory exercises and protocols, images and videos, and even full courses to GSA PREP for peer-review today! Average time to decision is 21 days.

An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education focuses on leveling the playing field for women in science. The article reports a finding that “having children is a career advantage for men; for women, it is a career killer.” The article by UC Berkeley professor Mary Ann Mason suggests four major actions: better (and more) child-care options, effective dual-career policies, childbirth accommodations, and compliance with Title IX.

Members in the News

GSA member Andrew Adrian (Univ of Iowa), a Trainee Advisory Representative to the GSA Board, has been selected to receive the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award.  The award recognizes graduate students with an “interest and aptitude for contributing to science and public policy.”  Award recipients travel to Washington, DC, to meet with congressional delegations, and also take part in a science communication training program.

Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

The National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) is now accepting nominations for the new 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 $1000 cash prize ($500 from each sponsor), a recognition plaque to be presented at the NABT Professional Development Conference, and one year of complimentary membership to NABT.

The American Society of Human Genetics is accepting applications for two Fellowship programs: the Genetics & Public Policy Fellowship, and the Genetics & Education Fellowship, which is new for 2014.  The Genetics & Public Policy Fellowship is “for genetics professionals with an advanced degree who are early in their careers and interested in the development and implementation of genetics-related health and research policies at a national level. The fellow will have the opportunity to participate in policy analysis … and to work directly within the U.S. Congress.” The Genetics & Education Fellowship is “designed as a bridge for genetics professionals wishing to transition to education careers” and includes several unique experiences that will allow the Fellow to learn about education initiatives and community involvement.  Applications for both are due on April 25, 2014.

Policy

Close the Innovation Deficit, “an effort by leaders of the business, higher education, scientific, and high-tech manufacturing communities,” has produced a 4-minute video focused on the importance of strong federal investments in education and research in combating the “innovation deficit,” defined as “the widening gap between the actual level of federal government funding for research and higher education and what the investment needs to be if the United States is to remain the world’s innovation leader.”

House Representatives Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Randy Hultgren (R-IL) wrote an op-ed about the Golden Goose Award, which rewards basic research that has led to significant benefits such as the discovery of GFP and Taq polymerase.  They point out that some federally funded basic research benefits humans in “unexpected ways,” and close with the statement: “the Golden Goose Award reminds us that federally supported scientific research is the goose that lays golden egg after golden egg.  We will do our best to ensure that Congress does not take that for granted.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required for this article) conducted a survey of thousands of university researchers, trying to ascertain if the reduced federal funding seen in recent years is having a “temporary or enduring” effect on their laboratories.  The main conclusion: “for better or worse, the nation’s scientists have embarked on an unequivocal downsizing of their capability to perform basic investigative research.” More than three-quarters of the over 11,000 respondents have been taking on fewer students and postdocs in recent years, and a good number of researchers have had to abandon key research questions central to their laboratory’s “mission.”

• Naples, Italy, is planning to turn to DNA profiling to identify which of 80,000 city dogs are leaving unwanted contributions on the city's streets.
• In The New York Times, Carl Zimmer reports on Drosophila research which suggests that the struggle to find a mate favors the evolution of learning.
• Actor Seth Rogen testified before the Senate Appropriations Labor–HHS Subcommittee on Alzheimer’s Disease and the need to invest in hope through research.
• A local paper reports that students at McKeesport Area High School in McKeesport, PA, are learning about genetics from experiments with fruit flies.
• The Scientist provides an overview of interdisciplinary graduate programs established to prepare students to work at the interface of quantitative and biological sciences.
• Zebrafish researcher Antonio Giraldez was named a recipient of the 2014 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. 
• Flies… In… Space…may have weakened immune systems: a Woodland, CA, newspaper reports on research by GSA member Deborah Kimbrell on the effect of microgravity on immunity in Drosophila.

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 14, 2014.  Send items to Beth Ruedi, eruedi@genetics-gsa.org.