An adult hermaphrodite C. elegans Image credit: Corsi et. al.

• The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal recognizes lifetime contributions to the field of genetics;
• The Genetics Society of America Medal recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of genetics in the last 15 years;
• The George W. Beadle Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers;
• The Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education recognizes significant and sustained impact on genetics education; and
• The Edward Novitski Prize recognizes an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in solving significant problems in genetics research.

Included in this Issue:

• Worm Week!

  Society News

• The GSA Journals

• Members in the News

• Education and Professional Development

• Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

• Policy

• Community Announcements

• And finally...

June Issue June Issue

NEW POSTINGS IN GeneticsCareers.org Director - DNA Sequencing and Genotyping Core, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH Postdoctoral Research Assistant CMU College of Medicine, Mount Pleasant, MI Postdoctoral position to study stem cells and cancer, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA Research Specialist or Technician, Drosophila neural anatomy and behavior (2 positions), HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA Scientist, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, Bloomington, IN Postdoctoral Researcher, LSU Health Sciences Center Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, New Orleans, LA Genetics Counselor, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA Director of Bioinformatics, Stanford Clinical Genomics Service, Stanford Health Care, Palo Alto, CA Senior Clinical Scientist, GeneDx, Inc, Gaithersburg, MD CLINICAL GENOMICS LABORATORY GENETIC COUNSELOR, GeneDx, Inc, Elmwood Park, NJ Postdoctoral Researcher - Ecological/Evolutionary Genomics, Penn State University, State College, PA Geneticist - Tenure track assistant professor, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

Different color pattern forms of Heliconius erato. Image credit: Riccardo Papa

The molecules behind mimicry: The vibrant passion-vine butterfly species Heliconius erato doesn’t taste as good as it looks. The flesh of this South and Central American species accumulates toxic compounds to discourage would-be predators, who quickly learn to associate the butterflies’ unpleasant taste with their bold red warning colors and patterns. But H. erato isn’t the only species that wears this particular danger sign. Read more about advances in genomic understanding of wing patterning and Müllerian mimicry in Heliconius.

 Members in the News

Two GSA members are among 37 early career scientists honored by the Pew Charitable Trusts to its 2015 class of biomedical scholars. Robert J. Schmitz (University of Georgia) was named a Pew Fellow in Biomedical Sciences, and Gina V. Caldas (University of Massachusetts Medical School) as a Pew Latin American Fellow.

GSA member John Doebley (University of Wisconsin) has been honored by our UK counterpart, The Genetics Society, with its 2015 Mendel Medal.

GSA member Jon Pierce-Shimomura shares with NPR how his team discovered the neuron in C. elegans that detects Earth’s magnetic field. You can learn more about this research at this week’s worm meeting.

In the June 2015 issue of The Scientist, immediate Past President Vicki Chandler wrote on the need to invest in the development of data scientists and technologies.  

 Education and Professional Development

Curious about online learning platforms? GSA Past President Vicki Chandler is featured in PCMag’s exploration of Silicon Valley startup Minerva, which is challenging the way online education is structured. Chandler is Minerva’s Dean of Natural Sciences.

The European Science Foundation (ESF) recently published the findings of a new pilot study on the career paths of young scientist who recently obtained a PhD, Career Tracking of Doctorate Holders. The report makes two recommendations: career expectations of doctoral candidates need to be realistic about the small number of careers available in academia, and the lack of tenure-track positions needs to be restructured to allow for more tenured positions. Science explores these recommendations, and offers advice to young scientists on how to take control of their own career. 

The droso4schools project developed by the Manchester Fly Facility aims to bring the fruit fly back into biology lessons. Check out this educational resource exploring the similarities between human and Drosophila organs. 

Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) will be holding a webinar on Tuesday, June 30, 1–2 pm EDT, to answer questions about the institute's Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) funding opportunity announcement for new and early stage investigators. The webinar with NIGMS director Jon Lorsch and program director Peter Preusch will be archived at the MIRA website.

The National Science Foundation has issued a revised program solicitation for the Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) program. Applications can request support for living stock collections, natural history collections, and transferring the ownership of existing collections. The full proposal deadline is September 10, 2015.

The National Science Foundation hosted an introductory webinar last month on its Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The webinar covered information on program requirements and eligibility, components of a good proposal, and the review process. Slides are available here.

Policy

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) have named the members of a new advisory committee that will provide counsel to the NAS and NAM presidents on the new Academies' initiative related to human gene editing. GSA member Keith Yamamoto and TAGC Keynote Speaker Jennifer Doudna are among those appointed to the new group.

Senate Appropriations Committee approves a draft bill with a $2 billion "raise" for NIH. Image credit: www.appropriations.senate.gov

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with oversight for the National Institutes of Health has approved a draft bill that would provide an additional $2 billion for the agency in fiscal year 2016, an increase of 5.6% over the present year.This is more than the additional $1 billion proposed by President Obama and the $900 million suggested by the corresponding House panel. Much of the additional money is targeted for specific programs, including $200 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative, $135 million for the BRAIN initiative, $100 million for a transagency antibiotics initiative, and additional funding for Alzheimer's disease research.

The National Science Foundation has elected Amanda Hallberg Greenwell to head the agency’s Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA). OLPA communicates information about NSF’s activities, programs, research results and policies to a diverse range of audiences. 

The National Institutes of Health has appointed eight individuals to the NIH Council of Councils. The council was established to advise the NIH Director on policies and activities of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. This includes providing recommendations on research in important emerging scientific areas, rising public health challenges, or knowledge gaps that deserve special attention. 

Community Announcements

Inside the Mendel Museum in Brno. Image credit:  http://mendelmuseum.muni.cz/

A new app called protocols.io from GSA member Lenny Teytelman hopes to remove barriers to scientists hoping to share their research with others. Forbes reports on this innovation, which aims to bring researchers together online via a platform where they can share experimental processes and protocols. GSA Board Trainee Representative Sonia Hall, one of the early adopters of this new open access repository of protocols and methods, is featured in the article.

The Mendel Museum in Brno, Czech Republic, is celebrating 150 years since Gregor Mendel first discovered the principles of genetics. You can be a part of the event’s Indiegogo campaign and score several great items in gratitude! Watch out for more information in future editions of the e-News about a special event on July 20 that will be webcast worldwide.

 And finally...

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• The Guardian chronicles the many contributions women scientists have made to Tim Hunt’s Nobel prize winning work. 
• Last year scientists successfully sequenced the mitochondrial genome of a hominin that lived 400,000 years ago. Thanks revolutionary new techniques, the reach of ancient DNA research is rapidly expanding.  
• According to calculations by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, there is enough DNA in the world to fill a billion shipping containers.