Advancing the Field of Developmental Biology

For young scientists pursuing faculty positions in academia, entering and navigating the job market can be daunting as a solo enterprise. Luckily, programs like the Society for Developmental Biology’s GetHIRED! seek to bridge the gap between postdoctoral fellows (postdocs) and the faculty positions they dream of by building community support networks and giving generous feedback on participants’ application packages.

I know I am preaching to the choir, but developmental biology is a fascinating field of research. Discoveries made in the field of developmental biology provide fundamental knowledge about how organisms form and fuel biomedical research for new therapeutic strategies for human disease. However, you may have heard your colleagues or administrators at your institution disparage our beloved field of developmental biology. I have heard from a biochemist that “developmental biology is boring” or rumblings that our field is in decline. There appears to be a trend to emphasize translational approaches over basic research.