2019 Meeting Report

Society for Developmental Biology 78th Annual Meeting
Marriott Copley Place, Boston, MA
July 26-30, 2019

Final Meeting Program

Full Abstracts with Author Index

The Numbers

Total attendance was 949 people from 26 different countries.  There were 384 faculty/staff, 184 postdoctoral fellows, 352 students and 29 exhibitors.  655 abstracts were submitted, of which 560 were poster presentations.

 2019 SDB Awards

Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award - Otger Campàs, University of California, Santa Barbara

Otger Campàs


Edwin G. Conklin Medal -
Eric Olson, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Eric Olson


Society for Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award -
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard


Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize -
Gary Schoenwolf,  University of Utah

Gary Schoenwolf


John Doctor Education Prize -
Amy Ralston,  Michigan State University

Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Amy Ralston, and Danelle Devenport

Developmental Origami: An active learning exercise to explore the developmental origins of the body axes

Paul D. Henion Graduate Student Travel Award

Debadrita Bhattacharya
Debadrita Bhattacharya, Cornell University, was the recipient of the Paul D. Henion Graduate Student Travel Award.  The award provided $500 travel assistance to Debadrita, a post-candidacy graduate student, to attend the meeting and present her work Metabolic reprogramming drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition in neural crest cells. (Abstract #635)

Best Postdoctoral Presentation at the Hilde Mangold Postdoctoral Symposium

Rajendhran Rajakumar and Ida Chow
Rajendhran Rajakumar, McGill University.  Prize- Travel Award to Meeting/Course of Choice sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology.  ocial regulation of a rudimentary organ generates complex worker-caste systems in ants (Abstract #48)

Best Student Poster Competition Winners

(l-r) Danelle Devenport (SDB Junior Faculty Rep), Marlene Lawston, Bailey Weatherbee, Madison Williams, Mengyi Song, David Pompili, Anna Yoney, Steven Zwick (not pictured)

Undergraduate Winners
1st: Madison Williams, University of Washington. Prize - $300 sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology.  Investigating mitotic dynamics of early Xenopus tropicalis tail regeneration. (Abstract #396)

2nd: Bailey Weatherbee, University of Delaware. Prize - $200 from the Society for Developmental Biology.  The cataract-associated RNA-binding protein Celf1 functions coordinately with Elavl1 to post-transcriptionally regulate the key eye transcription factor Pax6 in mouse lens development. (Abstract #230)

Honorable Mention: Marlene Lawston, Colgate University.  Prize - textbook donated by Sinauer/Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press. Changes in progenitor populations lead to expanded mechanosensory lateral line in cavefish. (Abstract #415)

Graduate Winners
1st: Steven Zwick, Harvard University. Prize- Travel to 2019 BSDB Spring Meeting sponsored by Chroma and the British Society for Developmental Biology.  Embryo geometry and tissue mechanics regulate signaling during mammalian gastrulation. (Abstract #338)

2nd: Anna Yoney, The Rockefeller University. Prize- $500 sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology.  A temporal hierarchy between WNT and ACTIVIN signaling drives patterning of mesendoderm in human gastruloids. (Abstract #282)

3rd: David Pompili, University of Toronto. Prize- $300 sponsored by the Society for Developmental Biology.  SCO with the flow: Investigating the function of the subcommissural organ and Reissner’s fiber in the pathogenesis of idiopathic scoliosis. (Abstract #244)

Honorable Mention: Mengyi Song, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. Prize textbook donated by Sinauer/Oxford University Press or Columbia University Press.  gata5/6 regulate the early specification of distinct mesoderm lineages in zebrafish. (Abstract #284)

Other Meeting Highlights

Plenary Session III - Developmental Biology & Society: From Fundamental to Practical
Monte Westerfield, University of Oregon. Using human patients as a platform for discovery of novel developmental genes.

Diana Bianchi, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The earlier the better: Analysis of the fetal transcriptome to develop novel therapies.


Choose Development!

Choose Development! Fellows at SDB Annual Meeting

Diana Ramirez with mentor Carmen Domingo

Amanda Neves

Lindsey Hernandez

Alexis Camacho-Avila

Grace Jean and Graciela Unguez

Choose Development! Luncheon

Photos from Meeting


Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI) Networking Session

Meet the SDB Presidents Luncheon

Trainee Reception with SDB Board

Trainee Reception with SDB Board

Graduate Student Lunch Meetup

SDB Presidents Celebrate 80 Years of the Society