Report from the Society for Developmental Biology 85th Annual Meeting

10/15/2026

By Kate Windsor

The 85th annual meeting of the Society of Developmental Biology met in Las Vegas, Nevada to enjoy the mild weather of late July - highs of 115°F/48°C and summer nights close to 100°F/38°C. As I settled in for the first session of the week, I overheard a concise summary of the experience of arriving in Vegas: "Why does it have to be so bright and loud?"

Every developmental biologist has their favorite model organism, and this year model organisms were not only celebrated, but gamified. In the spirit of Vegas, attendees were given a random selection of model organism poker chips, with the goal of obtaining a full set by trading and playing games with vendors. The organizers made it clear that these tokens were NOT to be used at the casino just downstairs.

SDB 85th Annual Meeting attendee holding spread of model organism poker chips. Photo credit: Zainab Afzal

While the poker chip game and the art show both celebrated the most popular model organisms, many of the selected speakers explored novel organisms across diverse ecosystems. The Presidential Symposium, organized by SDB president Richard Behringer, kicked off this exploration in the ocean. Leslie Babonis from Cornell University presented on the northern star coral (Astrangia poculata), which uses stinging cells to hunt prey by ensnaring it in a sticky web. Corals seem more like a witch’s brew ingredient than a research subject: they generally spawn once a year, four nights after the new moon, in the middle of the night in the ocean. However, Babonis and her colleagues found that the northern star coral was much less picky and could be induced to spawn in the lab with a warm water bath and a nudge. Babonis is now using this model to study evolutionary novelty and conservation: 650 million years ago, how did the northern star coral develop a novel stinging cell, and how has that adaptation remained basically unchanged today?

Moving from the Atlantic coastal reef to the Mediterranean Sea floor, Gareth Fraser from the University of Florida presented his work on regeneration in the small spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula, amusingly also known as the lesser-spotted dogfish). "Sharks, as you may know, have teeth,” Fraser explained. “But they don't just have teeth in their mouths, they also have skin teeth." The “skin teeth” reduce drag for better stealth in the water. The catshark grows a new set of mouth teeth every month, but their “skin teeth” don’t regenerate. By comparing regenerative and nonregenerative teeth using RNAseq, Fraser’s group identified genes necessary for endless tooth production. In describing the challenges of studying chondrichthyans (a class which includes sharks and some very strange fish), Fraser relayed his experiences scuba diving and being attacked by his research subjects. “I don’t select my models well,” he conceded.

There were far too many interesting discoveries and organisms to cover in detail, so here's a rapid-fire of some additional highlights: An 18th century study found that a land snail can regenerate nearly any part of itself as long as the circulatory system is intact, but surprisingly little is known about how. Alfredo Varela-Echavarría (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) is answering this centuries-old question using the marsh slug Deroceras laeve and has built a slug atlas to establish this novel model. Using another backyard specimen, Arjuna Rajakumar (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research) found that in the ant species Monomorium pharaonis (or pharaoh ant), caste is determined based on the presence and type of germ cells in early embryonic development. Finally, Krist Atunes Fernandes (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul) explained how maternal infection by the parasitic helminth worm (Heligmosomoides polygyrus) protects offspring from infection by altering the microbiota transferred through nursing milk.

In addition to showcasing diverse and novel model organisms, the conference also dedicated time to discussing the ethics of human research. After all, the best model to study human development and disease is still humans. Licia Selleri (University of California, San Francisco) introduced the session with reference to the 1932 novel Brave New World, which described in vitro fertilization (IVF) 50 years before the first ‘test tube baby’ in 1978. There are now around 500 IVF fertility clinics in the US alone, which could theoretically be an enormous benefit for human embryonic research because many IVF patients create and freeze multiple embryos. Unfortunately, researchers are often unable to contact potential donors to obtain consent, leading to abandoned embryos stored indefinitely with no access. Alternatively, many human embryos used for research come from terminated pregnancies. Janet Rossant (The Hospital for Sick Children) led a discussion on the ethically fraught process not only of obtaining human embryos this way, but also of validity of research using these embryos: a terminated embryo may not be the best model for human development because, by definition, something went wrong. The discussion of the advantages and challenges of human embryonic development research covered alternatives to human embryos, neural organoids, cross species grafting and public perception. Eventually, Rossant concluded with, “We can have these discussions forever. Let’s break for coffee.”

The conference closed with lectures by the annual awardees. Trainee Science Communication Award recipient Nicholas Desnoyer bookended the conference, wowing attendees in both the presidential symposium and the award lectures with timelapse videography of genetically engineered Arabidopsis ornamental flowers. Desnoyer recently founded OpenFlower, a nonprofit that offers “a garden of genetic resources” – open-source tools and workshops that teach flower genetic design to all ages. Jeffery Farrell, recipient of the New Investigator Award, developed an open-source time course scRNAseq atlas for zebrafish, which has been quickly adapted by the field. Farrell credited his mentees, “In the first few years of my lab, the curiosity of my students has motivated me.” Roberto Mayor, recipient of the Outstanding Educator Prize, is a founding member of the Latin American Society for Developmental Biology and created a developmental biology course for students who otherwise would not have exposure to the field. Lee Niswander received the Edwin G. Conklin Medal for her work on embryonic development. Niswander gave her advice for new investigators: “Have everyone in your lab leave you a beautiful piece of art and sign it. It will make your office so happy.” Finally, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Alexandra Joyner, dedicated her talk to Gail Martin, a huge figure in the field and beloved mentor who passed away earlier this year. Joyner described her “winding road through developmental biology” from Toronto to San Francisco to New York City, where she is now retired.

Join the 2027 Society for Developmental Biology 86th Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, chaired by new SDB president Helen McNeill.

Last Updated 10/15/2026