News

As we approach the holiday season and #GivingTuesday, we hope that you will consider a donation to the Genetics Society of America (GSA). We rely upon your charitable contributions to promote a strong future for our field. GSA is the voice for those conducting fundamental studies in genetics and those working with model organisms from…

GSA members are well represented among the winners of FASEB’s fourth annual BioArt competition: 4 of the 11 winning images were submitting by our members. The BioArt competition seeks to share the beauty and excitement of biological research with the public by featuring captivating images and illustrations that represent cutting-edge life science research. All winning…

GSA member Elizabeth Blackburn has been named as the next president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, an independent research institute in San Diego founded by polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk. She is currently Morris Herzstein Professor in Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.  …

The Committee on Gene Drive Research in Non-Human Organisms convened by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held an information gathering meeting on October 28, 2015, to consider the Science, Ethics and Governance Considerations for Gene Drive Research.  This meeting comes as a component of a large Gene Drive study, which is set to review the…

GSA member Denise Montell (University of California, Santa Barbara) spoke on Capitol Hill this summer, presenting her research on anastasis, the process of by which cells can return from the brink of death:   Montell, a former President of the North American Drosophila Board, spoke as part of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus (CBRC) 2015 briefing…

The Gruber Foundation has issued a call for nominations for its 2016 Gruber International Prize Program, honoring leaders in Genetics, Cosmology, and Neuroscience. Each prize, which is accompanied by a $500,000 unrestricted monetary award, is designed both to recognize groundbreaking work in each field and to inspire additional efforts that affect fundamental shifts in knowledge and…

This blog post was originally written and published by the editorial staff of the MCB blog.  It is reprinted here with permission. For news and information about the MCB division, subscribe today. What were you doing before you came to the NSF? I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and Director of…

The Biotechnology Science Coordinating Committee (BSCC), at the behest of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), held the first of three public meetings to discuss an update to the coordinated framework which serves as the regulatory guidelines for genetically engineered organisms. This meeting provided an opportunity for representatives from the primary agencies involved…

GSA member Yoshinori Ohsumi has been selected as the recipient of the 45th Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research. Established in 1971 at Brandeis University, the award is an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the encouragement and development of basic science as it applies…

The federal regulatory policy in use today for biotechnology products, known as the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology, was created in 1986 through a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation…

Two members of the GSA community have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly known as the Institute of Medicine. Election to NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.  …