Society for Developmental Biology (SDB)

The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) was founded in 1939 as the Society for the Study of Development and Growth, by the editors of the journal Growth, as the result of a very successful First Symposium on Development and Growth they organized in North Truro (Cape Cod), Massachusetts.

Dr. Marnie Halpern compiled a brief SDB history, with photos of the first meetings for our 60th anniversary.  Collegiality and “joie de vivre” have always been characteristics of our annual meetings, previously called symposia and had lobster feasts in the early days, to honor the local tradition. 

SDB’s membership has grown and is open to all students (people who study and investigate) of developmental biology and related areas, whereas in its early days the membership was limited to 300!  You can just imagine the competition to get your protégé admitted into the society…  Currently, we have about 2,200 members, in all categories, full, postdoctoral, student and emeritus, and they are from all over the World (18% international).  Our membership dues are one of the lowest for scientific societies of this size, while offering a respectful list of benefits, including online access (24 issues/yr) to our journal Developmental Biology with full membership ($70/yr of $180/3 yr), eligibility for various travel awards ($150-$1,000) to the annual meetings with postdoctoral ($35/yr) or student ($15/yr) memberships.  Members who are faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions or have teaching as their major duty are also eligible for travel grants to present their work at the annual meetings.  This is possible because most of the support for the activities comes from royalties of the journal, which is owned and published by Elsevier.  The journal was first published in 1959 by Academic Press and later under the auspices of SDB.

Since education is a major goal in our mission, our Professional Development and Education Committee is the most active group (besides the Board of Directors) and one of its latest initiatives is the SDB Boot Camp for New Faculty, held biennially just before that year’s annual meeting.  Twenty pre-tenure faculty and advanced postdoctoral fellows who are SDB members learn about model organisms that they are unfamiliar with (hands-on sessions), about teaching and course planning, mentoring, grants and lab management (including the Myers-Briggs test).  Another initiative is LEADER (Library of Educational Annotated DEvelopmental biology Resources) in collaboration with the American Physiological Society’s education department.  Together with APS Archive of Teaching Resources, LEADER is a searchable database of peer-reviewed educational resources in developmental biology and related fields at all levels.  In addition to these peer-reviewed materials, the Education Section and Member Links make up another set of resources for research topics and education subjects.     

Still on science education, I invite you to read what SDB President, Dr. Eric Wieschaus, has to say about teaching evolution and so-called “academic freedom.”  Together with other scientific and professional societies, including FASEB and some member societies, we are partners in a coalition to keep teaching evolution in the public school science classrooms and curricula.  This is a battle we must keep on fighting – to accept ONLY good science education in the schools, NO unproven and unsubstantiated pseudoscience/ beliefs or topics such as intelligent design and creationism in science classes.       

The Society has one annual and 5 to 8 regional meetings each year.  The latter ones are organized by members in these regions and are the ideal venues for undergraduate and graduate students to present their first papers, and to meet well established investigators in a more relaxed setting.

In addition, SDB has organized short courses with its Latin American sister society which are held in South America (Brazil in 2005 and Argentina in 2008.) 

Yes, there is a strong collaboration with our colleagues in the Americas with the objective to strengthen the discipline in this Hemisphere.  Last year’s SDB annual meeting was also the First Pan American Congress of Developmental Biology, jointly organized by SDB, the Mexican and the Latin American societies and held in Cancun, Mexico.  

SDB President doing the limbo! (photo by Amy Riesenberg)	Well attended poster session.
LEADER curator Diana Darnell (c)	SDB member, Seth Ruffins, and 2007 ABRCMS best developmental biology poster winner, Elena Rueda-de-Leon.  Award co-sponsored by FASEB MARC Program: trip to Cancun to present her winning paper. (photo by Jacquie Roberts)
Turtle nest and tracks the next morning on the hotel beach. (photo by Kathryn Tosney)	Green turtle laying eggs at night – Big Hit for the developmental biologists! (photo by Kathryn Tosney)

SDB STAFF?

Ida Chow, Ph.D., the Executive Officer and Renee Barnes, the Administrative Assistant, take care of everything, with some contracted services from FASEB (accounting, IT, human resources, printing, mailing.) - Ida Chow