2024 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education recipient Jef Boeke considers himself a geneticist turned engineer. He transformed his landmark synthetic yeast genome project into a research-heavy teaching course, revolutionizing molecular biology and genetics education. Professors in colleges and universities strive to promptly bring new techniques to undergraduate classrooms. While the theory and concepts readily become part of the curriculum, the practical laboratory classes do not get much focus beyond a few protocol-based exercises. Only undergraduate students who are lucky enou ..read more

Domesticated yeast adapts to harsh brewing tank environments, including little oxygen and lots of alcohol. While Riddhiman Garge, first author of a study published in the March 2024 issue of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, was earning his PhD at the University of Texas, he met brewer Chip McElroy. McElroy, who owns Live Oak Brewing Company and has a Ph.D. in biochemistry, was curious about what happens to brewing yeast inside fermentation tanks. The pair teamed up with Garge’s colleagues to investigate some aspects of this question. The importance of brewing yeast In addition to being a classic r ..read more

A new associate editor is joining GENETICS in the Genetics of Complex Traits section. We’re excited to welcome Yao-Wu Yuan to the editorial team. Yao-Wu Yuan Associate Editor Yao-Wu Yuan is an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He is interested in understanding how and why organisms evolve so many beautiful forms in nature. His lab primarily studies floral trait diversification in the wildflower genus Mimulus (monkeyflowers) and aims to uncover the genes, pathways, and principles that explain the tremendous diversity of flowers by inte ..read more

2024 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal recipient Paul Sternberg’s decades-long discoveries in worm physiology, development, and behavior addressed fundamental mysteries in evolutionary biology, genetics, and systems neuroscience.   Just like Thomas Hunt Morgan, Paul Sternberg’s scientific legacy dominates many fields of biology, including embryology, evolution, genetics, neuroscience, and systems biology. Sternberg, who is Professor of Biology at California Institute of Technology and Investigator Emeriti at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, studied parasitic nematode worms to make important discov ..read more

We are thrilled to announce that the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is collaborating with the Personal Genetics Education & Dialogue (PGED)1 based in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and the Reclaiming STEM Institute (RSI) on a Leading Culture Change Through Professional Societies of Biology (BIO-LEAPS) grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The two-year Design grant awarded to PGED’s home institution, Harvard Medical School, supports “Culture Change–Building a Relational and Inclusive Discipline through Genetics Engagement (CC-BRIDGE),” a capacity-b ..read more

In the Paths to Science Policy series, we talk to individuals who have a passion for science policy and are active in advocacy through their various roles and careers. The series aims to inform and guide early career scientists interested in science policy. This series is brought to you by the GSA Early Care­er Scientist Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee. The following transcript is from my candid conversation with Daman Saluja, Senior Professor and Joint Director of the Delhi School of Public Health (DSPH) in the Institute of Eminence (IoE) at the University of Delhi. She is also the former Ch ..read more

2024 George W. Beadle Award recipient Deborah Andrew discovered new genes and pathways in Drosophila salivary gland organogenesis. Now, her work can help optimize cell secretion in therapeutic applications and fight malaria.   Deborah Andrew’s journey from a first-generation college student to a leader in fruit fly genetics is nothing short of inspiring. She began her undergraduate studies in freshwater ecology; during that time, she took a genetics class taught by fruit fly geneticist David Kuhn that changed the course of her career. She worked in fruit fly genetics laboratories thr ..read more

We’re taking time to get to know the members of the GSA’s Early Career Scientist Committees. Join us to learn more about our early career scientist advocates. Md Riajul Hossain Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee University of Arkansas Research Interest When I was introduced to science in high school, I discovered that biology attracted me the most. This attraction increased as I learned more and more about living beings and biological processes. No surprise that I chose genetic engineering and biotechnology as my undergraduate major. I was fascinated by how genes (functional units of DNA ..read more

Have you ever experienced an event that changes the course of your life, or in this case, your career? Małgorzata (Gosia) Gazda is Assistant Professor at the University of Montreal and in 2022, she received the DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics, which she used to attend and present at the 2022 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics (PEQG) Conference. Then, she started applying for jobs and recently attended The Allied Genetics Conference 2024.  Receiving the DeLill Nasser Award inspired Gosia to apply for faculty positions and ultimately secure her ..read more

A new senior editor is joining G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. We’re excited to welcome Gary Churchill to the editorial team. Gary Churchill Senior Editor Gary A. Churchill received his SB degree in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 and PhD in Biostatistics in 1988 from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is currently Professor and the Karl Gunnar Johannsen Chair in Computational Biology at the Jackson Laboratory. Churchill’s research addresses statistical applications in genetics and molecular biology. He has played a central role in the establishment of genet ..read more