From the President's Desk

Welcome to volume four of the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS) “News Splash” newsletter! We hope that these newsletters are helping to keep you better informed about goings-on in the International Zebrafish Society and the wider zebrafish community.

We’re Going Back to Madison!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW! Preparations are underway for the 13th International Zebrafish Conference (IZFC; previously known as the International Conference on Zebrafish Development and Genetics), being held June 20 - 24, 2018.

2018 Chi-Bin Chien Award Nominations are now open!

The Chi-Bin Chien Award was established by the zebrafish research community and the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS) in memory of Dr. Chi-Bin Chien (1965–2011).

2018 George Streisinger Award Nominations are now open!

The International Zebrafish Society has established the George Streisinger Award for a senior investigator who has made outstanding and continued contributions to the advancement of the zebrafish field. George Streisinger (1927-1984) was the founding father of zebrafish research.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Zebrafish (MARZ) Meeting Summary, Fall 2017

The Fall 2017 Mid-Atlantic Regional Zebrafish Meeting (MARZ), co-organized by Dr. Holger Knaut and Dr. Jesús Torres-Vázquez, was held on September 22nd at the NYU Langone Medical Center.

The International Zebrafish Course at the MBL in Woods Hole celebrated its 20th anniversary!

In 1998, Nancy Hopkins and John Dowling organized the first MBL Zebrafish course. Their motivation stemmed from the recognition that the zebrafish was becoming an excellent genetic model to study vertebrate development.

Updated Guidelines for Morpholino Use in Zebrafish

At the SCZI meeting in January of 2017, issues around the use of morpholinos, appropriate controls in the era of accessible genome editing technology, and the realization of potential genetic compensation were discussed. Didier Stainier volunteered to organize a group of willing PIs to discuss and agree upon new guidelines for the zebrafish community on the use of morpholinos. These guidelines were published in October of 2017.

ORIP Workshop Report

On Sept. 11 and 12, 2017 NIH’s Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), Division of Construction and Instruments (DCI), hosted a workshop entitled “Zebrafish and Other Aquatic Models: Reporting of Environmental Husbandry Conditions for Rigorous Experiments and Reproducible Results” which was attended by approximately 60 participants.

Meeting Review: International Workshop on Zebrafish Neural Circuits and Behavior

Since its introduction as a model organism decades ago, the zebrafish has emerged as a powerful system for studying neuronal circuits that mediate behavior. Systems neuroscience using zebrafish is growing fast, and, over the past few years, meetings have been organized in both the United States and Europe to discuss the latest advances.

Making Strides in Cancer Research using Zebrafish

Have you ever been to a scientific meeting where no one made presentations about their own research? Do some of the most important things you learn at a meeting occur during the coffee breaks or other non-scheduled times? These elements were central to a retreat style workshop, Making Strides in Cancer Research Using Zebrafish, held at New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

Fish & Chips

For the past year, ZFIN has been working with members of the other major National Institutes of Health NHGRI-funded Model Organism Database (MOD) groups, and the Gene Ontology Consortium, to establish The Alliance of Genome Resources (The Alliance; www.alliancegenome.org). In October, the Alliance announced the release of the Alliance of Genome Resources website 1.0 - providing unified access to comparative genetics and genomics data from the Alliance data resources

ICYMI

In this column we will highlight selected publications from the zebrafish community, in case you missed it! This issue, summaries are provided for new publications from the Fetcho and Heisenberg labs.

Fish Tales

Richard White, recipient of a NIH Directors New Innovator Award, a Young Investigator Award from the American Association for Cancer Research and several awards for outstanding mentorship was recently interviewed about his work and his thoughts on the impact of zebrafish on cancer research.

Ask Splash!

Dear Splash,

I have just submitted a first author paper for publication, and my committee has given me permission to write my thesis. My plan is to do an academic postdoc, and my PI says I should start applying right away. Is it okay to apply without having my paper published or should I wait until it is accepted for publication? Should I wait until I have defended to apply? Some of my friends going through the process have been frustrated at the lack of replies to their inquiry emails. Is it okay to resend an inquiry? Or is that going to be considered pushy?

If you have a question to ask Splash, please send it to AskSplash@IZFS.org.

Community Bulletin Board

The IZFS Community Bulletin Board is a place to share news from our members. Please let us know if you have news to share, such as awards, promotions, new positions, etc. by contacting newssplash@izfs.org.

Stephen L. Johnson,

1960 - 2017

Stephen Johnson, a pioneering geneticist, genomicist, and neural crest and regeneration biologist in the zebrafish field, died December 15, 2017, from a rare health condition that he had been contending with for several years.

Meet the IZFS Members

This regular column features established and up-and-coming IZFS member scientists answering a set of questions that cover a broad range of topics, science and career-related and personal. We hope that these columns will not only help our readers learn more about the scientific interests and accomplishments of their colleagues, but also what motivates them, why they got into science, and what they do in their spare time.

Meet the Investigator

Cecelia Moens

Featured Trainee

Pia Lundegaard

IZFS Job Board

Click here to search for current openings. You must be an IZFS Member to post jobs.

Season's Greetings from IZFS!

IZFS

International Zebrafish Society
342 North Main Street, Suite 301
West Hartford, CT 06117-2507
info@izfs.org | 860.586.7580

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