Developmental Biology 349 (2011) 121–122

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Developmental Biology

j ourna l homepage: www.e lsev ie r.com/deve lopmenta lb io logy

Society for Developmental Biology at the USA Science and Engineering Festival

The Society for Developmental Biology participated in the first USAScience and Engineering Festival held October 10–24, 2010 inWashington, DC. SDB sponsored four separate events throughoutthe festival in an effort to share the exciting field of developmentalbiology with the public. SDB members were actively involved in eachof these activities, together with a teacher and students from SidwellFriends School, and the Carnegie Academy for Science Education(CASE).

The first event, a teacher workshop based on the BioEYES K-12science education program, was held October 11 at CASE located inWashington at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Fifteenmiddle andhigh school teachers from the DC area and Smyrna, Georgia attendedthe workshop to learn about using zebrafish in the classroom to studygenetics, ecology, and development. The BioEYES program, co-founded by SDB members Steven Farber of the Carnegie Institutionand Jamie Shuda of the University of Pennsylvania, turns elementarythrough high school students into scientific investigators whilereinforcing basic reading, writing, and math skills. Following theworkshop, several teachers expressed interest in bringing theprogram to their schools.

SDB member, Marnie Halpern, represented the society in thescience festival's Nifty Fifty Program in which noted scientistsspanned across the Washington, DC area to speak about their workat local schools. Halpern, from the Carnegie Institution visitedGaithersburg High School in Maryland October 21. She spoke abouther research using zebrafish to study differences between the left andright sides of the brain.

On October 22, Nobel laureates Eric Wieschaus and Martin Chalfieheadlined a public lecture entitled “Glowing embryos, genes anddevelopment” at the Carnegie Institution for Science along with MaryDickinson and SDB President, Alexandra Joyner. Prior to the lecture,the four developmental biologists (SDB members) met informallywith CASE students, alumni, and parents to discuss careers in scienceand the contribution of science to daily life. Joyner opened the eveninglecture by introducing the field of developmental biology. Chalfieshared the importance of basic research and how that led to his NobelPrize for expressing green fluorescent protein in living organisms(Escherichia coli and Caenorhabditis elegans). Wieschaus similarlyspoke about the often arduous task of crossing thousands of fruit fliesin a mutagenesis screen that led to his Nobel for identifying theimportant genetic determinants in early embryonic development.Finally, Dickinson highlighted where the field of developmentalbiology is going with her work on heart development and its clinicalimplications for tissue engineering.

doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.12.029

The festival culminated in a 2-day Expo October 23–24 on theNational Mall with exhibits from some 550 organizations represent-ing professional societies, universities, K-12 schools, governmentagencies, industry, and outreach groups. Nearly 50 volunteersincluding SDB members, local high school and college students, andtheir friends and family, worked at the Society for DevelopmentalBiology booth. Visitors had the opportunity to observe live developingfrog and zebrafish embryos through microscopes, color masks of theirfavorite model organisms, and participate in our Evolution ThoughtTrail exercise on homology of the vertebrate forelimb. SDB was one ofsixteen societies on the Evolution Thought Trail that also includedphysicists, chemists, and geologists. Both volunteers and participantsexpressed an overwhelming appreciation for the event and the needfor more science festivals in the future.

122 M. Lucas / Developmental Biology 349 (2011) 121–122

For more information:Society for Developmental Biology: www.sdbonline.orgCarnegie Academy for Science Education:

http://case.carnegiescience.eduSDB Festival Events: www.sdbonline.org/SciFest2010.htm.USA Science & Engineering Festival: www.usasciencefestival.orgBioEYES: www.bioeyes.org

By Marsha E. Lucas, PhDSDB Publishing Fellow

Marsha LucasE-mail address: mlucas@sdbonline.org