The British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) is a scientific society promoting

developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

research; it is open to anyone with an interest in the subject who agrees with the principles of the Society.

History

The British Society for Developmental Biology was founded in 1948 as the London Embryologists’ Club. In 1964, the club was expanded into a scientific society, named the Society for Developmental Biology. In 1964, the Society for the Study of Growth and Development in the United States had also voted to take on the same name, and they took over sponsorship of the journal ''

Developmental Biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

'' in 1966. Consequently, the smaller British society changed to its current name in 1969.

Awards

The society administers four annual awards and a studentship. The Waddington Medal was first awarded in 1998. It is named after

C. H. Waddington Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary developme ...

, a leading British embryologist and geneticist, and is awarded to "an outstanding individual who has made major contributions to any aspect of Developmental Biology in the UK". Award winners include: * 1998

Cheryll Tickle Cheryll Anne Tickle (born 18 January 1945) is a distinguished British scientist, known for her work in developmental biology and specifically for her research into the process by which vertebrate limbs develop '' ab ovo''. She is an Emeritus ...

* 1999

Rosa Beddington Rosa Susan Penelope Beddington Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (23 March 1956 – 18 May 2001) was a British biologist whose career had a major impact on developmental biology. Education and early life Beddington was born on 23 March 1956, the ...

* 2000 Peter Lawrence * 2001

Mike Bate Christopher Michael Bate FRS (born 21 December 1943) is an Emeritus Professor of developmental biology at the Department of Zoology and fellow at King's College, Cambridge. The son of John Gordon Bate, M.B. Ch.B., an R.A.F. doctor, of Holmbur ...

* 2002 Jonathan Slack * 2003

Julian Lewis Julian Murray Lewis (born 26 September 1951) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), representing New Forest East (UK Parliament constit ...

* 2004 Jeff Williams * 2005

Michael Akam Michael Edwin Akam Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (born 19 June 1952, in Bromley, Kent) is a British zoologist. He is professorial fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge, and he is a director, University Museum of Zoology. He was Damon Runyan fell ...

* 2006

Claudio Stern Claudio Daniel Stern FRSB, FMedSci, FRS (born 9 February 1954 Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan biologist currently working at University College London (UCL). Education Stern received his primary (Escuela Evaristo Ciganda) and secondary (Li ...

* 2007 David Ish-Horowicz * 2008 Pat Simpson * 2009

Liz Robertson Liz Robertson (born 4 May 1954) is an English actress and singer and the widow of playwright and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. She is especially well known for her performances as Madame Giry, having played the role in the original cast of '' Love Ne ...

* 2010

Robin Lovell-Badge Robin Howard Lovell-Badge, CBE, FRS FMedSci is a British scientist most famous for his discovery, along with Peter Goodfellow, of the SRY gene on the Y-chromosome that is the determinant of sex in mammals. They shared the 1995 Louis-Jeantet P ...

* 2011 Christopher Wylie * 2012 Alfonso Martinez Arias * 2013 Jim Smith * 2014

Philip Ingham Philip William Ingham FRS, FMedSci, Hon. FRCP (born 19 March 1955 Liverpool) is a British geneticist, currently the Toh Kian Chui Distinguished Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, a partnership between Nanyang Technological Uni ...

* 2015

Lewis Wolpert Lewis Wolpert (19 October 1929 – 28 January 2021) was a South African-born British developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster. Wolpert was best known for his French flag model of embryonic development, where he used the French flag a ...

* 2016

Enrico Coen Enrico Sandro Coen (born 29 September 1957) is a British biologist who studies the mechanisms used by plants to create complex and varied flower structures. Coen's research has aimed to define the developmental rules that govern flower and lea ...

* 2017

William Harris William or Will or Willie Harris may refer to: Politicians and political activists *William Harris (born 1504) (1504–?), MP for Newport, Cornwall * William Harris (died 1556), MP for Maldon * William Harris (MP, died 1709) (c. 1652–1709), Engl ...

Video of Bill Harris' award lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHJSYP6z6KE&t=443s * 2018

Richard Lavenham Gardner Sir Richard Lavenham Gardner, FRSB, FRS (born 10 June 1943) is a British embryologist and geneticist. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the University of York, and was previously a Royal Society Research Professor. Since 1982 he has been ...

In 2016, the society added the Cheryll Tickle Medal, which is awarded to a mid-career female scientist. It is named after the embryologist

, the first winner of the Waddington Medal. Winners include: * 2016 Abigail Saffron Tucker * 2017 Jenny Nichols * 2018

Christiana Ruhrberg Christiana Ruhrberg is a German-British cell biologist who is Professor of Neuronal and Vascular Biology, University College London. She looks to understand how cells interact during the development and disease of mammals. Early life and educa ...

* 2019 Bénédicte Sanson The society also has awards for early career scientists: The Beddington Medal is awarded annually for the "best PhD thesis in developmental biology" defended in the year prior to the award; the Dennis Summerbell Lecture is an award that is delivered annually by a junior researcher at either PhD or postdoctoral level; and summer studentships are available for undergraduate students.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control British biology societies Developmental biology Organizations established in 1948