Letter from the President
For our community, 2024 has started well, with a vibrant January SCZI (Strategic Conference of Zebrafish Investigators) in Asilomar, demonstrating that zebrafish-based research is steadily delivering essential insights into biological mechanisms. The conference showcased a new generation of outstanding team leaders, tackling the most important biological challenges with great successes. Biological research has never been more exciting, having at our fingertips the most powerful set of technologies to probe the living. SCZI 2024 showed us that our zebrafish research community embraced these. The next years promise to be transformative for our understanding of the molecular spatio-temporal dynamics controlling the formation and homeostasis of all organs. The conference was slightly over-subscribed, indicating a sustained interest of our members for in-person meetings.
Springtime is finally here and with it the time to vote for our next President-elect and new Board members. For our Society to thrive, it needs to keep representing our diversity across continents, cultures and career stages. So, watch for the IZFS e-mail with instructions and vote on May 13th!
Speaking about diversity, I would like to attract everyone’s attention to our new series of webinars. The 2024 series is a monthly event, communicating the current research of two researchers, one junior (PhD/postdoc) and one more established (PI). The series covers a wide selection of research directions and countries. It is a wonderful platform to ensure visibility for our research across the planet. Check them out! https://www.izfs.org/education/webinars
Summer will be bright for us, with our much-anticipated international conference in Kyoto, Japan. The excellent quality and variety of research, covered in the abstracts submitted for talks this month, announces a very exciting and thought-provoking four days. If you haven’t registered yet, do it now: https://www.izfs.org/education/18izfc
The conference offers a virtual participation option and we have financial support available if needed.
I end this letter by emphasising again that the quality, diversity and impact of our Society depends on your involvement. I would invite you to encourage your lab and your colleagues to become a member. I recommend the lab membership https://www.izfs.org/membership/lab-membership, an easy way to get a diverse set of profiles (graduate students, postdocs, techs and husbandry techs) involved in our IZFS.
Looking forward to seeing many of you in Kyoto this summer!
Corinne