Iain Mathieson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. His group studies the genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits in humans, with a particular focus on using ancient DNA to provide a direct window onto human history and evolution. He received a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.Phil. in Statistical Science from the University of Cambridge, and a D.Phil. in Genomic Medicine & Statistics from the University of Oxford advised by Gil McVean and Cecilia Lindgren and supported by the Wellcome Trust. He then completed a postdoc at Harvard Medical School with David Reich, supported by a fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program. His lab is currently supported by a NIH NIGMS R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, a grant from the Charles E. Kaufman foundation and a Sloan Foundation research fellowship.

Christian Landry is Professor of Biology as well as Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bio-informatics at Université Laval. His research focuses on evolutionary systems biology and evolutionary genomics. He uses experimental, computational and theoretical approaches to study how natural selection, mutations and drift are shaping cellular systems. Christian received a BSc and a MSc working with Louis Bernatchez from Université Laval, a PhD from Harvard University working with Daniel L Hartl and did his postdoctoral work with Stephen W Michnick at Université de Montréal.  He has been holding the Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Cell and Systems Biology since 2015, was elected a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014 and was awarded the NSERC EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowships of Canada in 2018.  




2020 SMBE Motoo Kimura Lifetime Contribution Award Winner: Brian Charlesworth

Brian Charlesworth is a Senior Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He was born in Brighton, England in 1945. He obtained his PhD in genetics from Cambridge University in 1969, and was a postdoctoral fellow with Richard Lewontin at the University of Chicago, 1969-1971. He subsequently worked at the Universities of Liverpool, Sussex and Chicago, moving from Chicago to E

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Greetings SMBE Members,

The time has come for the 2020 SMBE Election!

Please take a moment to vote for your preferred candidates for President, Treasurer and up to two Councilors.  The council runs the society, and your participation is important.

The election will be open through June 26, 2020.

Candidate biographies and statements may be found as a linked PDF document within the online ballot.

If you have not received your invite directly, please check your SPAM box, make sure you have not opted out of receiving our member emails and notify smbe@allenpress.com.

Best Regards,
Marta Wayne
President, SMBE

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Dear All,

I am writing to let you know that we have decided to cancel SMBE 2020 due to concerns about COVID19. The wellbeing of our communities is always the most important consideration. Please join me in thanking an outstanding local organizing committee in Québec City, particularly Nadia Aubin-Horth and Christian Landry. We hope to see you at a future SMBE meeting. 

We will provide more details on refund process in the near future. In the meantime, be well wherever you are. 

With best wishes,

Marta L. Wayne
President, SMBE

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Dear SMBE Members:

At this time, we are still planning to hold our annual meeting this summer in beautiful Québec City. Accordingly, we recommend that you register for the meeting and book your hotel room. Registration and hotel room deposits will be refunded in the event the meeting were cancelled by SMBE. However, if you have not already booked your flights or ground transportation, you may consider purchasing trip insurance or fares that allow for refunds, if available. Note that many airlines are introducing incentives to book tickets; this is a dynamic situation and offers vary by carrier, so investigate carefully.

We look forward to seeing you this summer in Canada!

Yours,
Marta L. Wayne
President, SMBE

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The abstract submission deadline for posters only has been extended to 30th March 2020 23:59 GMT. Please be aware that this deadline will not be extended and that applications for SMBE awards 2020 can now no longer be considered. Abstracts should be no longer than 2500 characters (~250 words), with a title no longer than 300 characters. Full details on abstract topics, guidance and the submission portal can be found here.

A range of sponsorship opportunities have been developed for the meeting, if interested please contact SMBE2020@mci-group.com.

For any queries over abstracts or registration, please contact SMBE2020@mci-group.com.

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SMBE is calling for nominations for Best Graduate Student Papers of 2019. These awards provide recognition for outstanding papers in both our SMBE journals,  Molecular Biology & Evolution (MBE) and Genome Biology & Evolution (GBE). There will be one Best Graduate Student Paper award for each journal.

All articles published in the calendar year 2019 are eligible for nomination. This corresponds to papers published in the printed volume 36 in MBE and volume 11 in GBE. Please see below for additional information on eligibility.

Winners will be given a certificate, a prize of $2,000 and a travel award to either the 2020 or 2021 SMBE meeting.

Eligibility & Nomination

1. All articles published in the two SMBE journals, Molecular Biology & Evolution and Genome Biology & Evolution (one prize for each journal), in the calendar year 2019 are automatically eligible if the final publication date of the nominated paper is not more than two years later than the date of the nominee's Ph.D.
2. The nominated graduate student must be the first author or joint first-author of the nominated paper.
3. An article and its first author can be nominated by anyone; self-nominations are acceptable.
4. A signed letter from the Ph.D. advisor, MSc advisor, or equivalent, confirming that the paper was part of the nominee’s thesis or graduate work is required.
5. The deadline for submitting nominations is March 11, 2020.

How to Enter

Please send the name of the nominee, a scan of the signed advisor letter, and the name of the paper for which the award is to be considered as a SINGLE PDF to smbe@allenpress.com. Please use the email subject line "MBE/GBE Best Student Paper Nomination", deleting journal name as appropriate.

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