Great news from the lab front, or more specifically from the lecture circuit! Among the most important responsibilities for a scientist is to get the word out on recent progress and share your results with fellow scientists to get critical feedback and generate some buzz! We have all been busy doing this in Spring 2016, and to some considerable acclaim. Congratulations go out to Emily Mercer for winning the first place prize at the Weill Cornell Annual Vincent du Vigneaud Graduate School Symposium. Emily is shown below accepting the prize from Dean Gary Koretsky, along with a close-up view of the gold-plated plaque. I was present at her talk, and indeed I agree she gave a stunning presentation regarding her recent discoveries for the role of Hspb7 in regulating cardiac morphogenesis and protection. The audience truly grew to appreciate how much they depend on Hspb7, and were amazed at the detective work Emily used to reveal its connection to large sarcomeric protein turnover, via an autophagic pathway. Then, just about a week ago, I was privileged to attend the annual Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Meeting in Durham NC, along with Yahui Lan, who gave an amazing presentation of her poster revealing for the first time the requirement for TET proteins in the development of the epicardium, likely through control of DNA methylation. This is the premier meeting for those of us interested in cardiogenesis and heart regeneration and is attended by many of the top researchers in the world. At the end of the meeting, it was announced that Yahui had received one of the 10 Best Poster Presentation awards (out of at least 200 posters). This is a great honor and even comes with a nice cash bonus award. We will have to see, but perhaps Emily and Yahui will be taking the lab out for some celebratory libations!
Although such awards are very nice and terrific validation for all the hard work and smart thinking accomplished by these scientists, the meetings themselves are the most important point. Here we exchange ideas, get new ideas for extending our results, and perhaps discover that some ideas are not worth pursuing (better to find out sooner than later!). More travel later this summer: International Zebrafish Meeting. What could possibly be more fun than Orlando in August??
Although such awards are very nice and terrific validation for all the hard work and smart thinking accomplished by these scientists, the meetings themselves are the most important point. Here we exchange ideas, get new ideas for extending our results, and perhaps discover that some ideas are not worth pursuing (better to find out sooner than later!). More travel later this summer: International Zebrafish Meeting. What could possibly be more fun than Orlando in August??
 |  Left: Emily being recognized for BEST TALK EVER (Emily is not the one with a tie). Right: Emily's gold-plated (I'm pretty sure) plaque, representing a great honor for her and the entire Evans lab. We are all very proud of Emily and Yahui! |
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