simply blood

On behalf of the Awards Committee, ISEH would like to congratulate the recipients of the 2022 ISEH Honorific Awards, which will be presented at the ISEH 51st Annual Scientific Meeting. Donald Metcalf Award Winner – Jim Palis The 2022 Donald Metcalf Award goes to Dr. Jim Palis, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Pediatric Biomedical Research at the University of Rochester. Jim is a giant in the field of developmental hematopoiesis, and has pioneered work in defining the complexity of HSC-independent hematopoiesis. Jim’s early work carefully identified and dissected the earliest waves of hematopoietic progenitors from the extraembryonic yolk sac. His seminal work identified the erythro-myeloid progenitor (EMP) emerging from distinctive hemogenic endothelium, and demonstrated that EMPs not only establish erythropoiesis in the fetal liver, but also contribute to the megakaryocytic and multiple myeloid lineages. His work has also transformed our understanding of fetal er...

Currently planning your conference schedule for 2022? Make sure to pencil in the ISEH 51st Annual Scientific Meeting being held in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1-4 September. Apart from amazing science, education, and networking opportunities, Edinburgh is always worth a visit. Why not explore the medieval streets and castle of Edinburgh or stroll through some of the many free museums in the city? Have you read Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown? Go and visit Roslyn chapel where it all plays out! And if you are looking for a break to refresh your brain, go for a stroll in the Botanic Gardens or up Arthur’s seat for amazing views of the city. Mary King’s Close , Old Town: Over the centuries, Edinburgh was built further up on top of old streets and buildings, many of which still exist as an underground city. Through Mary King’s Close, part of the underground city can be accessed in guided tours that take you along buried cobblestone streets into former houses and shops and give you a fantastic insi...

One of the most terrifying aspects of the academic career path is that we very rarely know exactly where we are going. Not only is there uncertainty in terms of when, where or if we’ll find permanent positions, we are also unsure of what those future positions actually entail. For people who spend a significant amount of time trying to control experimental parameters, we put up with a lot of potentially unnecessary chaos in the system that provides us with our livelihoods. Many of us deal with this by shelving our thoughts about the next phase in our careers until it becomes imminently relevant - after all, there are too many other things keeping us busy! But perhaps we should be taking a different approach and trying to redefine what this transition looks like. The first step in this process is to understand where the uncertainty lies. The transition from PhD student to postdoc to group leader is shrouded in mystery. I’ve thought to myself many times over the years, “I would love to e...