Following the sad passing of one of the greats of Developmental Biology, Lewis Wolpert, the BSDB committee has launched a new annual medal in his honour. Lewis was well known for his ability to distil our subject’s most engaging and fundamental problems into concise and well-grounded core concepts of Biology. This led to vastly important contributions to research in our field, but also to the communication of its problems to a broader audience. Through teaching, popular science writing and acting as a spokesperson for Science as a whole, Lewis inspired many of us into the deeper study of Developmental Biology. Therefore, our annual ‘Wolpert medal’ is presented to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and communication of Developmental Biology.
We are very happy to announce that this year’s winner of the BSDB Wolpert medal is Prof. Pleasantine Mill from the University of Edinburgh.
We enthusiastically endorse Prof. Pleasantine Mill (Prof. of Cilia Biology at the University of Edinburgh and MRC Investigator at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh) for the Wolpert Medal. Prof. Mill is an outstanding Developmental Biologist who has enthused us and others in our own research topics in developmental biology. The reasons for nominating her are listed below:
• Leadership and community building
Prof. Mill has demonstrated exceptional initiative and leadership by keeping the global cilia community connected. Her efforts since the early 2020 lockdowns have kept lines of scientific communication open and fostered collaborations amongst a global community of researchers.
She has organised over 50 UK Cilia Network e-symposia which ran weekly during the peak of the pandemic lockdowns and now run quarterly. Given the importance of cilia in developmental processes, the e-symposia bring together a global and diverse network of developmental biologists and other scientists working on all aspects of cilia.
A major focus of the cilia e-symposia is to provide a platform and exposure to graduate students, ECRs and junior PIs. Her stewardship during the pandemic promoted scientific communication during challenging times for junior researchers and kept us all going.
• Promotion of understanding of developmental disorders
Prof. Mill has over 20 years of experience as a Developmental Geneticist. Throughout this time, she has advocated and campaigned for more funding for the study of rare developmental ciliopathies.
She is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Ciliopathy Alliance and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) Research (UK Patient Charities), member of the leadership team for the UK Cilia Network and the MRCs Congenital Anomalies Cluster. Through her many leadership roles, she has directed her efforts to promote research on rare developmental diseases. Her group has also undertaken important public engagement activities including the PCD Awareness Day in 2018 and PCD Family Day 2019.
• Championing voices for ECRs and junior PIs
Prof. Mill’s drive in her field of modeling rare developmental disorders and her passion for equitable science has inspired a diverse generation of new cell and developmental biologists, including us. As minority scientists with fledgling independent groups, we have both especially benefited from the platforms she created for research conducted by junior PIs. We are certain, like us, she has inspired countless other emerging developmental biologists.
For these and many other reasons, we feel strongly that Prof. Mill is fully deserving of a Wolpert Medal in recognition of her heroic efforts to promote equitable and open scientific communication and for inspiring a new wave of developmental biologists.
- Girish Ram Mali
- Raman Das