The Genetics Society of America is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the American Society of Zoologists and the Botanical Society of America. GSA members conduct fundamental and applied research using a wide variety of model organisms to enhance understanding of living systems. Some of the systems of study include Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, yeasts, zebrafish, humans, mice, bacteria, Arabidopsis thaliana, maize, Chlamydomonas, Xenopus, and other animals, plants, and fungi.
Mission
GSA serves an international community of scientists who use genetics to make new discoveries and improve lives. Its mission is to cultivate an inclusive, diverse research community that engages with the public, communicates the excitement and implications of discovery, and serves as an authoritative source of information. Its activities include:
advancing biological research by supporting professional development of scientists
communicating advances and fostering collaboration through scholarly publishing and conferences
The GSA advocates funding of research in genetics, primarily through its membership in the Coalition for the Life Sciences, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Research!America, and American Institute of Biological Sciences. These organizations of leading scientists fosters public policies to advance basic biological research and its applications in medicine and other fields. The GSA also strives to inform state and national legislators about advances and issues in genetics.
Interaction among geneticists
The GSA organizes and sponsors several conferences for researchers. These include the long-running model organism meetings: Yeast, C. elegans, Fungal and Drosophila, and the new Society-wide Model Organisms to Human Biology meeting. The Meetings and Membership Committee welcomes opportunities to sponsor other meetings appropriate to its mission. The GSA Reporter, the Society’s newsletter, keeps members apprised of Society activities.
Communication of discoveries
The GSA publishes GENETICS, the leading journal for geneticists since the first issue in 1916, and , an open-access journal publishing high-quality fundamental research in genetics and genomics.
Education of students and the public
The GSA’s Education Committee seeks to facilitate the integration of advances in genetics in the K through college curriculum. The GSA communicates to the public advances in genetics and answers to issues by providing expert opinion to the press and others.
Publications
GSA publishes two peer-edited scientific journals:
. Established in 2011, G3 is an open access scientific journal which provides a forum for the publication of high‐quality foundational research, particularly research that generates useful genetic and genomic information such as genome maps, single gene studies, genome‐wide association studies, and QTL studies, as well as mutant screens and advances in methods and technology. The current editor-in-chief is Brenda Andrews.
The Society also publishes The GSA Reporter, GSA's member newsletter. In 2013, the Society announced an editorial partnership with the American Society for Cell Biology to collaborate on the publication of journal CBE–Life Sciences Education.
GSA conferences
GSA organizes a number of scientific meetings, including many focused on model organisms of use in genetic studies.
C. elegans: The C. elegans Meeting is generally held in odd-number years.
Fungi: The Fungal Genetics Conference is generally held in odd-numbered years.
Mouse: GSA has organized both the Mouse Genetics Conference and the Mouse Molecular Genetics Conference.
Xenopus: The International Xenopus Conference is generally held in even-numbered years.
Yeast: The Yeast Genetics Meeting is generally held in even-numbered years.
Zebrafish: The International Conference on Zebrafish Development and Genetics is generally held in even-numbered years. The Strategic Conference of Zebrafish Investigators is generally held in odd-numbered years.
In 2016, the Society co-located several of these meetings for The Allied Genetics Conference.
GSA awards
The Genetics Society of America recognizes outstanding geneticists with following awards:
The George W. Beadle Award for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers
The Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education in recognition of significant and sustained impact on genetics education
The Edward Novitski Prize in recognition of extraordinary creativity and ingenuity in solving problems in genetics.
The DeLill Nasser Awards for Professional Development in Genetics for young geneticists to attend national and international meetings and enroll in laboratory courses.
