The 2025 InSDB meeting, in partnership with the International Society of Differentiation (ISD), was hosted at IISER Berhampur, Odisha, from 14th to 17th December 2025. The meeting brought together over 200 participants, including students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members from across India and around the world.
The event started with opening remarks by Prof. Ashok Ganguli, Director of IISER Berhampur, in which he welcomed the participants to the institute and gave a brief about its history. This was followed by a welcome note by Prof. Raj Ladher, President of InSDB, who encouraged the participants to actively engage in the scientific sessions that were to follow. The four-day meeting featured over 40 talks in sessions covering patterning and morphogenesis, stem cell-based models for early development, organogenesis: cell differentiation and growth, cell and tissue mechanics in morphogenesis, physical principles underlying development, and evolutionary developmental biology.
A highlight of the meeting was the award lectures that ended the day. The second day of the meeting was particularly special as it concluded with an inaugural award: The Compass Award! The award was in recognition of Prof. P Babu, whose discovery of the lin-4 mutant in C.elegans ultimately enabled studies that led to the discovery of mRNAs (that won Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). The award was received by Dr. Kavitha Babu, and the session included an inspiring video message from Prof. Babu himself.
Day 3 concluded with the Jean Brachet Memorial Lecture, delivered by Prof. James Briscoe. This award, presented by the ISD, recognizes outstanding contributions in developmental biology. The last day’s scientific events concluded with the Anne McLaren Award for Outstanding Women in Developmental Biology, awarded by the ISD to Prof. Richa Rikhy. This award honors an exceptional mid-career developmental biologist.
We also had poster sessions every day. With over 140 posters, presented by students, postdocs, and faculty, the posters showcased the incredible work done by the developmental biology community. The poster sessions were also the space where our sponsor scientific companies showcased their products and services.
Beyond Scientific Talks
Along with the rich lineup of scientific talks, the meeting also had focused workshops and panel discussions. In the session dedicated to scientific publishing, editors of the journals Development, Differentiation, elife, and Cells and Development came together to discuss the process of publishing in major journals and shared useful tips to make a research story publishable in scientific journals. In the panel discussion, “Demystifying the postdoc process”, five researchers, Bipasha Dey (MPI CBG Dresden), Raghavan Thiagarajan (reNEW, Copenhagen), Tathagata Biswas (Stowers Institute, Kansas), Priti Agarwal (NCBS, Bangalore), and Sameer Thukral (RIKEN BDR, Kobe), shared insights about their journeys from PhD to postdoc and to independent research, and discussed common doubts and questions from the audience about transitions in academia. Both these sessions were immensely valuable as the majority of the attendees were PhD students. The meeting also had a closed-door brainstorming session on identifying the issues and key changes required to strengthen stem cell research in India. This session was moderated by Dr. Kasturi Mahadik, Chief Manager of Centre for Predictive Human Model Systems, Atal Incubation Centre, CCMB Hyderabad, and Dr. Mansi Srivastava, Genome Valley, Hyderabad, and saw participation from approximately 20 researchers working in the field.
The Board Meeting
The InSDB executive body meeting was held on the first day of the meeting. The board welcomed new members and thanked the outgoing member. The general body meeting, which included all members of the society, took place on the last day and ratified the proposed changes.
The closing ceremony included poster prize distributions to the best 8 posters and a vote of thanks by Prof. Raj Ladher. The event came to an end with the highly anticipated gala dinner that was held at a scenic venue overlooking the beautiful Gopalpur beach.
Acknowledgements
This meeting was organized by Prof. Rajesh Ladher (NCBS), Prof. Ramkumar Sambasivan (IISER Tirupati), Dr. Anup Padmanabhan (Ashoka University), and Dr. Vinay Bulusu (IISER Berhampur) and was immensely assisted by Ms. Indulekha MS (NCBS).
We thank all those who helped make this edition of the InSDB meeting successful! The meeting was funded generously by ISD and was sponsored by many organizations. We also thank the IISER Berhampur admin, faculty, and students for hosting the meeting and taking care of administrative tasks and local logistics. Finally, we thank all the speakers, session chairs, and participants whose contributions made this meeting successful!
Sponsors of InSDB-ISD 2025
