Key attributes of successful research institutes.

Science does not take place in a vacuum: The physical and social workplace has a profound influence on scientific discoveries. Everyone at a research institute can contribute to its scientific output and productivity, from faculty research groups to facilities and platforms staff to administration and corporate services. Although the researchers addressing exciting scientific questions are key, their efforts can be fostered and directed by the overarching strategy of the institute, interconnection with facilities and platforms, and strong and directed support of the administration and corporate services. Everybody counts and everybody should be empowered to contribute. But what are the characteristics that make scientific organizations and their people flourish? This Essay looks at the structure and culture of successful research institutes, laying out different operational strategies and highlighting points that need be taken into consideration during their implementation.

An interview with Cagney Coomer.

Dr Cagney Coomer received her PhD with Ann Morris at the University of Kentucky, where she studied zebrafish retinal development and regeneration, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Marnie Halpern's lab in the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. In 2020, she was awarded the Society of Developmental Biology's inaugural Trainee Science Communication Award for her work with NERD SQUAD Inc, the non-profit STEM outreach organization she founded that is dedicated to inspiring the next great minds by bringing science to life. Over a virtual chat, we discussed her experiences in the lab, the classroom and the community centre, and why she thinks outreach and role models are vital to science.

An interview with Trudi Schüpbach.

Gertrud (Trudi) Schüpbach is Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator between 1994 and 2014, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005 and to the European Molecular Biology Organization as an Associate Member in 2000, and won the Society of Developmental Biology's Edwin G. Conklin Medal in 2006. She has a long-term interest in the genetic and molecular control of oogenesis in Drosophila, work she continues in her retirement. In this interview, conducted at the Latin American Society for Developmental Biology's 2019 meeting in Buenos Aires, she surveys her career, discusses the rich seam of science that came out of a maternal-effect screen and gives her advice for people considering a career in research.

An interview with Roberto Mayor.

Roberto Mayor is Professor of Developmental and Cellular Neurobiology at University College London. Elected an EMBO member in 2019 and a former International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, his lab works on the development of the neural crest, in particular its induction and migration. We met Roberto in Buenos Aires at the tenth biennial meeting of the Latin American Society for Developmental Biology (LASDB, the society he founded in 2001), and discussed the role serendipity has played in his career, why we need a more holistic view of the cell during development, and the challenges and potential of science in Latin America.

An interview with Judith Kimble.

Judith Kimble is Vilas Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (since 1994). Her lab is interested broadly in the molecular regulation of animal development, with a focus on stem cell self-renewal, fate specification and reprogramming in Caenorhabditis elegans We caught up with Judith after she delivered her Keynote Lecture at the 2019 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Meeting, and heard about her circuitous route to basic research, her passion for black boxes in science and why London is her cabin the woods.

An interview with Cassandra Extavour.

Cassandra Extavour is Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University (www.extavourlab.com). Recently appointed an editor at Development, her lab works on the evolution and development of germ cells in animals, the genetic control of reproductive capacity, and the evolution of the arthropod body plan. We met with Cassandra at the 2018 Santa Cruz Developmental Biology meeting and heard about her scientific history, her thoughts on the future of research at the intersection of evolution and development, and her lifelong passion for music.

An interview with Kate Storey.

Kate Storey is Professor of Neural Development and Head of the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Her lab works on neural differentiation in the developing spinal cord. A Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society of Biology, in 2019 she was awarded the British Society for Developmental Biology's (BSDB) Waddington Medal, which recognises outstanding individuals who have made major contributions to UK developmental biology. After her award lecture, we caught up with Kate to survey her career and hear her thoughts on the field's future.

An interview with Bénédicte Sanson.

Bénédicte Sanson is a Reader in Developmental Morphogenesis and Wellcome Trust Investigator at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. Her lab works on axis extension and compartmental boundary formation in the Drosophila embryo, combining genetics with quantitative and computational approaches. In 2019 she was awarded the British Society for Developmental Biology's Cheryll Tickle medal, which recognises outstanding achievements in developmental biology of mid-career female researchers. We caught up with Bénédicte in a café close to her lab and discussed how she started research not with flies but with phages and how collaboration and interdisciplinarity have always been at the core of her science.

An interview with Richard Gardner.

Richard Gardner began his career as a PhD student with Bob Edwards and ran his own lab, focusing on patterning of the early mammalian embryo, at the University of Oxford from 1973 until his retirement in 2008. A Fellow of the Royal Society since 1979, he was knighted for services to Biological Sciences in 2005 and received an Honorary Doctorate from Cambridge University in 2012. This year he was awarded the British Society of Developmental Biology (BSDB) Waddington Medal for major contributions to developmental biology in the UK. We caught up with him at the society's Spring Meeting in Warwick and discussed how a book of birds set him on a path to science, how his research was complemented by decades of advising government on scientific policy and why picking the right mentor in research is so important.

An interview with Cliff Tabin.

Cliff Tabin is George Jacob and Jacqueline Hazel Leder Professor and Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. His lab aims to understand the genetic control of morphogenesis during embryonic development and its change over evolutionary time. We met Cliff at the Pan-American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology's second biennial meeting, held in Calgary in August 2017, and heard about how he got into development, how a long-standing interest in the limb has been complemented by ventures into new models and why he thinks we are in a golden age for evo-devo.

An interview with Christiana Ruhrberg.

Christiana Ruhrberg is Professor of Neuronal and Vascular Biology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London. Her lab investigates the relationship between nerve and blood vessel development in the central nervous system. In 2018, she was awarded the British Society for Developmental Biology's Cheryll Tickle Medal, which recognises outstanding achievements of mid-career female scientists in the field. In advance of her medal lecture at the society's spring meeting, we met Christiana to find out what the award means to her, how she settled on neurovascular development after many changes in direction early in her career and her thoughts on what makes a good scientific mentor.

An interview with Ykä Helariutta.

Yrjö (Ykä) Helariutta is a group leader at The Institute of Biotechnology in the University of Helsinki and at the Sainsbury Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. Recently appointed an editor at Development, his lab works on vascular development in plants and trees. We met Ykä in his Cambridge office to hear how a childhood passion for collecting led him to plant science, what Arabidopsis can tell us about trees and vice versa, and why he thinks there are many different ways of being successful in science.

An interview with Susan Strome.

Susan Strome is Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA. Recently appointed an editor at Development, her lab studies the regulation of germ cell development in C. elegans, with a particular focus on the epigenetic transmission of chromatin states. We caught up with Susan to discuss her early career switch from prokaryotes to worms, her experiences of small and big science, and why teaching is so important to her.

An interview with Jim Smith.

Jim Smith is Director of Science at the Wellcome Trust and a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, where he was formerly Director of Research. A Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, he was knighted for his services to medical research and science education in 2016. His lab works on mesoderm induction in the early vertebrate embryo. We met Jim in the Crick to hear about his life in science, his visions for the Crick and the Wellcome Trust, and his advice for early career scientists.

An interview with Bill Harris.

William 'Bill' Harris is Head of the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Fellow of both the Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences. His lab works on the development of the vertebrate nervous system, with a particular focus on cell lineage in the retina. In 2017 he was awarded the British Society for Developmental Biology's Waddington Medal for outstanding research performance and services to the community. We met Bill in his Cambridge lab to talk science, art and ice hockey.

An interview with Eric Wieschaus.

Eric Wieschaus is a HHMI Investigator, and the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology at Princeton University and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Prize jointly with Edward Lewis and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard for discoveries about the genetic control of Drosophila embryogenesis. We caught up with Eric at the joint meeting of the German and Japanese Societies of Developmental Biologists held in Kiel in March 2017, and discussed his career, his thoughts on the field and the impact the Nobel award had on his life.

On Growth and Form in context - an interview with Matthew Jarron.

D'Arcy Thompson was born in 1860, trained in Edinburgh and Cambridge, and held positions in Dundee and St Andrews, where he worked until his death in 1948. On Growth and Form, his classic work on the mathematical patterns and physical rules underlying biological forms, was first published in 1917. To learn more about the book's context, we met Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee, in the University's D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum. Surrounded by specimens, many of which were collected by Thompson himself, we discussed the legacy of On Growth and Form and the life of the man behind it.

An interview with John Gurdon.

John Gurdon is a Distinguished Group Leader in the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. In 2012, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Shinya Yamanaka for work on the reprogramming of mature cells to pluripotency, and his lab continues to investigate the molecular mechanisms of nuclear reprogramming by oocytes and eggs. We met John in his Cambridge office to discuss his career and hear his thoughts on the past, present and future of reprogramming.

An interview with Jenny Nichols.

Jennifer Nichols is a Principal Investigator at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, UK. Her lab works on lineage segregation and the establishment of pluripotency in the mammalian embryo. In 2017 she was awarded the British Society for Developmental Biology's Cheryll Tickle Medal, given to mid-career female scientists with outstanding achievements in developmental biology. We met Jenny in her Cambridge office to talk about pluripotency in vitro and in vivo, the importance of collaboration in her career path, and what playing a musical instrument has in common with research.