Ignacio Moore, Chair (chair.DCE@sicb.org); Maren Vitousek Chair-Elect (chairelect.DCE@sicb.org); Britt Heidinger, Program Officer (DPO.DCE@sicb.org); Creagh Breuner, Program Officer-Elect (DPOelect.DCE@sicb.org); Ryan Paitz, Secretary (secretary.DCE@sicb.org); Carolyn Bauer, Secretary-Elect (secretaryelect.DCE@sicb.org); Sam Lane, Student-Postdoc Representative (Samuel.Lane@ndsu.edu)
Updates from DCE Leadership
Now is the time to vote on the Divisional Merger between DCPB and DCE to form the Division of Physiology (DPHYS)!
For the past few years, DCE and DCPB have been planning a merger. Through a lot of hard work from members of DCE and DCPB, we are now ready to officially vote on a set of bylaws that would merge DCE and DCPB into a new Division of Physiology (DPHYS). Details of how this process took place can be found in DCE Newsletters (2024-2026) and the transition plan.
To vote on the merger, please use this link.
2026 Meeting Summary
We had a great meeting! DCE worked in conjunction with DCPB to coordinate a strong number of stimulating and integrative talks (90) and posters (92) related to the physiology and endocrinology of diverse topics such as coping with environmental challenges, life-history evolution, and reproductive and parental behaviors. We also supported six SICB symposia including: 1) Integrating integration: How cellular mechanisms of trait covariation shape evolutionary patterns of phenotypic integration, 2) Behavioral and environmental monitoring with open-source, low-cost tools, 3) Sex across origins: Questioning animal-centric assumptions and developing integrative frameworks, 4) Disabled and neurodivergent perception, community, and identity in the biosciences, 5) Spotlighting the role of behavior in a rapidly changing world, and 6) Hormones at sea: New frontiers in marine mammal endocrinology and ecophysiology. Please consider submitting a symposium application for the 2028 meeting.
This year’s Howard A. Bern Lecture, which highlights the work of an influential comparative endocrinologist, was given by Dr. Catherine Marler on Monday, January 5th at 7:30pm. Dr. Marler’s research addresses important questions about the bi-directional regulation of endocrine systems and diverse behaviors including parental care, pair bonding, territoriality and aggression in vertebrates. There were two special sessions associated with the Bern lecture, titled “Behavioral Plasticity and Underlying Mechanisms I and II” (Tuesday, Jan 6, 8:00-9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.).
DCE also wants to congratulate the amazing students who competed in the DCE Best Student Presentation competitions this year and thank the DCE members who generously volunteered their time to serve as judges for these competitions. Please consider judging at future meetings. The winners of each competition are:
Aubrey Gorbman award for best student oral presentation in the Division of Comparative Endocrinology at the 2026 SICB.
Winner-Josephina Fornara
My name is Josie (she/her), and I am a third-year PhD student in Kim Rosvall’s lab at Indiana University Bloomington. My dissertation focuses on the proximate causes and evolutionary consequences of complex social behaviors—specifically, female territorial aggression. My research explores how the ‘constellation of traits’ that make up an organism (e.g., gene expression, hormones, sex, lived experience, past and current environment) come together to shape individual differences in behavior, and I leverage molecular techniques, field experiments, and 10+ years of behavioral/demographic data to address these questions.
Lynn Riddiford award for best student poster presentation in the Division of Comparative Endocrinology at the 2026 SICB
Winner-Sarah Heissenberger
I am a fifth-year PhD candidate at the University of Arkansas, where I am co-advised by Drs. Sarah E. DuRant and Carolyn M. Bauer of Swarthmore College. My research investigates how water availability affects individual physiology and social behavior of an arid-adapted rodent native to Chile, the common degu (Octodon degus). I am broadly interested in a mechanistic understanding of organismal responses to environmental challenges and how we can scale this information up using various modelling approaches to inform conservation.