The Department of Genetics and Development held its 40th Annual Retreat!

The Department of Genetics and Development held its 40th retreat on September 18-19, 2026, at the Gerstner Learning Center in Armonk, NY. More than 120 attendees heard presentations from graduate students, postdocs, research associates, and undergraduates from most departmental labs. Key highlights included Varun Sahu’s best student talk and Isabella C. Delgado’s second prize. More than 40 posters were presented, with Sophia Martin winning best work in progress, Alessandra Ali winning best poster, and Ryan Kittle and Americo Ciniglio tying for second best poster. Pardis Ahmadi won this year’s T-shirt contest, and Alessandra Ali took second place. Begüm Aydin, the new faculty member, also gave a presentation. Gerard Karsenty received a plaque honoring his 20th year as department chair. Rodney Rothstein, Eric Schon, and Lex Van der Ploeg recreated a skit from the first retreat, entitled “3 molecules in a pulsed field gel.” Seven attendees from the original retreat were present, and their ranks at the time of the 1986 retreat were as follows: Charles Cantor, professor and former chair of the department; Lex Van der Ploeg and Rodney Rothstein, assistant professors; Mary Lee and Eric Schon, postdocs; and Jeanne Magram and Drew Murphy, graduate students. The retreat was organized by Chao Lu, Alessandro Gennarino, Philippe Batut, Angela Trejo, Gina Kalkar, Erica Meagher, John Yin, Wendy Wu, Matt Armstrong, and Hilina Bekele, with help from Nicole Marotta. Major funding for the retreat was kindly provided by contributions from Charles Cantor, The MagMurph Family Fund, Regeneron, Lex Van der Ploeg, and Eric Schon (and viewers like you!).

This year, Victor Cruz, a talented photographer from Patricia Ducy’s Lab, volunteered his services and captured beautiful memories for us.