- Why a RBSCDB?
- History of the Society (1972-2012)
- Board of Officers (2022-2023)
- Bylaws of the RBSCDB
- Newsletters
Why a Royal Society for Cell and Developmental Biology?
In their excellent Commentary entitled Cell and Developmental Biology - A Shared Past, an Intertwined Future, which appeared in Developmental Cell, Vol.1, 27-36, July 2001, Rachel E. Dawes-Hoang and Eric F. Wieschaus introduced the subject by mentioning that "Cell and developmental biology are distinct disciplines with clear differences in emphasis and domains of interest, yet they also share a common historic origin and benefit from an increasingly productive exchange of insights and influences". It is now evident that both disciplines become increasingly intertwined as we begin to unravel how developmental processes work at the cellular level and how cellular components contribute to the regulation and execution of developmental events. Growing interaction and overlap between cell biology and developmental biology have made that the distinction between the two fields has often become somewhat blurred in the overall quest to understand biological function. This trend led do the emergence of new ideas and strategies and to the appearance of new journals, such as Developmental Cell. It also had unequivocally repercussions on the aims and functioning of several national societies, particularly in Europe. Indeed, it is clear that countries possessing two separate societies for cell and developmental biology, now tend more and more to organise their meetings jointly. In Belgium, their never was a society for developmental biology, whereas a society for cell biology already exists since 1972 (see History of the Society). In 2002, the Board of Officers of the Belgian Society for Cell Biology, therefore, thought that this situation should be rectified, by extending the aims of the existing society to the field of developmental biology, providing our members with a broader insight into the properties of individual cells - embryonic and adult - and their regulation in a larger multicellular context in health and disease. The proposal made by the Board of Officers, to evolve towards a Belgian Society for Cell and Developmental Biology, has been discussed at as extraordinary general assembly of members, which took place on 9 November 2002 in Ghent on the occasion of the society's autumn meeting. The proposal of the Board was unanimously adopted by the members. As a consequence, the society will present oneself as The Belgian Society for Cell and Developmental Biology.