The Jean Brachet story 1909 - 1988

Jean Louis Auguste Brachet became President of the International Society of Differentiation at the Society's founding in 1971 and later was named Honorary Life President until his death in 1988.

A founder of modern cell and developmental biology, Brachet began his studies on the cellular localization and functions of RNA and DNA in the 1920's, before their genetic significance was understood.  Using cytochemical techniques, he discovered RNA and demonstrated that it was enriched in nucleoli.  He went on to show that it moves from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where it directs protein synthesis.  In other seminal discoveries, Brachet showed that chloroplasts contain DNA and that chloroplast specific RNA can be made independent of the nucleus.  He also described the first example of transport of a protein from the cytoplasm into the nucleus.  Brachet believed that biochemistry was central to development and was fond of referring to his field as "Chemical Embryology".

Brachet was concurrently Professor on the Science Faculty at Brussells and Director of the Laboratory of Animal Morphology at the Free University of Brussells in Rhode Ste Genese.  Brachet authored Biochemical Cytology, Academic Press, 1957, and The Biochemistry of Development, Pergamon Press, 1960, which remain classics. 

Among Brachet's many honors were:
Belgium:  the Lauriat du Concourse Universitaire, Van Beneden Prize, DePotter Prize, Quinquennial Prize of Fundamental Medical Sciences (Royal Academy)
France: Charles Meyer Prize; Germany: Schleiden-Medaille;  The Netherlands:  H.P. Heineken Prize.

The International Society of Differentiation honored Brachet's contributions to science and to the Society with the first Jean Brachet Memorial Lecture at the 6th International Conference on Differentiation held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1990.  The lecture series has continued at every ISD sponsored international conference since that time.

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The Beverly Kerr McKinnell Award
for exemplary research as a student

The ISD’s pioneering administrative officer, Beverly Kerr McKinnell, passed away on November 15, 2005, following a brief battle with lung cancer. The International Society of Differentiation benefited enormously from Beverly's talents and dedicated quarter century of service.

Although not trained as a scientist, Beverly became involved very early in ISD affairs through her husband, Bob, who was one of its founding members in the early 1970’s.  As the Society matured, it established its place at the interface between development and cancer, began regularly to hold international conferences bringing scientists in those disciplines together, and launched the journal, Differentiation, as its official organ.  It also became administratively more complex, developing features that conventionally trained scientists are largely unprepared to handle.  Beverly took on the Society’s administrative affairs, initially quite informally.  With time and experience she was formally appointed the ISD’s first Administrator, a post she held with consummate professionalism until her death.  Those who were elected to serve as officers and board members of the ISD came quickly to recognize Beverly’s dedication to the society.  She was always there to remind them of what needed doing, when it needed doing, and to prod if it wasn’t getting done.  She took very little credit for that, being concerned not with kudos but with the continued vitality of the society. 

Largely unknown to those who knew her only through the ISD, Beverly was very active in her community and was a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother.  She served the League of Women Voters as President of the Saint Paul chapter, President of the Minnesota chapter and First Vice President of the national organization.  Her effectiveness was recognized by two special honors, the Hope Washburn Award and the Fay Lyksett Award.  Her outstanding service on appointed state and county commissions was specially acknowledged by Minnesota Governor Arnie Carlson, who designated 28 April 1992 as Beverly Kerr McKinnell Day.  She was an avid bird watcher, an interest she had ample opportunity to pursue as she accompanied Bob on his pursuit of frogs in the wild.

Beverly took particular pleasure in the participation of budding young scientists in ISD conferences. To honor her memory, beginning with the Innsbruck conference in 2006, the ISD instituted a special award for outstanding research presented by a student.  The award takes the form of a cash prize equivalent to 1,000 euros.

Beverly Kerr McKinnell Award Recipients

2010, Nara
YUJI ATSUTA
Ph. D candidate Nara Institute of Science and Technology
for his poster titled
Tubular extension and cell epithelialization are coordinately regulated and influenced by adjacent tissues

2008, Singapore
MICHAEL D. HALL
Ph.D. Candidate, Georgetown University
for his poster titled
TIG1 contributes to cytokinesis in mammalian cells,
and participates in hindbrain development
and somitogenesis in the zebrafish.

2006, Innsbruck
BEATE LICHTENBERGER
Ph.D. candidate, Medical University of Vienna
for her poster titled
Conditional deletion of VEGF impairs SOS-dependent
skin tumor development in transgenic mice

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