The next ASCB annual meeting, Cell Bio 2025, will take place in Philadelphia from December 6-10, 2025. If you are like me, you think fondly of finding interesting new discoveries during the poster sessions, connecting with colleagues that you haven’t seen in a year, or perhaps hunting down an editor to discuss your submitted manuscript. Last year I was thrilled to be selected for a talk, and then found out that my husband was also selected for a talk in a session at the same time…great news, but, what were we going to do with our 1 year old and 5 year old daughters? The Annual Meeting has helped me network at every stage of my career, but, as a parent of young children, it has been daunting to figure out how to attend.

If you are a caregiver who would like to attend Cell Bio to present a poster or talk, the Women in Cell Biology Committee encourages you to apply for an ASCB Familycare Grant by September 3, 2025. These flexible awards can be used towards any eligible expense that makes it easier for you to attend the Annual Meeting, because we know that each family will have a different solution for caregiving, whether of a young child, parent, or other dependent. For example, the grant can be used to pay for extended daycare hours for a child, to bring a caretaker to the meeting, for a dependent to travel to a relative, or for a relative/caretaker to travel to one’s home. If you choose to bring your children to the meeting, know that ASCB offers a dedicated Children’s Playroom at the meeting with activities such as magnetic blocks, books, couch, drawing tablets, etc, as well as a nursing mother’s lounge, and designated room for a quiet zone. I personally find it heartwarming to see young children with their parents at the meeting. Their presence reflects positively on the open and welcome environment at ASCB and our commitment to the next generation of scientists.

Those We Have Helped

For the annual meetings in 2022-2024, ASCB supported 41 familycare grants. The average award size in 2024 was $785, and we anticipate offering a similar level of support this year. These awards have been ongoing since 2008 and have helped support more than 200 awardees attend the annual meeting. Here are a couple of personal stories on how people have used these awards.

In 2014, Dr. Teresa Buck, a Research Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, received a WICB Familycare Grant. At the time, Teresa was pregnant and had a two-year-old daughter. Her husband, a full-time first responder, worked 24-hour weekend shifts and was unable to provide childcare during the ASCB meeting timeframe. The WICB Familycare Grant covered Teresa’s mother’s travel expenses so that she could accompany Dr. Buck to the meeting and look after her child. This support was essential, allowing Teresa—a scientist with young children—to attend the meeting, present her research, and engage with colleagues in her field.

Inspired by Dr. Buck’s positive experiences with this program, in 2015 Dr. Allyson O’Donnell, an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and current member of the WICB committee, applied for and received a WICB Familycare Grant. At that time, Allyson’s daughter was less than a year old and she and her husband, both Assistant Professors, would not have attended the meeting without the support of this grant. Allyson used the award to fly her mom to the meeting so that she could help look after her daughter while Allyson and her husband attended scientific sessions. This allowed them to fully participate in all sessions, including a poster session where Allyson discussed a future publication with a journal editor. As two new professors who both had grants in review at the time, the impact of attending the ASCB meeting that year to share their science and network with colleagues cannot be overstated.

In 2024, half of the awarded Familycare Grants were used to support travel of an additional caregiver to the annual ASCB meeting so that parents of young children could attend. The other half were used to support home-based dependent care expenses that allowed these members of our community to attend the annual meeting knowing that their loved ones were in good hands. In 2025, WICB plans to continue reviewing and making Familycare Grants, so please apply if you are a caregiver who would like to attend the meeting to present your work.

The Application

Applications will open on August 1 and are due by September 3. The application requires a CV or biosketch, a submitted abstract, and a description of how you would apply the money if granted. The application should take no more than 15-20 minutes of your time to complete. Applicants are required to submit a poster for presentation at the meeting to qualify for a grant. Grants reimburse documented expenses up to the awarded amount.

Seeking external donors

ASCB is currently seeking an external sponsor for the Familycare Grants in upcoming years. If you would like to support the childcare grants, donations can be made to ASCB and to the Women in Cell Biology committee at www.ascb.org/donate/.