An electronic newsletter from the Marine Biological Laboratory
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Message from the Director:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Greetings of the New Year! 2008 is off to a busy start at the MBL and I’m pleased to share our latest news and updates with you.
We’ve welcomed new staff to several of our scientific laboratories and administrative departments over the last few months. One particular area that has experienced recent growth is the Ecosystems Center,
which added two new faculty members in January. Newly appointed senior scientist Zoe Cardon studies microbial life in the rhizophere and will play a key role in the MBL’s micro-eco initiative, which applies the research and resources of the Bay Paul and Ecosystems Centers to the analysis of microbial communities. Assistant scientist Jim Tang is a terrestrial ecologist who studies plant and soil microbial metabolism and the impact that climate change will have on such ecosystem processes. You can read more about Zoe and Jim later in this newsletter.
In other news, last month the MBL signed an agreement with the
National University of Colombia, the largest institution of higher education in Colombia, to foster the exchange of graduate students and faculty between the two institutions. I’d like to thank MBL adjunct scientists Enrico Nasi and María del Pilar Gomez for coordinating this important outreach and education effort.
Thanks to state-of-the-art web conferencing tools now available at the MBL, our outreach efforts also recently benefited science teachers from across the United States.
A live web seminar presented by the MBL assistant scientist Seth Bordenstein and education and outreach coordinator Sarah Bordenstein introduced teachers to the fascinating world of microbes as well as MBL research, teacher resources, and training opportunities in the microbial world.
While there are still a few remnants from the foot of snow that fell in Woods Hole last week, all of us here at the MBL are busy planning for the summer season ahead. With that in mind, I’m happy to report that we’ve finalized the schedule for the
2008 Friday Evening Lecture Series. Since the early days of the MBL, this series has provided our students, scientists, and the local community with access to some of the world’s most outstanding scientists. This year’s series will be no exception as we welcome such prominent scientists as Nobel Laureate Paul Nurse and renowned biochemist (and 1951 Physiology course alumnus) Bruce Ames. You can view the full line-up of Friday Evening Lectures (as well as dates for other important MBL summer events) in the Calendar section of this newsletter.
In closing, as you think about your summer plans, I’d like to invite and encourage any scientist who may benefit from conducting research at the MBL to consider applying for laboratory space rental. As our current visiting scientists can attest, the MBL provides a uniquely productive place for researchers to follow their own scientific intuition. And with the addition of newly renovated facilities in the Rowe Laboratory, we now provide visiting scientists with research space equipped with the latest technology. Limited lab space is still available for the summer of 2008, but don’t forget, the Rowe Laboratory provides outstanding facilities for research at all times of the year, and Woods Hole is home to a thriving year-round scientific community.
I look forward to sharing more MBL news and accomplishments with you in the future. In the meantime, best wishes for a happy and healthy 2008.
Gary Borisy, Director and CEO
