LabNotes Archive
In this issue
Remembrances
The MBL announces with sadness the passing of Luigi Mastroianni, Jr. (November 25, 2008) and Aron Moscona (January 14, 2009).
Mark Your Calendar!
02/27/09: "Community genomics reveals microevolutionary processes in microbial communities" - Sherri Simmons, University of California, Berkeley - Candle House 104/105, 12:00 Noon
02/27/09: Falmouth Forum Series - "Music: An Art Form and Industry in Flux" - 7:30 PM, Lillie Auditorium
03/01/09: Deadline for summer housing applications
03/20/09: Falmouth Forum Series - "Interpreting Holocaust Survivor Testimonies" - 7:30 PM, Lillie Auditorium
Looking Ahead to Summer:
The MBL Associates Annual Meeting, June 28
Friday Evening Lectures, Jun. 19 - Aug. 21
Colloquium on the Biology of Aging, Aug. 3-5
Corporation Meeting, Aug. 7
MBL Gala featuring the Tokyo String Quartet, Aug. 9
For full event listings, visit our online calendar.
Publications
MBL researchers have published many papers on a wide variety of topics since LabNotes was last published... More>>>
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Director's Message
Winter greetings from the MBL! Lately it seems there is never a dull moment here, even during this so-called quiet time of year in Woods Hole. I continue to be amazed at the impact the MBL is making on biological science and education, and this issue of LabNotes underscores this role.
We are, of course, still enjoying the afterglow of Osamu Shimomura’s receipt of the Nobel Prize. The honor continues to draw attention to the MBL from the international community and has inspired us to create a commemorative binder for our library honoring the 53 Nobel laureates with MBL affiliations. I hope you will stop in and see the book the next time you are here... More>>>
 Shimomura Wins Nobel Prize
Osamu Shimomura, a senior scientist emeritus and Corporation member at the MBL, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP), one of the most important tools in contemporary science and medicine for illuminating life at the microscopic level... More>>>
 HHMI, MLSC award MBL combined $25 Million
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board Approves $10 Million Grant for Marine Biological Laboratory
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Awards $15 Million to MBL for Loeb Laboratory Renovations - State funding commitment in Life Sciences Act helps leverage major private investment.
MBL Science
 Antibiotics Can Cause Pervasive, Persistent Changes to the Microbial Community in the Human Gut, MBL and Stanford Scientists Report
Paper: Gut Reaction: Pyrosequencing Provides the Poop on Distal Gut Bacteria - A survey of human gut bacterial diversity shows extensive but temporary changes in the microbial community following ciprofloxacin treatment. (Image and Caption: PLoS Biology)
Thinking it Through - Scientists call for policy to guide biofuels industry toward sustainable practices
Now You See it, Now You Don’t - MBL Scientists Unraveling the Mystery of Camouflage
Sediment traps in the Sargasso Sea provide continuous record of oceanic fluxes - 31-year program measures particle fluxes in the deep Sargasso Sea.
 MBL In The News
From Science at Work, a series of broadcasts on WCAI from the Woods Hole science community.
Encyclopedia of Life is named by Nature as one of the top science stories of 2008.
MBL affiliated scientists cited in 12 of 25 of Nature’s Milestones of the Cytoskeleton, including Szent Györgyi, Huxley, Inouè, Borisy, Allen, Brady, Reese, Sheetz, Rieder, Rosenbaum, Pollard, Taylor, Mitchison, and Vale.
The Point, WCAI radio: On the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, Heather Goldstone sits down with David Mark Welch, MBL Evolutionary Biologist and Catherine Norton, Director of the MBL WHOI Library to discuss Darwin's work and current research. Listen to the podcast.
Development
A Document of Importance: Planned Giving at the MBL
MBL Annual Fund: Trustees and Others Make Extra Effort in 2008
Gifts & Grants
The MBL has received a number of new gifts and peer-reviewed federal grants since LabNotes was last published... More>>>
Associates News
There are only two more Falmouth Forum presentations left this season—the next is on Friday, February 27th. Conductor Stephen Simon and Bonnie Ward Simon will discuss the future of music with a presentation titled "Music: An Art Form and Industry in Flux." This Forum is The Herman T. Epstein Endowed Memorial Lectureship. The final Falmouth Forum on March 20th is titled "Interpreting Holocaust Survivor Testimonies", and will be presented by Lawrence Langer, Emeritus Professor of English at Simmons College. Both will be held in Lillie Auditorium beginning at 7:30 PM. Visit the Falmouth Forum webpage for more information.
 Gift Shop
The Associates Gift Shop is closed right now, but you can always shop online . Our current ONLINE SALE features 20% OFF a wide variety of items, including several of our new science books for children.
We reopen for the season on Monday, April 6th. If you have any questions, requests or problems with online shopping, please feel free to call the Associates Office, 508-289-7281.
The Biological Bulletin
The cover of the December 2008 issue of The Biological Bulletin features a spiderweb, a metaphorical representation of a quale, the shape of a conscious experience. Two papers in this issue explore the nature of consciousness. Read the press release.
The February 2009 issue features as the "Editor's Pick" a study by neurophysiologist Rodolfo Llinas and others: "Oral administration of pharmacologically active substances to squid: a methodological description." This article has been made available free without a subscription.
The Biological Bulletin thanks Olympus America Inc. and Carl Zeiss, Inc. for advertising in these issues.
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Announcements & Accolades
   
The Trustees of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) elected four new Board members at their November 1, 2008 meeting. Robert H. Ament, L. Patrick Gage, Matthew J. Mallow, and Patricia K. Robertson are all members of the Class of 2012. They will serve a four-year term... More>>>
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 Board Member Douglas Melton Celebrated in Time
The February 9, 2009 issue of Time magazine features a cover story on Douglas Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and his work on the causes and cures of diabetes. |
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 MBL Distinguished Scientist and 2008 Nobel Laureate Osamu Shimomura Receives Japanese Order of Culture Medal |
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 Bay Paul Center scientists Irina R. Arkhipova and Matthew Meselson's paper "Massive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Bdelloid Rotifers", published in the May 2008 issue of Science, was named in the "Research Highlights 2008" section of December's Nature as one of the top 20 papers published in journals other than Nature and selected by Nature editors as this year's favorites. The paper was also listed #53 among the top 100 science stories of the year in the December issue of the Discover magazine.
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 Ecosystems Center Senior Scientist Zoe Cardon has been elected the new President of the Physiological Ecology Section of Ecological Society of America (ESA). She is the first female president of that research group.
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 Ecosystems Center Senior Research Scientist Ivan Valiela has been named a member of NOAA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) Ecosystems Sciences and Management Working Group. The working group’s purpose is to provide scientific advice and broad direction to the SAB regarding NOAA’s implementation of integrated regional ecosystems programs.
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Ecosystems Center Research Assistant Kate Morkeski was chosen to participate in the Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange program, a cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. Morkeski will go to Poland for a month in May.
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