Director's Message

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The U-Haul and delivery trucks have arrived, our student population has swelled now that our seven graduate-level courses are in full swing, and the MBL shuttle is making regular trips out to Devil’s Lane. Even though the weather hasn’t felt like it lately, those of us familiar with the MBL lifecycle know these are sure signs that summer is here.

One of the best things about this time of year is that I see old and new friends, who are here pursuing their scientific and educational goals. I enjoy every phase of the MBL lifecycle, but summer, when the MBL is at full capacity, is one of the most invigorating.

Among other news items, in this issue of LabNotes we provide details on a new consortium we recently formed with our neighbors at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Woods Hole Research Center, as well our popular summer events, including the Friday Evening Lectures and the MBL Gala.

With humility, I report my own news: One morning in late April I received a thrilling phone call notifying me that I had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. It is a great honor and I thank everyone, including the past members of my lab group as well as the current members of my lab team in Lillie, who shared with me in this exciting moment. I am not the only MBL-er who was elected this year. You can read the full list in the Accolades section to see what great company I am in.

In other news, we just unveiled MBL 2.0, featuring a new blog called "@MBL", with posts and photos highlighting MBL life and science, as well as a weekly post by yours truly. We have also established MBL sites on YouTube and Facebook. If you are a fan of, or just simply curious about, this kind of technology, I hope you will visit these sites and provide us with any feedback you have on our foray into new areas of cyberspace.

On the fundraising front, we continue to identify sources for funding projects to transform Loeb and Lillie into leading-edge research and education centers.

As part of this effort, we are capitalizing on opportunities available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and have so far submitted 23 proposals totaling over $30 million, with plans to submit an additional 7 proposals over the next 4 months. And we have received our first ARRA funding: NSF recently awarded a previously submitted three-year, $911,000 grant to Ecosystems Center’s Gus Shaver. Congratulations, Gus.

I am also happy to report that the Cabot Family Charitable Trust has recently made a significant contribution to the Shinya and Sylvia Inoué Endowment for Cellular Dynamics Imaging, established to recruit cellular dynamics imaging experts for two MBL positions.

What makes the MBL so special are the people who support it both financially and intellectually, including all of you, our LabNotes readers. Thank you for your continuing support of the MBL and I look forward to seeing many of you soon at MBL events or on our campus.

With all best wishes,
Gary Borisy, Director and CEO