View/Open - HPS Repository - Arizona State University

R4
Woods Ho/e aerial, Doug Weisman
Pigment cells on the surface of the cunner spinal cord, Steven Zottoli
Gabriele Gerlach also joined the staff of the MRC
in 2002 as an Associate Scientist. A specialist
in
behavioral ecology and population genetics,
Gabby is using the zebrafish facilities at the MRC
to explore the genetic basis of behavior.
Scientists at The Ecosystems Center received
strong support from the National Science
Foundation through the competitive peer-review
grant process again this year. Of special note is
the $2.7 million, multi-year award in support of
the Long-Term Ecological Research project at
Plum Island Sound, a research site located north
of Boston.
Here scientists are studying the
effects of land-use change on watersheds. The
Center also received $850,000 from the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation to support research on
nitrogen transformation in terrestrial landscapes.
[Summer and Visiting Research
During a typical Woods Hole summer, MBL
researchers look for basic principles of life in
organisms from squid to surf clams to zebrafish.
They ask how nerve cells communicate, how cells
regulate their complex processes, and how they
proliferate. They explore how organisms reproduce
and develop, how they fight disease, how
sense organs gather information, and how brains
cess it. The investigators who gather each
iner bring a diversity of approaches and
questions to their research. In 2002 we welcomed
129 principal investigators and 237 other
researchers from 124 institutions representing 12
countries.
The MBL's summer and visiting research
program was further strengthened
in 2002 with
a remarkable and farsighted gift of $2.3 million
from long-time summer investigators Laura and
Arthur Colwin.
Their gift established the Laura
and Arthur Colwin Endowed Summer Research
Fellowship Fund, which, when mature, will
provide full support for approximately 10
independent investigators conducting research
in the fields of cell and developmental biology
at the MBL for a minimum of two months during
the summer. The MBL is committed to ensuring
that the very best scientists have the opportunity
to conduct research here each summer. We
can help do this by providing financial support
in the form of fellowships like these.
On the recommendation of the Science
Council, the Laboratory reinstated the MBL
Awards for outstanding presentations at the
annual General Scientific Meetings
in 2002.
During the meeting, which was held in the Lillie
Auditorium August 12 to 14, 56 presentations
were made. After peer-review of all
papers and
talks, four awards and two honorable mentions
were presented
in the categories of Senior
Investigator (Peter Armstrong), Junior Investigator
(Michael Smotherman), Graduate Student
(Beate Mittman), and Undergraduate Student
(Jane La Du).