Running with Team CSHL at the 2013 Long Island Marathon Weekend

CSHL's Long Island marathon team; l-r - Shane McCarthy (Research Investigator, half marathon), Leah Sabin (Postdoctoral Researcher, half marathon), Tim O’Neill (CSHLA Director, half marathon), Josh Dubnau (CSHL Associate Professor, 10K), Jessa Giordano (Public Affairs, 10K), Miriam Fein (Graduate Student, full marathon)

Team CSHL: l-r - Shane McCarthy (Research Investigator, half marathon), Leah Sabin (Postdoctoral Researcher, half marathon), Tim O’Neill (CSHLA Director, half marathon), Josh Dubnau (CSHL Associate Professor, 10K), Jessa Giordano (Public Affairs, 10K), Miriam Fein (Graduate Student, full marathon)

I run. Not terribly far, and not every day, but enough so that I can say that I run. Every now and then I’ve gotten to run to raise money for various worthy causes, which has made the motivation to get out and run that much easier. So when the opportunity came up this year to raise money for this great place where I work, challenge myself a bit and do it all here on Long Island, I jumped at the chance. Continue reading

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SCIENCE SHORTS: Why haven’t we cured cancer yet?

After the success of the 5 minute science talks at the recent open house we decided they could be helpful for a wider audience. So we reconvened the speakers and re-did the talks with that in mind, thus creating our new CSHL SCIENCE SHORTS series.

Each short talk explores a topic or area of research at CSHL. They were designed for non-scientific audience and given by a CSHL Ph.D. student or postdoc.

May is national cancer research month so the first talk we present in this series is “Why haven’t we cured cancer yet?” by Gayatri Arun Ph.D., a postdoc in Professor David L. Spector’s lab.

National Cancer Research Month

Please let us know how you like it, all comments are welcomed as we bring you this series and improve it.

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Time out with Tuveson

David Tuveson and Skyler Palatinick at CSHL

CSHL Professor David Tuveson and Skyler Palatinick

 

The following interview was conducted and written by Skyler Palatnick

Of all the things kids and teens think about when the topic of scientists comes up, the last thing you would expect to hear is that they are normal–but from my experience at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, I can tell you they are. Thirty minutes with one of the most renowned cancer researchers in the world, Dr. David Tuveson, and my view on everything in the science department was changed. Not only did he have a warm and friendly personality, but he had devotion to his cause that could be compared to that of any of the greatest athletes and politicians. Continue reading

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STEM matters to CSHL and NYC Schools

Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott visits students at the Spring Break DNA Science Camp
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Students are not short on ideas at the Graduate Student Symposium

Kristen Delevich and John Sheppard, students in the Ph.D. program at the Watson School of Biological Sciences (WSBS), give us the lowdown on several hot research projects now ongoing at the Laboratory, details of which were presented by their colleagues at the recent Graduate School Symposium (GSS).

Three times a year the students of Cold Spring Harbor laboratory come together to share their latest findings with their peers. At the most recent GSS, held on January 23rd, nearly 20 graduate students from the CSHL’s Watson School of Biological Sciences and Stony Brook University programs gave short talks detailing their ongoing research.

The variety of topics discussed reflects the diversity of the research happening at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. More than giving students the chance to practice their public speaking skills, the symposium is an opportunity to get feedback from fellow grad students and to spark new collaborations.

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Remembering the Laboratory as it was in 1950

We recently had a rare kind of visitor, one who can shed light on just how far the Laboratory has come in 60-plus years. Natalie Meyer worked in Milislav Demerec’s lab in what is now the Carnegie Library building from 1949-50.

Her visit was the idea of Mrs. Meyer’s son, Richard, who wanted to bring her back to the Lab as a birthday present. He remembered all the times she had enthusiastically described working here, and despite living in the Glen Cove area Mrs. Meyer had not been back to Cold Spring Harbor since she left. Continue reading

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An experimental neuroscience course in the heart of Transylvania

It’s no small feat to put together a state-of-the-art neuroscience lab and summer course. Remarkably, CSHL Assistant Professor Florin Albeanu managed just that, and did so in the picturesque heart of his home country, Romania. The 2012 Transylvania Experimental Neuroscience Summer School was a great success and the 2013 announcement has just gone out. For more information and to sign up click on the following link: TENSS 2013.

Here are some photographs from the first summer school, held last year. This article continues after the last photograph. Continue reading

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From Bench to Bikeside: when scientists leave the lab and take to the hills

YSC Tour de Pink CSHL

Scientists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on the Young Survivor Coalition's "Tour de Pink" bike ride

by Clare Rebbeck**

As researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory we work with cancer cells day in, day out.  We hope that one day we will discover something that will change the lives of the many people diagnosed with cancer. Seldom do we get to see the real impact of the disease in the clinic or on survivors and their families. But that changed when CSHL Professor Greg Hannon was approached by the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), a global organization dedicated to the critical issues unique to young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Continue reading

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Visiting undergraduates at CSHL: the 2012 class of URPs explores neuroscience, bioinformatics and cancer biology

by Mike Schatz and Anne Churchland**

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory summer 2012 Undergraduate Research Program. Copyright CSHL/Constance Brukin 2012

The students of the summer 2012 Undergraduate Research Program.

Each summer, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory hosts 25 visiting undergraduates, affectionately known as “URPs,” after the historic program in which they participate.  The Undergraduate Research Program began in 1959, and provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to study and work side by side with some of the world’s most renowned scientists, and thus to experience cutting-edge research first-hand. The program has a history of excellence, with an alumni list that includes Nobel Prize winners, distinguished professors, and world leaders in research and business who credit the program for fueling their interests. Continue reading

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Knowing thy genome: The science and ethics of personal genome sequencing

Until not too long ago, asking “Who am I?” of oneself often meant undertaking a voyage of self-discovery either through travel to a faraway land or through time-limited visits to a therapist’s couch. We now live in an era that offers a third, possibly cheaper armchair option.

For less than the price of a business-class trip from New York to Europe, all one needs to do is to spit into a vial, wait a few weeks and log in to an online portal to find out exactly who one is — by scrolling through about 98% of one’s genetic code, guided by annotations that explain things such as why it is that one’s chances of developing diabetes could be as high as 52%; or why one’s cholesterol levels are not likely to respond to statin drugs; or if one really is a descendant of French royalty, as claimed by a suspiciously vague family legend.

The revolution that helped push genome sequencing out of the academic lab space and into the healthcare marketplace was made possible by the rapid fall in the cost of sequencing all 3 billion base pairs of the human genome—from around $300 million in 2003 to “the price of a Bentley in 2007 and now to the price of a motorcycle,” according to Professor Richard W. McCombie of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. McCombie and three other researchers on the front lines of this revolution spoke to an eager and enthralled audience of more than 300 who gathered at Grace Auditorium one recent summer evening to learn not just about the science of personal genomics but also about the ethical considerations that factor into a decision to have one’s genome sequenced. Continue reading

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