MBL History Project grad researchers halfway through another season

The graduate researchers of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) History Project have reached their halfway mark, finishing the first three weeks of their six-week stay in Woods Hole, MA. CBS PhD students Marci Baranski, J.J. LaTourelle, and Valerie Racine, joined by Florian Huber of the University of Vienna, have already accomplished an enormous amount of work. Here’s a recap of their summer projects:

Marci Baranski is developing a history of the Ecosystems Center at the MBL. Founded in 1975, the Ecosystems Center has been a source of important research on long-term climate change and ecology. 

J.J. LaTourelle is working on a history of neurobiology at the MBL. Neurobiology has been a huge research topic at the MBL for many years, spurring several courses, the Grass Foundation, the Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue engineering, and hundreds of independent researchers.

Valerie Racine is digitizing the John P. Trinkaus correspondence. Trinkaus was an important twentieth century embryologist whose work on morphogenesis in Fundulus (a type of fish) was hugely important.

Florian Huber is digitizing the Viktor Hamburger correspondence. Hamburger was an influential twentieth century embryologist whose work on nerve growth factor led to a Nobel Prize for his colleagues Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen.

In addition to their roles in gathering and digitizing materials and interviews related to the rich history of the MBL, each grad researcher will develop a digital exhibit related to their research area. These exhibits, along with all the digitized materials will be made available to the public through the MBL History website and the interviews are posted on the MBL History Project's YouTube channel

The MBL History Project will continue after the grad researchers have left, and the doors to the lab (Lillie 228) will remain open until August 1st.