The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research & education in biology & ecology in Woods Hole, MA. An affiliate of
@UChicago
.
Have you always wanted to take an MBL summer course? Or are you one of our alums? Since we can't bring students to Woods Hole this year, we're bringing the MBL to you with MBL Virtual Programming of our most popular classes!
Not trying to sway you one way or the other, of course. Just dropping this picture of the smallest Hummingbird Bobtail Squid next to a paperclip...
Photo credit: Tim Briggs
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a a peek into the microscope. This This is a squid hatching (Doryteuthis pealeii) observed through a polychromatic polscope, where ordered structures such as muscle are colored.
Credit: Elizabeth Lee, UChicago
#MicroscopyMonday
🔬! This butterfly ovarian follicle was imaged using a
@zeiss_micro
LSM 880 microscope. Maximum intensity projection through a confocal z-series. Cyan - Nuclei, Magenta - Actin.
Credit: Davis Laundon, MBL Physiology 2019
#MicroscopyMonday
🔬 — A 3D reconstruction of a cleared mouse embryo labeled for neurons (magenta) and muscles (cyan). This type of imaging lets researchers can image deep into biological tissue to study neuronal morphology in an intact animal or embryo.
Credit: G Carrillo
Take a dive under the 🔬 for Microscopy Monday w/ this 10-hr time lapse of Ciona embryos from neurula stage to hatching.
Credit: MBL Director Nipam Patel (
@Parflyale
), Bob Zeller (
@SDSU
). Shot during the MBL 2019 Embryology Course on a
@zeiss_micro
LSM 880.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a dive under the 🔬 !
Check out these Horseshoe crab embryos (Limulus polyphemus) imaged during the MBL's 2022 Embryology Course.
Credit: Ivan Ferriera (
@ivanferrreira
)
The MBL Cephalopod Program has engineered an albino strain of hummingbird bobtail squid, allowing clear optical access for neurobiological and other research.
We're excited to announce that the applications for the 2024 Advanced Research Training Courses at the MBL are OPEN!
Deepen your horizons. Deepen your understanding. Go deep at the MBL.
Nipam Patel of University of California, Berkeley, has been appointed Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, effective Sept. 4. Welcome, Dr. Patel!
Today, October 8, is
#WorldOctopusDay
, and the start of International
#Cephalopod
Awareness Days! 🐙
The MBL has two octopus species on campus— the California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) and the lesser Pacific striped octopus (Octopus chierchiae).
Welcome to 2024—It's the first
#MicroscopyMonday
of the
#NewYear
! Let's take a peek into the 🔬 with this amazing image of a snail embryo (Crepidula fornicata) taken during the 2023 Embryology Course at the MBL. Credit: Jake Leyhr
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a peek into the microscope. This butterfly ovarian follicle was imaged using a Zeiss LSM 880 microscope. Maximum intensity projection through a confocal z-series. Cyan - Nuclei, Magenta - Actin.
Credit: Davis Laundon, MBL Physiology 2019
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Shinya Inoué, pioneering innovator in microscopy and live-cell imaging and beloved MBL scientist. 🔬
📸 by Tom Kleindinst
We're happy to report that Nipam Patel (
@Parflyale
) has been reappointed director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL),
@UChicago
Provost Katherine Baicker announced today.
Patel has served as MBL’s director since 2018.
If it were a contest of which organism is cutest, we're still not sure who would win...
Photos: Octopus, Credit: Tim Briggs; Axolotl, Credit: Christian Selden
Shinya Inoué, pioneer of live-cell microscopy and digital microscopy, former Trustee and inspiring mentor at the MBL for decades, died peacefully on Monday.
The special cells that control color on cephalopods (like the Woods Hole squid in this video) are called "chromatophores." The chromatophores of cephalopods are neuromuscular organs rather than cells and are not controlled hormonally, which is how many other animals change color.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a dive under the 🔬 !
"Baby Squid" - A live baby squid in transmitted light under polychromatic polarization microscope.
Credit: Michael Shribak - UChicago Science as Art 2022 Competition
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a peek into the 🔬. This image of a veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus) skeleton was taken during the Embryology course at the MBL. Alcian blue and alizarin red staining.
Credit: Jake Hines and Nate Peters
MBL Research Scientist Scott Chimileski captured this amazing photo of the aurora over Eel Pond last night.
If you missed the light show last night, you might get another chance tonight, according to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. Make sure to look up!
What's your new year's resolution? Here at the MBL, we resolve to axolotl questions.
(Get it? "Ask a lot of" questions.)
We also
#resolve
to work on our science puns in 2020.
It's International
#PolychaeteDay
!
#DYK
that small marine animals with multiple propulsers—including polychaete worms—don’t push themselves forward when they swim, but instead create negative pressure behind them that pulls them through the water?
📸 : Sean Colin
@dacolon
Thank you for expressing this,
@dacolon
. Many people fail to see the connection between systemic inequalities and outright violence. It's a continuum that almost all women struggle with.
We're excited to announce that the MBL and
@UChicago
have partnered to develop a PhD Graduate Program that will allow students to join MBL faculty labs and carry out their thesis work here in Woods Hole!
The deadline for all PhD programs is December 1.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a look into the 🔬!
This colorful confocal image of squid embryo (Dorytheuthis pealei) was taken during a MBL Embryology Course.
Credit: Juliana Roscito (University of Sao Paulo), 2012 Embryology Course
A Halloween special for
#MicroscopyMonday
🦇 🔬 🎃 — This image of a short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata) at stage 20 was taken during the Embryology Advanced Research Training Course at the MBL.
Credit: Mary Colasanto and Sophia Tintori
The MBL is committed to expanding the range of organisms used as biological models and create the next generation of genetically tractable research organisms.
The four contests in the
#MBLMarchMadness
New Research Organisms Division represent some of these biological models.
An image from the MBL's Central Microscopy Facility won first place in a prestigious microscopy contest this year, while Michael Shribak, senior scientist in the MBL's Bell Center, received recognition in three imaging contents! (Image details in ALT txt).
It's the last
#MicroscopyMonday
in
#Squidtember
, so let's dive under the 🔬! Check out this cluster of suckers at distal end of feeding tentacle in young longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii)!
Credit: Karen Crawford
It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Jianwu (Jim) Tang, a senior scientist in the Ecosystems Center, who died on January 4, 2023, in Shanghai, China after a long illness. He was 52. The MBL flag will be lowered in his memory.
It's
#CephalopodWeek
, so every day this week, we're going to highlight one of the awesome cephalopod species at the MBL. Let's start small with the hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi). Yes, that is a paperclip.
Photo Credit: Tim Briggs (2019)
This video—by
@CarrieOcto
—of a clutch of O. bimaculoides eggs, with baby octopuses wriggling inside the casings reached thousands of viewers and was the MBL’s most popular video of the year.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a look into the 🔬 with this
@NikonSmallWorld
image of an adult transgenic zebrafish head. Blood vessels (blue), lymphatic vessels (yellow), and the skin and scales (magenta). 4x magnification
Credit: Daniel Castranova and Brant Weinstein
To help ease the burden on our furloughed colleagues MBL will offer USCG, NOAA and USGS employees free breakfast and lunch at Swope Dining Room (5 North St.,WH) through the duration of the government shutdown. Breakfast: 7:30-10:00; Lunch: 11:30 -1:30, M-F. Present government ID
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a look under the 🔬.
This 3D projection of an embryo of Doryteuthis pealeii squid was imaged during the 2023 Embryology Advanced Research Training Course at the MBL. More info in alt-text Credit: Martin Estermann (
@EstermannMartin
)
A honeycomb-like image of the marine diatom Trigonium, taken by MBL Senior Scientist Michael Shribak, has won First Place in the 2022 Photo Contest sponsored by Optics & Photonics News!
Thank you to everyone who participated — this has been an
#MBLMarchMadness
to REMEMBER.
We are proud to announce this year's winner, with more than 276,000 total votes — THE AXOLOTL IS CROWNED MBL GOAT (Greatest Organism of All Time)!
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a dive under the 🔬| This image of a live baby squid in transmitted light under polychromatic polarization microscope shows real colors, as it is seen by naked eye!
Credit: Michael Shribak, MBL, in
@UChicago
2022 "Science as Art" Competition
A huge thank you to all the vendors who loan microscopes and other scientific equipment to the MBL courses each year! You are major drivers in the research discovery and technological innovation dynamics at MBL.
It's
#WorldOctopusDay
!
Check out this amazing video captured by Caroline Albertin (
@CarrieOcto
) of California two-spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides) emerging from their egg casings.
One of Science magazine's favorite photos of 2018 is this image of juvenile squid taken in the MBL Embryology course! Kudos to Wang Chi Lau and Nipam Patel
@sciencemagazine
#embryo2018
#MicroscopyMonday
Valentine's Day special —
#DYK
that octopuses like this Octopus bimaculoides embryo have three hearts? 💜 💜 💜
Credit: Martyna Lukoseviciute, University of Oxford and Carrie Albertin, MBL
Bobtail squid takes the lead in becoming the first cephalopod genetic model system! Congrats to MBL's Josh Rosenthal on his
@NSF
EDGE award - and to the other awardees in the MBL community.
Students from MBL's popular Embryology course—established in 1893—are on campus right now for
#Embryo21
! Yesterday, MBL Director Nipam Patel (
@Parflyale
) led the arthropod module.
We are thrilled to announce that MBL Director Nipam Patel has been elected to
@theNASciences
in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research!
Congratulations Gary Ruvkun, former director of the MBL Biology of Aging Course! He was awarded the 2024
#NobelPrize
in Physiology or Medicine along with Victor Ambros for their discovery of a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a peek into the 🔬. This is an image of a Drosophila larval body wall. Third instar larva body wall muscle with nervous system innervation. Credit: Pablo Guzman Palma
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a look into the 🔬!
Mouse inner ear spiral ganglia culture. Image taken with Zeiss LSM710 in Biology of Inner Ear course 2017.
Credit: Mirko Scheibinger during 2017 Biology of the Inner Ear Course
📢 It's time to apply for the 2024 Advanced Research Training Courses at the MBL!
Join us in Woods Hole and expand your horizons, learn from the some of the top minds in your fields, and make connections that will last a lifetime.
Course dates and info in the
#thread
below. 👇
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so take a dive under the 🔬 to gaze at this confocal image of a squid embryo. Nuclei are stained blue, neural structures are red and cilia on the surface of the embryo are stained green.
Credit: Davalyn Powell/MBL Embryology Course
Sometimes the MBL's Gemma collects more than it is looking for! This stingray came up in the net this week. It was released back to the water, healthy and big fins flapping. Video by Bill Grossman.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so lets take a journey under the 🔬 with this
#timelapse
of development of the annelid worm (Platynereis dumerilli).
Credit: B. Duygu Özpolat. Imaged with
@zeiss_micro
LSM780 Confocal microscope, every 13 minutes.
It's
#DarwinDay
! Did you know that there's a SIGNED copy of "The Origin of Species" in the
@MBLWHOILibrary
?
Darwin forgot to sign the book when he gave it to MBL's first President Alphaeus Hyatt in 1873, so he mailed his signature to Hyatt, who pasted it inside front cover!
Have you ever wondered what our MBL scientists are working on? Check out this
#ScienceShort
featuring MBL Associate Scientist Andrew Gillis (
@GillisLab
)!
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
, so let's take a look into the 🔬!
Look at this little crab, the "Crab megalops".
Credit: Chiara Sinigaglia
(Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche sur Mer/ CNRS, France).
When we say that the pygmy zebra octopus (O. chierchiae) is the next biological model, we don't mean that it looks good in stripes—although it clearly does.
So what DO we mean? (thread)
Come join us at the MBL! Applications are open for our 2022 Advanced Research Training Courses. Click the links below to learn more. (Courses are listed chronologically by start date). 👇👇👇
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
🔬! This amazing image shows the arms and beak of a baby hummingbird bobtail squid (Euprymna berryi). Blue: nuclei; green: GlcNAc.
Image Credit: Ryan Null (
@RyannosaurusTex
) using Z stack max projection GIMP and FIJI on a
@zeiss_micro
LSM780
Happy
#MicroscopyMonday
, to this bobtail squid (Eurprymna scolopes) imaged on a
@LeicaMicro
scope during
#Embryo21
📸 Credit : Viraj Doddihal (
@VirajDoddihal
) Graduate School of Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Special thanks to Carrie Albertin and Karen Crawford.
We know you're missing the MBL and Woods Hole, so if you want to be here *virtually* we put together some Zoom backgrounds of
#WoodsHole
spots for you 😉
Scientists from the
@ScienceStowers
did what many scientists dream of: They found a way to stay in Woods Hole all year. The Kansas City-based institute established a year-round satellite lab at the MBL, available for up to 6-8 scientists at a time.
It's
#MicroscopyMonday
🔬. This photo is of a late-stage caprellid embryo with HOX Antibody Stain. HOX genes Ultrabithorax (UBX) and Abdominal A (abd-A) in red and DAPI (Nuclei) in cyan.
Credit: PhD candidate Jennifer McCarthy on a ZEISS LSM 880