Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution
Research at the Center explores the evolution and interaction of genomes of diverse organisms that play significant roles in environmental biology and human health.
About the Josephine Bay Paul Center
Chromaffin cells from the axillary gland of the skate (Leucoraja erinacea).
Chromaffin cells from the axillary gland of the skate (Leucoraja erinacea). Photo by Andrew Gillis.
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Latest Bay Paul Center News
About Josephine Bay Paul

The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution is dedicated to the memory of Josephine Bay Paul (1900-1962), a leader in industry, education, and the arts in the middle decades of the twentieth century.

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Staff News
Two female presenting people, the one on the left holding a bouquet of flowers.

 

On September 22, Rachele Spezzano from the Worden Lab successfully defended her dissertation, "Examining the role of marine microbial communities and their rare biosphere constituents in mediating biogeochemical transformations from surface layers to deep hypoxic waters,” to the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. When she graduates at the end of the autumn quarter she will be the first PhD minted from the MBL - UChicago affiliation.

Congratulations Dr. Spezzano!

Featured Learning Experience

Semester in Biological Discovery (SBD)

The MBL’s Semester in Biological Discovery (SBD) will be starting in the spring of 2024 as a 13-week program that provides an intensive, immersive research experience in discovery-driven biological sciences modeled on the MBL’s world-renown Advanced Research Training Courses.

Learn more about SBD
The Keck Facility

The Keck Facility at the Josephine Bay Paul Center (JBPC) is equipped for Next-Gen sequencing. While the JBPC has priority use of the facility, it is available to other outside users within the Woods Hole community.

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New Publications

Wittmers, F., Dames, N. R., Michelsen, M., Spezzano, R., Comstock, J., Bergauer, K., Vergin, K., Liu, S., Parsons, R., Temperton, B., Saito, M. A., Carlson, C. A., & Worden, A. Z. (2026). Seasonal and evolutionary patterns of planktonic Hikarchaeia reveal ecological niches of marine rare biosphere constituents. mBio, e01753-26.https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01753-26

Liguori, A., Korm, S., Profetto, A., Richters, E., & Gribble, K. (2026). Transgenerational and intergenerational maternal age effects exhibit genotype-specific, complex patterns of inheritance. The American Naturalist. https://doi.org/10.1086/742104

Wen, M. T. C., Prince, V. E., & Gillis, J. A. (2026). Shared competence forms the basis of gill arch and paired fin serial homology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(12), e2529365123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2529365123

Frobius, A. C., Mark Welch, D. B., & Herlyn, H. (2026). ParaHox Genes Revisited: From Gut Patterning to Integrated Axial and Neural Organization in Rotifera. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART B-MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION, 13 pages. doi:10.1002/jez.b.70019

Smith, N. F., Rawlinson, K. A., von Dassow, G., Kuris, A. M., Johnson, K. B., & Boyle, M. J. (2025). Phylum Platyhelminthes. In M. J. Boyle & C. M. Young (Eds.), Atlas of marine invertebrate larvae (2nd ed., pp. 357–380). Academic Press .https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102871-1.00012-9

Kennedy, S. J., Risser, D. D., & Paul, B. G. (2025). Diel expression dynamics in filamentous cyanobacteria. MBIO, 16(12), 20 pages. doi:10.1128/mbio.03779-24

Schon, I., Chimileski, S., Mark Welch, J., & Martens, K. (2025). Vertical transmission of Cardinium bacteria in parthenogenetic non-marine ostracods (Crustacea). PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 292(2058), 8 pages. doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.1193

Yung, C. C. M., Kelly, R. L., Kauffman, K. M., Cunningham, B. R., Zimmerman, A. E., Worden, A. Z., & John, S. G. (2025). Iron limitation differentially affects viral replication in key marine microbes. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 122(42), 3 pages. doi:10.1073/pnas.2512910122

Gillis, J. A., Criswell, K. E., Palmer, M. A., & Baker, C. V. H. (2025). The skate spiracular organ develops from a unique neurogenic placode that is distinct from lateral line placodes. DEVELOPMENT, 152(18), 7 pages. doi:10.1242/dev.204767

Wittmers, F., Poirier, C., Bachy, C., Eckmann, C., Matantseva, O., Carlson, C. A., . . . Worden, A. Z. (2025). Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens. CELL HOST & MICROBE, 33(2), 182-199. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2025.01.009

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Semester in Biological Discovery (SBD)
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