LC-PolScope image of cell wall sacculi purified from Bacillus subtilis with different levels of induction of mreBCD, the genes that build rod shape. Color indicates the molecular orientation, brightness corresponding to degree of alignment in that direction. Credit: Dion, MF. et al (2019) Nature Microbiology, DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0439-0
The slender, rod-shaped Bacillus subtilis is one of the best-studied bacteria in the world, a go-to system for exploring and understanding how bacteria grow, replicate, and divide. One of its outstanding mysteries has been how it manages to keep its precise diameter while growing and getting bigger end-to-end.
This week, a team led by Ethan Garner of Harvard University describes the opposing and balanced enzymatic actions that keep B. subtilis from bulging wide while it builds up its inner cell wall and elongates. The study, in Nature Microbiology, is a collaboration with microscopy developer Rudolf Oldenbourg of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL).
Garner and Oldenbourg met in the MBL Physiology course, where Oldenbourg teaches polarization microscopy and Garner was a teaching assistant and later faculty member. “I had been impressed by Rudolf’s work for many years and always hoped that I (or someone) would introduce polarization microscopy to bacterial cell biology,” Garner says. This paper was his opportunity.
With polarization microscopy, scientists can visualize the orientation of individual molecules in a live cell, and how that orientation may change over time. “Polarization microscopy was key to this project,” Garner says, giving his team essential and hard-to-obtain information on the orientation of material that B. subtilis adds to its cell wall as it grows.
“As I have been giving talks on this work, the bacterial community has been incredibly impressed by this [polarization microscopy] assay,” Garner says. “There are many other bacteria that people want to explore with it.”
Oldenbourg, a senior scientist at MBL, is happy to oblige. “We are standing ready to support the bacteria research community through the OpenPolScope Resource at MBL,” he says.
Citation:
Dion, Michael F. et al. (2019) Bacillus subtilis cell diameter is determined by the opposing actions of two distinct cell wall synthetic systems. Nature Microbiology, DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0439-0.
Z-stack of LC-PolScope images of cell wall sacculi purified wild type B. subtilis. Color indicates the molecular orientation, brightness corresponding to degree of alignment in that direction. (Orientation reference indicated by the color wheel in the upper left).
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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
By Stephanie McPherson
Justin Simon from Tabor Academy in the March Secondary Education Program at MBL. Credit: Dee Sullivan
The new MBL Secondary Education Program shows high-school students how to undertake real biological research projects, using cutting-edge techniques usually reserved for college or graduate students.
“This six-day program gives high-school students a unique opportunity for hands-on research,” said Nipam Patel, director of the Marine Biological Laboratory.
Every summer, the MBL’s advanced research courses flood the campus with hundreds of graduate students and post-doctoral scientists. But from September to May, MBL’s top-of-the-line educational laboratories have been under-utilized.
“So, we thought, ‘How can we use our facilities year-round and expand our mission at the same time so we can reach the next generation of students?’” said Alison Crawford, chief of staff to Patel who was charged to help launch the new program.
The MBL piloted the program last December and offered it again in March, with participation by 43 students and 10 teachers from St. Anne’s‐Belfield School (Charlottesville, Va.), Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, N.H.), Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, Conn.), Tabor Academy (Marion, Mass.), and Winsor School (Boston, Mass).
Depth and Diversity
Gabrielle Jarrett from The Hotchkiss School in the MBL’s Marine Resources Center. Credit: Dee Sullivan
“You can think of it as an introduction to the greatest hits of the MBL,” said Patel. “The students learned some of the things that we're especially good at.”
Over the course of a week, students were immersed in biological and ecological research. They used the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 to create albino frog tadpoles. They studied structural color in butterfly wings, imaged fly embryos on a confocal microscope and created 3D video reconstructions from image datasets—such as this one created by Isabella Frank, a student from St. Anne’s-Belfield School. For the December course, when the weather permitted, the students waded into local salt marshes to collect water samples and evaluate their nitrogen levels. They also collected marine specimens from waters just outside MBL’s doors and sequenced the specimens’ genetic information using nanopore technology.
“I loved the diversity of what we did,” wrote one of the students in a post-program survey. “We saw a variety of labs and roles within the facility. Also, everyone was really helpful and nice. They seemed to be really passionate about their jobs and that made our experience more exciting.”
MBL Director Nipam Patel teaches a unit on biological imaging in the March program. Credit: Dee Sullivan
“We will increasingly include courses that are focused on a narrower range of topics,” Patel said. “So we might offer a course next year on coral biology and climate change, or on ocean phytoplankton biology, so the students have more time to work on a particular project.”
Considering a Career in Science
Exposing teens to what science looks like as a job is important. Many high-school students do not understand the range of career options available to them when studying science. The Secondary Education Program participants met with graduate teaching assistants at MBL, and heard first-hand how people not much older than themselves are pursuing careers in biology and science.
“The graduate students and research assistants were incredible,” commented another student in a survey. “As much as I learned about the biology, the real take-away from this program for me was what it’s like to work as a scientist in a lab and seeing such a large range of work that I could end up doing.”
“It's a great time to give students an opportunity to see what their choices are,” said Patel. “Even if they choose not to continue on in biology or even science at all, that's still fine, because what they learn here will still help create a really well-educated public to help make decisions.”
From left seated, Rose Coviello from Phillips Exeter, Clay Glovier from The Hotchkiss School and Yuka Masamura from The Hotchkiss School with MBL Senior Scientist Marko Horb, one of the faculty in the Secondary School Program. Credit: Dee Sullivan
“The faculty were supportive and went with the flow,” said Crawford. “Some of the St. Anne's students emailed some of our faculty after saying how much they appreciated being able to talk to scientists.”
The pilot has so far been offered to independent high schools. As the program becomes more established, MBL plans to identify funding to cover tuition for students from public and charter schools.
“I loved pretty much everything about this intensive,” said another student. “The faculty and staff were so invested in our success and I felt that this was an amazing opportunity for me to explore my interests and learn for the sake of learning.”
Homepage photo: In their teaching lab at MBL, Henry Lagasse, far left, and Genevieve Carchidi, far right, from Phillips Exeter Academy take a break with The Winsor School students (from left) Erica Sahin (seated), Rani Balakrishna, Jane Hwang, Kayla Springer, and Alexandra Lee. Credit: Dee Sullivan
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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
Contact: Diana Kenney
508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu
WOODS HOLE, Mass. – Twelve journalists have been awarded Logan Science Journalism Fellowships from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), an international center for biological and environmental research and education and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
Now in its 33nd year, the Logan Science Journalism Program (SJP) allows established science and health journalists to experience the life of a scientist through immersion in hands-on research training at the MBL. The program, which offers fellows the choice of a biomedical or an environmental research course, will run from May 29 to June 6 in Woods Hole.
2018 Biomedical Fellows (from left) Macon Morehouse, Shayla Love, and Irene Rodríguez-Salas in their research lab. Credit: Tara Haelle
Biographies for the 2019 Logan Science Journalism Program Fellows are here. They are:
Biomedical Fellows
Harini Barath, Freelance Journalist, based in New Hampshire
Meclina Chirwa, Health Journalist, Timveni Radio and Television, Malawi, Africa
Mélissa Guillemette, Reporter, Quebec Science Magazine
Nicole Maranhas, Writer and Editor, University of Rhode Island
Christie Taylor, Associate Producer, Science Friday
Olivia Willis, Health Reporter, Australian Broadcast Corp.
Environmental Fellows
Pakinam Amer, Chief Editor, Nature Middle East
Olga Dobrovidova, Senior Editor, N+1, Moscow, Russia
Richard Kemeny, Independent Science and Technology Journalist, based in São Paulo, Brazil
Sarah Mizes-Tan, Reporter, WCAI (Cape Cod and Islands NPR)
Lucy Sherriff, Freelance Multimedia Journalist, based in Los Angeles
2018 Environmental Fellows Katie Bourzac and Mićo Tatalović during fieldwork at a Cape Cod estuary. Credit: Javier Lloret
Catherine Wise, Independent Producer and Special Correspondent, PBS NewsHour
In the Biomedical Hands-On Research Course, fellows learn the fundamental approaches that underpin current biomedical science. Using both classical and marine model organisms, fellows learn essential techniques and concepts in cell, molecular, and developmental biology and genomics.
The Environmental Hands-On Research Course fellows conduct field research at a barrier beach, saltmarsh and watershed ecosystem on Cape Cod. They discover the complex ways that added nitrogen alters coastal ecosystems, including their capacity to keep up with sea-level rise and impacts on marine life and coastal food webs.
The fellows present their data at a mini-symposium at the close of the fellowship. They also have opportunities to explore the rich scientific resources in Woods Hole.
The Biomedical Hands-On Research Course is co-directed by Charles “Brad” Shuster, Ph.D., of New Mexico State University and Phong Tran, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. The course’s journalism advisor is Maryn McKenna, science journalist, author, and senior fellow, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.
The Environmental Hands-On Research Course is directed by Anne Giblin, Ph.D., MBL Senior Scientist and Interim Director of the Ecosystems Center. Science journalist/producer Angela Posada-Swafford, a U.S. correspondent for Madrid’s Muy Interesante Magazine, is the course’s journalism advisor.
Over the years, the Logan Science Journalism Program has granted fellowships to hundreds of journalists from prominent news organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Science, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, and Scientific American.
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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
The Logan Science Journalism Program is sponsored by: George & Helen H.B. Logan; Friends and Alumni of the Science Journalism Program; Golden Family Foundation; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Irving Weinstein Foundation, Inc.; Ross Foundation; and the Byron H. Waksman Fund for Excellence in Science Communication.
The MBL offers immersive courses, workshops, and conferences year-round. Central to the MBL’s identity are its advanced, discovery-based courses for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. READ MORE >
MBL scientists pursue research in diverse areas of fundamental biological discovery, to explore the origins, diversity, and nature of life on a changing planet and to inform the human condition. READ MORE >
The MBL’s convening power attracts the world’s most accomplished scientists to Woods Hole to carry out some of their most creative and far-reaching work. READ MORE >
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.