2026 Biomedical Course Schedule
Thursday, May 14: Arrivals and Dinner
Fellows arrive. Claudia Geib will meet fellows who arrive in time for dinner in the Swope Center Dining Hall at 6:00 PM.
Friday, May 15: Orientation
Breakfast available beginning at 7:30 AM
9:00 AM: Welcome and Orientation (Private Dining Room, inside 2nd Floor Dining Hall, Swope Center)
- Introduction of fellows, course faculty, and staff
- Fellowship logistics - Overview of MBL
- Walking tour of MBL campus
11:00 AM: MRC Tank Room Tour
12:00 PM: Lunch (Swope Dining Hall)
1:00 PM: Biomedical fellows to lab. Tour of the lab, instrumentation, safety protocols. Chalk talk on basics of molecular biology (Rosenthal). CRISPR Lab: Practice for zebrafish injections
3:00 PM: Coffee break (Loeb Common Space)
3:30 PM: Lab: Continue practicing injections
6:00 PM: Dinner
Saturday, May 16
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:30 AM: Talk on CRISPR (Josh Rosenthal)
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Lab. Introduction to microbiomes and imaging experiments (Chimileski). Microbiome lab: Self-collect oral microbiome samples
3:30 PM: Coffee break (Loeb Common)
5:30 PM: Reception and dinner with Environmental Fellows (Swope Private Dining Room)
7:30 PM: Back to lab: Informal discussion on gene editing
Sunday, May 17: Day Off / Optional Film Screening
3:00 PM: Film showing with Woods Hole Film Festival – “Cosmic Coda”
4:30 PM: Q&A discussion with filmmaker Mary Jane (MJ) Doherty, Associate Professor Emerita from Boston University
If you plan to attend, please register for a (free) ticket using the link and discount code that will be provided by Claudia.
Monday, May 18
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: Lab: Begin injecting zebrafish embryos with CRISPR/Cas9
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Rare Books Tour (Lillie Building, MBLWHOI Library)
2:00 PM: Chalk talk on fluorescence in situ hybridization for microbiology (Chimileski)
3:00 PM: Microbiome Lab: Set up microbiome hybridization
3:30 PM: Coffee break (Loeb common room)
4:30 PM: Microbiome lab: Wash and mount microbiome samples on microscope slides; leave slides to cure until imaging sessions
6:30 PM: Dinner
Tuesday, May 19
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: Imaging embryos and DNA extractions
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Science at the MBL with Anne Sylvester, Director of Research (Room TBA)
2:00 PM: Laboratory Walking Tour with Anne Sylvester
3:00 PM: Coffee Break
3:30 PM: CRISPR Lab: Start PCR amplifications
6:00 PM: Dinner
7:00 PM: Chalk talk on molecular biology of PCR (Rosenthal)
Wednesday, May 20
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: CRISPR Lab: Run gel on PCR products, image and purify bands, prep samples, and send out for sequencing.
12:00 PM: Lunch
12:45 PM: Specimen collecting trip on R/V Gemma. Meet in front of Marine Resources Center (MRC) no later than 12:45 PM. We will return to the dock no later than 2:30 PM.
2:30 PM: Coffee Break - Loeb common space (grab & go to lab)
3:00 PM: Talk on imaging microbiome samples using confocal microscopy and spectral imaging (Chimileski)
3:30 PM: Microbiome Lab: Imaging microbiome samples at MBL Central Microscopy
5:30: Dinner & Panel/ Mixer with Molecular Evolution course (Swope Private Dining Room)
7:30 PM: Lab: Group brainstorm for themes and format of symposium
Thursday, May 21
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: Talk on DNA sequencing (Rosenthal)
10:00 AM: Processing and analyzing microbiome image data
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Lab; prepare for mini-symposium, and/or additional confocal microscopy time as needed
3:00 PM: Coffee break (Loeb 260)
3:30 PM: Lab; working on symposium presentations
6:00 PM: Dinner
7:00 PM: Research talk: Biology of Aging with Whitman fellow Carlos Giovanni (Gio) Silva Garcia (Loeb 260)
Friday, May 22: Fellows Symposium & Celebratory Dinner
8:00 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM: CRISPR Lab: view DNA sequencing result; work as needed on symposium presentations
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Logan SJP fellows mini-symposium (Speck Auditorium)
4:15 PM: Class photo on Lillie steps
4:30: Mixer with WHOI Summer School participants (Quad/weather dependent)
6:00 PM: Cocktail hour and dinner with fellows, faculty, MBL scientists, other guests
Saturday, May 23: Final Day
9:00 AM: Research Talk with MBL Scientists
12:00 PM: Lunch
1-2:00 PM: Research talk with MBL Director Nipam Patel (Loeb 263)
2-3:00 PM: Visit to butterfly collection with Director Patel (Lillie 103)
3:30 PM: Final coffee break!
4:00 PM: Free time
Sunday, May 24
10:00 AM: Check out of Swope and depart – Safe travels!