Back to Events

2026 Friday Evening Lectures

Inside the Clapp Auditorium with screen and rows of seating.

Whether you’re in Woods Hole or halfway around the world, join us for this venerable MBL lecture series.

Lectures are free and open to the public for in-person and virtual attendance. No registration required for in-person attendance. Doors open at 7:30 PM, lectures start at 8 PM in the Cornelia Clapp Auditorium.

Suggestions for future Friday Evening Lecturers are welcome and may be sent to FEL@mbl.edu.

This page will be updated as more information for the 2026 season becomes available.

view Friday evening lecture archives
Smiling black man wearing a suit and dark glasses.
June 19 - “Kinase Turntabilism: Tuning T Cell Activation”

Juneteenth Lecture

Avery August, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and HHMI Professor of Immunology, Cornell University

Smiling white woman with brown hair wearing glasses and navy jacket.
June 26 - “Deciphering the Cis-regulatory Code of Development with Deep Learning”

Porter Lecture 

Julia Zeitlinger, Investigator, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Smiling white woman with long, dark hair.
July 3 - “Dance for Your Dinner: How Young Brains Signal Hunger to Their Parents”

Glassman Lecture 

Lauren O’Connell, Associate Professor of Biology, Stanford University

Smiling white man with short graying hair and beard, wearing a blue shirt and standing in front of a bookshelf.
July 10 - “Carson’s Clarion Call: The Noisy Response to Silent Spring”

E.B. Wilson History and Philosophy of Science Lecture 

Mark Barrow, Professor, Department of History, Virginia Tech

Smiling white woman with short light blond hair, wearing red glasses and a white shirt with brown sweater.
July 17 - “RNAi Across Scales: From Model Organisms to Clinical Therapies”

Rachel Meyers, Founder and Managing Partner, Sunrise Bioventures

Smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue suit.
July 24 - “Neurobiology of Thirst and Hunger Drives”

Forbes Lecture

Liqun Luo, Ann and Bill Swindells Professor, Stanford University

Smiling woman with long dark brown hair wearing a red shirt.
July 31 - “Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis: Uncovering the Biology of an Ancient Interkingdom Mutualism”

Segal Lecture

Maria J. Harrison, Investigator of the Howard Hughs Medical Institute and Professor, Cornell University

Smiling man with short gray hair wearing glasses and blue shirt.
August 7 - “The Microbiome: From Guts to Lungs”

George O’Toole, Elmer R. Pfefferkorn, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Smiling man with short curly brown hair wearing a green striped shirt standing on a lawn with trees in the background.
August 14 - “Ancient Skeletons, Modern Cures: Bio-Inspired Tissue Engineering for Cartilage Repair”

Andrew Gillis, Associate Scientist, Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution at the Marine Biological Laboratory

More MBL Events