The Burroughs Wellcome Fund Provides $1 Million Endowment for MBL Education Program

willard and burris
MBL President and Director, Huntington Willard (left) and BWF President John E. Burris
By Gina Hebert May 22, 2015
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WOODS HOLE, MA—The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has received $1 million in endowment support from the The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) to fund students in the MBL’s advanced education program. Proceeds from this endowment gift will support students in the MBL courses traditionally sponsored by the Fund including Physiology, Biology of Parasitism, Frontiers in Reproduction, Molecular Mycology, and Embryology. Since 1986, The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has awarded more than $10 million in grants to the MBL.

Each year the MBL trains more than 500 students from around the globe as part of its signature discovery education program. The program, which operates on a need-blind admission basis, includes more than 20 intensive laboratory-based courses that pair scientists with advanced graduate and post-graduate students to provide training at the frontiers of biological and biomedical research.

"The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has had a long relationship with the MBL and we are pleased to support their education program with this endowment,” said BWF President John E. Burris.  “The MBL provides a wealth of training resources for young investigators and their scientific disciplines that fits well with our mission of supporting biomedical research."

“The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has been a strong and loyal supporter of the laboratory and our discovery courses for nearly three decades,” said MBL President and Director, Huntington Willard.  “We are extraordinarily grateful for their generosity and pleased to partner with them to provide innovative hands-on training opportunities for the most promising students in the biological sciences. This endowment gift will help to ensure the success of the MBL education program well into the future.”

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery and improving the human condition through research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.