Marine Biological Laboratory

Marine Biological Laboratory The MBL is a nonprofit international center for research and education in biology in Woods Hole, MA.

To view employment opportunities at the MBL, visit mbl.edu/hr/employment

09/03/2026

✨ A huge thank you to our Gemma team for their hard work collecting live specimens throughout the seasons that help MBL scientists study , , and so much more.

The happening at MBL wouldn’t be possible without you.

09/03/2026

A tiny crustacean, Parhyale hawaiensis, thrives along the seacoast amidst the changing tides. Yet until recently, no one knew the genes underpinning how these small shrimp-like creatures know the timing of the tides.

Like most animals, P. hawaiensis has an internal circadian clock set to the rhythm of 24-hour days and synchronized with light and dark cycles.

A surprising discovery by scientists at UMass Chan Medical School and the MBL has identified that the four core building block genes of the circadian clock are also key for the circatidal clock in P. hawaiensis, helping the small critters time their behavior with the 12.4-hour cycle of tides.

🔗 Full story here: go.mbl.edu/12gg4q

📸 Video credit: BioQuest Studios

Wrapping up another fantastic summer at the MBL, the best way we know how — great food, great team, great memories. Than...
09/02/2026

Wrapping up another fantastic summer at the MBL, the best way we know how — great food, great team, great memories. Thank you to everyone who made this season one for the books!

09/02/2026

Go behind the scenes of the Microbial Diversity summer course, where 20 early-career researchers spend almost seven weeks discovering, cultivating, and studying microbes alongside leading scientists.

From local marine and freshwater habitats to cutting-edge genomic and imaging approaches, see what makes this course a transformative experience.

🔗 Watch the full video here: go.mbl.edu/yyedyy

This weekend, we welcomed over a dozen students to join our Semester in Environmental Science (SES) program from 11 scho...
09/01/2026

This weekend, we welcomed over a dozen students to join our Semester in Environmental Science (SES) program from 11 schools around the country.

If you missed out on this year’s course, don’t fret. We have good news…

Applications for our 2027 SES cohort open today!

🔗 go.mbl.edu/SES

Happy !This image shows a label-free view of the freshwater cercaria larva of the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma manson...
08/31/2026

Happy !

This image shows a label-free view of the freshwater cercaria larva of the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni. The cercaria infects humans, drops it tail and the body matures into an adult worm in our vasculature producing 100s of eggs a day which cause the disease schistosomiasis. This image was captured with Polychromatic Polarizing Microscopy (PPM), a new patented imaging technique invented at the MBL (US Patent 9625369).

Rather than relying on chemical dyes or fluorescent markers, PPM directly maps sub-micron molecular alignment and structural birefringence (also known as double refraction) into vivid colors. The distinct hue variations reveal the different properties of organization of muscle fibers and internal tissue structures throughout the body, tail stem and fork with high contrast.

Imaged by Kate Rawlinson (assistant scientist at Bay Paul Center) and Michael Shribak (senior scientist at Bell Center) on microscope Olympus IX83 equipped with module PPM-2 (MBL).

08/27/2026

🌊🔬 Every year, about 1,500 scientists and students from around the world join the MBL community in Woods Hole.

But what draws them here?

We stepped out into the MBL community to ask: Why the MBL?

08/26/2026

Many students come to the Marine Biological Laboratory for a course, and often, they find their way back.

That was the case for John Spear, who took the Microbial Diversity course in 1998 and now returns as a course director.

Read more about his journey, how the course has evolved over the decades, and why he thinks MBL has a way of turning alumni into faculty.

🔗 go.mbl.edu/take5-spear

Happy !This microscopy image showcases a transgenic zebrafish's immune response to an infection with the fungi Candida ...
08/24/2026

Happy !

This microscopy image showcases a transgenic zebrafish's immune response to an infection with the fungi Candida albicans.

Immune cells are expressing green fluorescent protein (macrophages) or red fluorescent protein (neutrophils).

Imaged by Robert Wheeler from the 2026 Molecular Mycology (MOMY) course, using a Nikon CSU-W1 spinning disk confocal with SoRa. Specimen provided by Troy McInerney from MBL Zebrafish Facility and N'namdi Baker from MOMY course.

⏰ DEADLINE APPROACHING!Early admissions deadline round 1 is Sept. 15 for the MBL’s Semester in Biological Discovery, a s...
08/23/2026

⏰ DEADLINE APPROACHING!

Early admissions deadline round 1 is Sept. 15 for the MBL’s Semester in Biological Discovery, a spring semester or quarter program for undergraduates that provides an immersive research experience in discovery-driven biological sciences modeled on the MBL’s world-renowned Advanced Research Training Courses.

🔗 More info here: go.mbl.edu/SBD

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7 MBL Street
Woods Hole, MA
02543

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