Years ago, before Janelia Farms had even been announced I used to argue with the President of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (the inverted pyramidal building out by Dulles) that inevitably Northern Virgnia would become not only a center for basic science research, but that science would eclipse technology as the engine for the regional economy. My reasons then are the same as they are now: the demographics of the region (both in terms of income and education) would in fact constrain the growth path.

Echoing Vannevar Bush’s report to FDR “Science the Endless Frontier”, science is an enabler for technology and for economic growth (to say nothing about public health)–not vice versa. If a region has the basic R&D enterprises, then the satellite growth in technology and related fields has a solid base upon which to grow itself. Without that sold base, technology development is brittle and can easily tank in response to the whims of the equity markets.

Mason is now perfectly positioned to be one of the three legs for the stool upon which Northern Virgnia science growth can fuel the rest of the regional economy (the others being INOVA and HHMI’s Janelia Farms). That’s a good position to be in, and it makes for an exciting time for those of us at Krasnow.

Jim

I have learned to appreciate air conditioning in an entirely new way since returning back to Fairfax this morning. New England basically just sweats its way through these hotest weeks of the year (for them). And, I’m pleased to know that my trip on Monday back up to Woods Hole will involve staying in the relative comfort of the Nautilis Motor Inn–which does have the magic AC–to supplement its superb view of Little Harbor.

Yesterday I had lunch with an old friend of mine, she is a research professor at MBL, about to move to New York City, where her husband has just accepted a full professorship at Columbia. We chatted a bit about the challenges that women face in neuroscience, not only in terms of representation in leadership positions, but also specifically w. regards to the so-called “two body” problem where one spouse takes a high profile job leaving the other one too often in a professionally untenable position.

In any case, I think my friend will probably land on her feet. A Nobel Laureate, whom we all know of, has offered her a very interesting position in his lab, and they have just purchased a beautiful house in Hastings on Hudson. But I’ve seen (even growing up with two neuroscientist parents) the problems that women face in science up close. It’s an issue we all need to take seriously and address–particularly those of us in administration leadership roles.

Jim

One of my plans for the upcoming year is to put in place a firm plan to establish an optical microscopy core at Krasnow. This core would operate as a cost-center, in much the way or Krasnow Brain Imaging Center will. The notion is that users would be PI’s from the Institute and around the University who would have access to state-of-the-art cellular imaging. The microscopes would include our current dedicated neuroleucida Olympus, but would add confocal and hopefully two-photon capability, and might be used as part of a recruitment package for a future faculty member, who would run the new core, in addition to conducting their own research program.

If we imagined purchasing at least some of this equipment about a year from now, there would be the additional complexity of where to put the stuff while we are building out the Krasnow Expansion. If we delayed a year, then of course, the new core would take up residence nominally in the new Krasnow space.

For PI’s who might be interested in participating in this effort, I would welcome a short email stating your interest.

Jim

Late tomorrow evening, I’ll grab a flight out of Boston for a quick trip back home. Thursday and Friday I hope to mainly make use of to catch back up with Krasnow events and issues, while at the same time preparing for the Neuroarchitecture Conference in Woods Hole the following week at the National Academy of Sciences property here–one of the most picturesque places to have a meeting I think.

In the meantime, I have to say that the quality of the lectures here has been incredible. Yesterday evening’s talk was “Homeostatic plasticity in developing cortical networks” by Gina Turrigiano, Associate Professor of Biology Brandeis University. Gina has published recently in Nature Neuroscience–the phenomenon that she has discovered and characterized initially in cell culture, but most recently in vivo is really interesting. Essentially it’s a kind of homeostatis-based plasticity, both at the intrinsic cell level and at the network level, that allows cortical pyramidal cells to continue firing away at a favored firing rate, even as the under-go vast changes in synaptic drive. We should think about inviting her to Krasnow for a talk I would think.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you, if briefly.

Jim

A very interesting evolution is taking place in the a-beta42 hypothesis of Alzheimer’s Disease. The link is to a very interesting paper in the latest Nature Neuroscience, but the gist is that rather than polymers of a-beta being the cause of the memory loss, it’s small single molecules or oligomers of a-beta that are acting through binding to the nicotinic receptor to down regulate NMDA receptors–hence a loss of LTP and the ability to store new memories. This finding also seems to suggest a variety of potential new therapeutic targets, but also raises the question of what a-beta might be doing to NMDA glutamate receptors under non-pathological conditions.

Might a-beta be involved in neuroprotection against glutamate toxicity?

I’d be happy to chat about this with folks when I get back to Krasnow.

In the meantime, a gorgeous view of the Lab across Eel Pond this morning.

Jim

Wise Young from Rutgers gave yesterday’s Friday Evening Lecture here at MBL and it left me, frankly, much more optimistic about stem cell research than I’ve been in in some time. Particularly interesting to me is the notion that potentially all somatic cells have the ability, under the right circumstances, to become stem cells and subsequently to repair an organ. While this was clearly speculation, the mere fact that investigators are thinking this way now, I think bodes well for the field.

The most interesting result that he talked about wasn’t even from his lab. It was the observation that radial glia in the developing neocortex can sometimes, bud off a neuron, which then makes it way along the radial glia, guided to its target in the conventional fashion. But this really throws our classical perspectives on six-layer cortex development for a loop–the radial glia are essentially becoming stem cells–if I understood Professor Young correctly–rather than simply being the guidance system that we were taught about in grad school.

The photo should be captioned: what MBL scientists and their kids, do in their down time. It was taken right out my window here at the Swope Conference Center.

I’m watching a large contingent of Sudexho workers (yes, they use that company here also) prepare the annual MBL alumni picnic in the center of the quad, outside my office window. It’s very distracting from the matters at hand, which involves expediting a review of a paper that a Nobel Laureate is submitting to the journal (needless to say, we”ll have expedited review).

This morning was the annual MBL Corporation meeting–the 700 scientists who make up the Corporation that is called The Marine Biology Laboratory come together to discuss and vote and even admit new members to our community. New flash: we voted in everyone recommended by the Science Council to be voted in. Which brings me to my central point. Sitting through the entire two and a half hours of the meeting this morning, I was reminded by how similar their institutional/cultural concerns were to our very own. In fact, I suspect entire paragraphs could have been lifted from the discussions and with appropriate redaction, been applied to Krasnow.

All of this is very good news. Scientists have similar concerns about their institutions–particularly the ones that they work at. And those of us in management would do well to listen very carefully.

Ocean is blowing up quite a bit of an on-shore breeze. It feels great coming down the hallway–we have the firedoor open to our offices here.

Jim

So there’s a Woods Hole traditio: taking advantage of the late afternoon hours to swim at the MBL’s private beach–to clear your head–all before heading back into class, seminar, or the lab until midnight. I just took advantage of that tradition and found that I’d forgotten how enjoyable a brisk swim can be. It really does get you ready for working late.

It’s been a busy day here already–Bartlet Mel gave a talk on dendritic computation and Josh Sanes talked about mouse models of CNS synaptogenesis. I’m already enjoying the return to a routine of constant science sixteen hours a day. It’s exhilarating of course.

Jim

Well, I’ll be in Woods Hole as of tomorrow. I’ll stop back at Krasnow a week from this Friday and then a week after that, also on a Friday. In the meantime, I intend to keep on blogging, take some spectacular pictures from my office window, looking out on Great Harbor, and hopefully connect up with some good science.

As I head out, a couple of items to think about:

First: how do we keep balanced in terms of our science portfolio? We’re not a purely neuroscience institute. Rather we’re an institute that focuses on cognitive science–from social complexity to consciousness and all the way to neurophysiology. Along the way, we also study machines–how they might emulate human minds, and how they can come to solve similar problems to the ones our own brains solve.

Second: how do we engage scientifically more with one another. How do we achieve the goal (often talked about but achieved more rarely) of talking across the disciplinary boundaries that separate us? How do we create a culture of trans-disciplinary collaboration. I’ve often said this, I’ll write it again: I think that it’s at these boundaries that the most significant discoveries are likely to be made.

I wish all of you a very pleasant August.

Jim

Today, one of our postdocs asked a question that related, not to science, but to America in general–which is somewhat new to him. I think I was able to help–given my past experiences in non-academic jobs in this country, I’ve had quite a lifetime of stories to tell. Which brings me to the point of this short epistle: if you have such a question, one that relates perhaps to the day-to-day life issues which one faces in this Country, but not necessarily to science or the academy, I’m happy to help out….

Jim