Stowers Institute Sets Up Year-Round Satellite Lab at the MBL

MBL Director Nipam Patel, left, and Stowers Institute President Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado hope Stowers' partnership with MBL will kindle new solutions to longstanding biological questions. Credit: Stowers Institute

In 2022, scientists from the did what many scientists dream of: They found a way to stay in Woods Hole all year.

The Kansas City-based institute has established in the MBL’s Rowe Building, available to up to 6-8 Stowers investigators at a time.

“It’s a fantastic partnership in discovery,” said Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, president and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute.

Stowers has much in common with the MBL, with research and educational programs in molecular and cell biology, development and regeneration, genetics and genomics, neuroscience, systems biology, and evolutionary biology.

Stowers Institute Predoctoral Researcher Anna Galligos at MBL
Stowers Institute Predoctoral Researcher Anna Galligos working at the Stowers Satellite Lab at MBL. Credit: Stowers Institute
towers Institute Postdoctoral Research Associate Ivan Candido-Ferreira w
The Stowers Satellite Lab offers year-round access to MBL resources, including marine organisms. Above, Stowers Postdoctoral Research Associate Ivan Candido-Ferriera at MBL. Credit: Stowers Institute

And Sánchez Alvarado, who has had many formative experiences at MBL, wants to maximize opportunities for Stowers investigators and students to access the MBL’s abundant resources and natural beauty.

“Some experiments can only be done here,” said MBL Director Nipam Patel. “And in other cases, MBL can provide opportunities to take their research to a new level.”

Stowers investigators now have year-round access to MBL’s advanced microscopy resources and research organisms through the Marine Resources Center. And they can explore the rich biodiversity of Woods Hole, by land or by sea.

Stowers Institute Predoctoral Researcher Augusto Ortego Gran. illo in the MBL Physiology course. Credit: Stowers Institute
Stowers Institute Predoctoral Researcher Augusto Ortego Granillo in the MBL Physiology course. Credit Stowers Institute

The advantages of the partnership are described in two articles by Stowers Science Writer Rachel Scanza, and “

Among them is that palpable Woods Hole “charge” -- the excitement of discovery fed by a continuous flux of intensely curious scientists and students through the MBL.

“There is so much energy in this campus that we all feed off of to be even better than we thought we could,” said Augusto Ortego Granillo, a predoctoral researcher at the Stowers Institute.

The Stowers Satellite Lab is a welcome addition to the MBL, Patel said, noting that a few other institutes have expressed interest in setting up a similar arrangement. “It adds to the vibrancy to the campus,” he said.

And both partners anticipate the year-round interaction will kindle innovative science, as highlighted by Sánchez Alvarado: “I hope that our partnership will serve members of both institutions in coming together to produce entirely new solutions to longstanding questions in biology.”

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, shown here in the Stowers Satellite Lab at MBL, has been affiliated with MBL for years as an alumnus and faculty member in the Embryology course and a visiting researcher. Credit: Stowers Institute
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, shown here in the Stowers Satellite Lab at MBL, has been affiliated with MBL for many years as faculty/former co-director of the Embryology course and a visiting researcher. Credit: Stowers Institute