Two 2024 Nobel laureates are affiliates of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole

The MBL now counts 63 Nobel laureates since 1929 among its scientists, course faculty, and alumni.

Marine Biological Laboratory

 

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Gary Ruvkun of Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital,  former co-director of the MBL Biology of Aging course. Credit:Joshua Touster

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Credit: Joshua Touster

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass., has long been a magnet for scientific talent, as partly evidenced by the long list of Nobel laureates affiliated with the lab since 1929. Last week, the MBL was proud to add two new scientists to this list, which now includes 63 names:

* Gary Ruvkin, former co-director of the MBL Biology of Aging course, was co-recipient with Victor Ambros of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation). Read more here.

* John Hopfield, former faculty in the MBL Methods in Computational Neuroscience Course, was co-recipient with Geoffrey Hinton of the Nobel Prize in Physics (for foundational discoveries in the development of artificial neural networks). Read more here.

Ruvkun's and Hopfield's research accomplishments are "an example of the cutting-edge content and groundbreaking discoveries that students in the MBL's Advanced Research Training Courses are exposed to," said Linda Hyman, Burroughs-Wellcome Director of Education at MBL.

Almost all of the MBL-affiliated Nobel laureates have received the prize in Physiology or Medicine or in Chemistry. Other than Hopfield, one other MBL affiliate has received a Nobel Prize in Physics: Donald Glaser in 1960, an alumnus of the MBL Physiology course, for his development of the bubble chamber.

John Hopfield of Princeton University, former faculty in the MBL Methods in Computational Neuroscience course.

Credit

Denise Applewhite, Princeton University

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.