Harvard Microbial Sciences Initiative
The Microbial Sciences Initiative (MSI) is an interdisciplinary scientific organization at Harvard University that brings together and develops programs for faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows and others working across many Harvard Departments and other institutions in the greater Boston area - all working in one or more of the many fields of study that intersect with microbes and microbial activities. The mission of the MSI is to seek a "comprehensive understanding of the richest biological RESERVOIR of the planet, the microbial world." More than 100 Harvard faculty associates are ACTIVE members of the MSI community.
Program highlights
Annual symposium
Every spring, the MSI organizes a symposium held on a Saturday that brings in a mix of leading microbiologists from Harvard and other institutions around the world and is open to the public. Since the symposium began in 2004, these speakers have included Dianne Newman, Bonnie Bassler, Andrew Knoll, Ed Delong, Nancy Moran, Jo Handlesman, Pamela Silver, Jack Szostak, Norm Pace, Julie Theriot, Jon Beckwith, Arturo Casadevall, George Church, and E. Peter Greenberg.
Seminars and chalk talks
A tradition of the MSI is a Friday morning breakfast and chalk talk, where faculty, postdoctoral fellows in MSI-associated labs and others present an in-depth topic related to their research. Thursday evening seminars are also held, typically for presentations by invited faculty scientists.
Course offerings
The MSI builds curricula in the microbial sciences at Harvard, offers research fellowship and travel grant opportunities to students, and oversees a secondary field in the microbial sciences available for undergraduate students at Harvard. The Initiative also holds a microscopy workshop for graduate students once a year.
Communication of microbiology to the public
The MSI organizes an interactive evening event each spring that is also open to the public, focused on a subject of general interest such as microbial foods. These events have in the past featured experts on cheese-making, sake and wine-making, along with tastings of these microbial products.
In 2018, the MSI is co-sponsoring a special exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History entitled, Microbial Life: A Universe at the Edge of Sight.
External links
- Harvard MSI on Twitter @HarvardMSI
- The Undiscovered Planet, an article AbOUT the Microbial Science Initiative in Harvard Magazine in 2007