--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
July 29, 2010
Contact: Tatiana Brailovskaya, Director of Communications, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences 207.633.9633 brlvsk@bigelow.org
One Single Cell at a Time -- Bigelow Laboratory’s August 10 Café Scientifique
WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME – Bigelow Senior Research Scientist Dr. Ramunas Stepanauskas will speak about “Reading Nature’s Genetic Stories: One Cell at a Time,” at the Laboratory’s August 10 Café Scientifique gathering at 6:00 p.m. in the Opera House, 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. His discussion will focus on the technology, the challenges, and the enormous potential for discovery within the emerging field of single cell genomics.
“Single-celled ocean microbes, invisible to us without magnification, are the oldest, most abundant, and most diverse forms of life on our planet,” says Stepanauskas. “We’re beginning to develop the technology to explore their role in the global processes that support life, and the possibility that they can offer us new genetic resources, materials, and even energy sources in the future.”
Stepanauskas’s research includes diverse aspects of microbial ecology, evolution, and biotechnological potential of environmental microorganisms. He has a Bachelor of Sciences in Limnology from Uppsala University in Sweden, a Master of Sciences in Limnology and Ph.D. in Limnology and Ecology from Lund University in Sweden. He heads the Bigelow Single Cell Genomics Center and is among the pioneers in the development of single cell genomics technology. The Center is hosting a major international workshop on single cell genomics at the end of September.
The Laboratory’s Café Scientifique gatherings are informal discussions about scientific issues and society, current research, and the latest news from the field. The Café Scientifique movement began in 1998 in England, and has spread quickly throughout Europe and the United States. There are now more than 150 science cafés organized over 42 countries. The Laboratory’s cafés are free, open to the public, and a cash bar is available. The 2010 Summer Café Scientifique gatherings are held at 6 p.m. every Tuesday through August 24 at the Opera House.
An internationally known center for global ocean research, Bigelow Laboratory conducts research ranging from microbial oceanography examining biological productivity in the world’s oceans at the molecular level to the large-scale biogeochemical processes that drive interactions between ocean ecosystems and global environmental conditions. These programs have taken Bigelow scientists around the world to every ocean and the polar seas. ###
Photo by Dennis Griggs.