Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSH …
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, not-for-profit research and education institution at the forefront of efforts in molecular biology and genetics to generate knowledge that will yield better diagnostics and treatments for cancer, neurological diseases and other major causes of human suffering.
Home to seven Nobelists, the Laboratory was founded in 1890 as one of the first institutions in the world to specialize in genetics research. CSHL has played a pivotal role in the emergence of molecular genetics, the scientific foundation of the contemporary revolution in biology and biotechnology. At CSHL in 1953, James D. Watson presented his first public lecture on his and Francis Cricks discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA, for which each later won a Nobel Prize. As director and then president of the Laboratory from 1968 to 2003, Watson was instrumental in developing CSHL into one of the worlds most influential cancer research centers.
Today, CSHL President Bruce Stillman leads more than 400 scientists who are pioneering the frontiers of biomedical research. A designated Center of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, CSHL has broken new ground in the study of cancer-causing genes and signaling pathways implicated in their activation. Key findings on mutations and structural variations of the human genome have been important in this work and in the Laboratorys efforts to understand what causes devastating neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative illnesses such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases. CSHL is also a global leader in plant genetics and an innovative force in the emerging discipline of quantitative biology.
The Laboratorys diverse educational activities seek to prepare both scientists and the public for the age of the genome. Each year 8,000 of the worlds leading life scientists are drawn to the campus for CSHLs legendary Meetings and Courses program and seminal Banbury conferences, where new findings and next steps in research are discussed and debated. The CSHL Press publishes textbooks, laboratory manuals, and research journals that are among the most highly cited in their fields.