2025 SBD Course Offerings

The SBD semester is organized as a series of 4 three-week modules; students chose a single course in each module.  These courses are inspired by the MBL’s world-renown summer Advanced Research Training Courses and are an intense immersion focusing on experiential learning through laboratory research. Students can earn between 12 and 17 credits for participation in SBD depending on if they are a quarter or a semester student.

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New Course Offerings Coming Soon! Below is the 2025 schedule as an example. 2026 schedule is still being finalized, check  back in early summer for updates.

Parasitology: Kate Rawlinson

This course introduces the diversity of parasitic Protozoa and Metazoa, and explores the morphology, genomics, developmental life cycle, pathology, immunology, epidemiology, and treatment and control of the major parasite groups. The focus will be on aquatic species, including those that cause pathology in humans and other mammals. The course will involve lectures, fieldwork and lab experiments including designing and carrying out an independent research project.

Microbiomes Across Environments: David Mark Welch

Microbiomes Across Environments provides a comprehensive introduction to microbiome research, tools and approaches for investigation, and a lexicon for biological understanding of the role of microbial communities in environmental and host environments. Microbiome science is an emerging field that bridges disciplines, merging microbiology with genomics, ecosystem science, computation, biogeochemistry, modeling, medicine, surgery, immunology, molecular engineering, and many others, including architecture, social science, chemistry and even economics. In this course we will uncover the vast biochemical and metabolic diversity of the microbial world by examining microbial communities and microbiomes from ocean and marine ecosystems in free-living and host-associated contexts. Students will develop or strengthen biological field and lab techniques, analyze and compare data prepared from student-collected samples, and integrate fundamental knowledge, modeling, and theory of microbiome research.

Stem Cells and Regeneration: From Aquatic Research Organisms to Mammals: Karen Echeverri

This course will explore contemporary stem cell biology and regeneration with emphasis on molecular mechanisms and applications, and will cover the history of stem cell discoveries through the latest advances, including genome-wide profiling, and targeted gene editing.  A focus of the course will be around how discoveries in aquatic research organisms have driven the progress in regeneration biology.

Imaging for Biological Research: Louis Kerr and Carsten Wolff

This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of imaging, quickly advancing to cutting edge advances in the field.  The course will focus on use state-of-the art microscopes, with students designing and executing an original research project including data acquisition and analysis using cutting-edge image analysis software.

Fundamentals of Synapses: Jennifer Morgan and Joshua Rosenthal

In this course, students will learn about the fundamentals of synapses, from molecular analysis to structure and function. Marine and aquatic models have historically provided a unique opportunity to investigate synaptic function due to the large size of their neurons, including the synaptic connections. Today, these synapse models are used to study basic principles of neuron-to-neuron communication (synaptic transmission), as well as disease mechanisms. 

Embryology: A star is born: reproduction and embryology in sea stars and other marine invertebrates Zak Swartz

How do animals make eggs, and how to eggs make animals? How will a changing climate affect these processes? In this course, students will learn fundamental concepts in animal reproduction and embryonic development across a range of species, from a biomedical, evolutionary, and climate change perspective. We will explore classic results and recent discoveries through lectures and discussion of research papers. In the laboratory, students will learn cell biological and embryological techniques including gamete and embryo culture, microinjection and live imaging, primarily with the bat star Patiria miniata. Students will conduct independent embryology projects focusing on marine invertebrate reproduction and embryogenesis.

Dynamic Camouflage: Behavior, Visual Perception and Neural Skin Patterning in Cephalopods: Roger Hanlon

This course takes an integrative approach to understanding a neurally controlled system of dynamic defense against visual predators. Camouflage is a widespread form of defense throughout the animal kingdom in every known habitat - land or sea. In the oceans, cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus, squid) have evolved a sophisticated sensorimotor system called Rapid Adaptive Coloration, which can instantaneously change their total body appearance within a fraction of a second to range from highly camouflaged to startlingly conspicuous for a wide range of behaviors. 

Biodiversity: Exploring the Marine Diversity of Woods Hole Using Molecular Tools: Andrew Gillis

This course presents an overview of the diversity of living organisms, including archaea, bacteria, single-celled eukaryotes, fungi, plants, and animals, with an emphasis on their evolutionary histories, relationships, and the biological and evolutionary implications of the characteristic features of each group. We will explore how these different lineages have evolved remarkable solutions to challenges in locomotion, metabolism, and life in extreme environments.

Weekly Seminars:

In 2026 we will offer two seminars. Science writing and one other to be determined- check back for updates!

Science Writing

Three decades ago, Carl Sagan wrote, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” This sentence still rings true today. There are many factors you could blame: the education system, social media, misinformation, the TV news cycle, or increasingly siloed scientific fields. In reality, all of these factors play a role. Here’s another to add to the list: scientists are trained to explain their work to other scientists, but not to the public at large.

Simultaneously, most members of the public do not have the training to read and understand scientific research. Yet that does not mean the public lacks an interest in science. According to Pew Research polls, the majority of Americans are interested in learning about science, health, and technology. If scientists want to help this interested public look past misinformation, trust in research, and vote for science-based solutions, there’s one major thing they can do: learn how to communicate their science clearly and concisely, without the specialized jargon often found in scientists’ writing.

That’s what you’re here to learn. No matter what path you choose to follow professionally, you will leave the course with the skills to construct simple and compelling stories from complex scientific ideas, and to convey accuracy without sacrificing clarity.