‘A remarkable opportunity’: Stowers Institute expands to East Coast

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is expanding its laboratory to the East Coast. It is operating a satellite lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

President and Chief Scientific Officer Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado says the partnership is driven by a keen interest of wanting to learn more about biological processes.

“The MBL is a natural fit for the kind of work we do at Stowers because they themselves have been at the forefront of that type of fundamental foundational research for many, many decades,” Alvarado said.

MBL and Stowers are separated by more than a century of history.

But Alvarado says, “The track record is unquestionable.”

Stowers is known for its work in regenerative and developmental biology, genomics, genetics, neuroscience, and molecular biology.

Formal conversations regarding the partnership began during the COVID pandemic.

“It’s a remarkable opportunity. I can barely sustain my enthusiasm,” Alvarado said.

The MBL lab space allows scientists the opportunity to conduct research using marine organisms collected and bring them directly to a lab.

“It’s not just the access to the lab but it is having a laboratory that has access to biology that will be very difficult to immolate in the Midwest.” Alvarado says, “It is not possible for us to keep an ocean in our backyard, right? The backyard of this institute is the ocean.”

MBL and the Kansas City institute share a common vision of wanting to cater to the next generation of scientists.

“There is almost an infinite world of unknown biology that is beckoning for its understanding.” He went on, “The tools that our students have available and at their disposal today are unlike anything that the biological sciences have seen in its history.”

Scientists will spend the summer months at MBL.

To learn more about the partnership, click here.