The recent Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Conference (#LAMG12) was the first time I’ve been reunited with one of my classmates, Ben Tully, (@phantomBugs) from the MBL. (In June 2009, I spent 6 weeks at the Microbial Diversity Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.) On several occasions, we explained to people at the conference how we met, and were met with blank stares.
Just as Laura Sauder (@LauraASauder) forgave the medical microbiology folks in the room for not recognizing a photo of Sergei Winogradsky, I am willing to do the same for those who do not recognize the Microbial Diversity course at the MBL. But, if your flavor of microbiology has anything to do with the words environment, community, genomics, metagenomics, evolution, or ecology, then you should fall into one of three categories: 1) You went to the course. 2) You are going to the course. 3) You want to go to the course.
Here is some text from the course website:
Students will isolate, cultivate, and experiment with characteristic microbial types from various marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats, including those microbes living symbiotically with animals and plants. Emphasis will be on the isolation and cultivation of organisms that are distinguished by their phylogenetic, physiological, and morphological properties. Techniques for cultivation of strict anaerobes and phototrophs will be emphasized. Examples of microbial types that will be isolated are methanogens, acetogens, sulfate-reducing anaerobes, fermentative anaerobes and both oxygenic and anoxygenic phototrophs, as well as bacteria involved in the geochemical cycling of various metals. Magnetic bacteria, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, spirochetes, and luminescent bacteria will also be studied. A laboratory component on molecular approaches to microbial diversity will instruct students to use approaches of molecular phylogeny and comparative genomics. This will involve isolation and amplification of 16S rRNA genes as phylogenetic markers and the use of computer software programs to analyze nucleic acid sequences and to construct phylogenetic trees. As the capstone activity of the course, participants will conduct an individual research project of their own design.
You will learn a LOT about microbes and how they do what they do. You will become a microbiologist. The way you view the world will be permanently altered. Just ask anyone who has attended the course. But, what that blurb does not tell you is that every day, you sit through lectures or talks by the world’s expert on a given subject. Time to learn about thermophiles? Here is Karl Stetter. And, not only will he talk to you in the classroom about his research, he will stick around for a few days. He will hang out in the lab, eat meals with you, and he will be part of the crowd that makes the trek to the secret beach when the bar closes.
It’s just a really, really special place, and if you were at Lake Arrowhead, if you were at ASM, if you were at ISME, (I know there are more, but you get the idea) you must fall into one of those three categories.
More MBL posts to come…
jennomics 
You forgot people who will always regret not having done the MBL microbial diversity course :). It is a special thing to have done. Stanford also has a similar course that runs at Hopkins Marine Station. Same general principle.
Point well taken, but why wouldn’t those people fall into the “want to go” category? It’s not too late! I think that unless you are at the point in your career where you feel like you don’t need/want to learn anything new, then you could still go!
But, you are absolutely right; the Hopkins Marine Station Microbiology course is very similar and has some overlap in speakers, and might be more manageable for many people at 4wks instead of 6.5wks.