The Centennial Decade of the MDIBL

Evans, David H.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2960-3_11

David H. Evans²

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Physiology ((PHYSIOL))

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Abstract

The 1990s led up to the Centennial Celebration of the MDIBL. The decade started with the usual concerns about an aging physical plant and the fact that federal grants to the Laboratory (primarily a toxicology center grant from the NIEHS) accounted for nearly 50 % of the annual budget. The Long Range Planning Committee suggested improving ties with Maine institutions (which led to an NSF EPSCOR grant with the University of Maine, Orono in 1992) and starting the process of forming a strategic plan for the next decade. Weekly public tours began in an effort to inform the public about the importance of the research done at the Laboratory, and a newly formed Development Committee of the Board of Trustees suggested that a full-time Development Officer be hired to coordinate the increasing outreach and public relations efforts. Another new committee, the Education and Conference Committee, started to coordinate the scientific meetings and short courses that were planned in future summers. Renovations and repair of the physical plant and cottages continued throughout the decade, and two new, 2-apartment structures became available for postdoctoral fellows or Investigators without children. Stewardship of the slowly increasing Laboratory Endowment was finally transferred to an investment firm, with mixed results that continued (with other firms) for the next 15 years. By the Centennial Celebration in 1998, the MDIBL had generated a mission statement, reorganized its institutional governance structure, started a major fund-raising campaign, generated a Master Plan and changed its zoning, and constructed a new Conference Center, in which the Centennial Conference was held.

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Notes

1.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 26, 1990, pp. 10–12
2.
Op. cit., p. 2
3.
Op. cit., p. 3. The NSF grants will be discussed below. Drs. Silva and Forrest and Preston had received the research awards from the Maine Affiliate of the AHA (Director’s Report 1990, p. 4.).
4.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 26, 1990, p. 3
5.
Ibid.
6.
Op. cit., p. 4
7.
Ibid.
8.
Ibid.
9.
Ms. Milbury was a nonscientist member of the Board of Trustees.
10.
Op. cit, pp. 4–5
11.
Director’s Report, (1990), p. 1
12.
Rappaport had retired, but he had been awarded another NSF grant to continue his work on cell division. Thus, for the first time since Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen had closed her laboratory in 1986, the MDIBL once again had a year-round research program, albeit a small one.
13.
Director’s Report (1990), p. 1
14.
The specific new investigators will be identified in the next chapter, when their research is discussed.
15.
As indicated in Chap. 9, Mrs. Blum was a member of the MDIBL’s Board of Overseers and the daughter of J.T. Halsey, who had worked at the Laboratory in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He had donated the funds for the Halsey laboratory in memory of his wife in 1939. The Laboratory was now using funds that Mrs. Blum had donated to support young investigators.
16.
Director’s Report (1990), pp. 1–4. These personnel grants (Markey, Pew, Hearst, Maine Community Foundation, and Burroughs Wellcome) were largely due to the efforts of Frank Epstein. Unfortunately, they required yearly renewals, so Evans noted “it should be obvious that our programs supporting young investigators, as excellent as they are, face an uncertain future.”
17.
Director’s Report (1990), pp. 3–4
18.
Director’s Report (1990), p. 4
19.
As always, it was a group effort; Evans and McCrimmon wrote the bulk of the proposal, but subsections were written by Drs. Boyer, Benz, Epstein, Forrest, Goldstein, and Preston (Director’s Report 1990, p. 4).
20.
The NSF grant awarded $110,000, but this was eventually matched by $50,000 from the Markey Foundation and nearly $60,000 from individual donors through what was called the “Cornerstone Campaign.” Both these efforts were led by Frank Epstein, with the help of Lucy Hocking, the Laboratory’s Coordinator of Development and Public Relations.
21.
It had been built in 1921, during the summer when the Tufts University Marine Laboratory had moved from South Harpswell to Salisbury Cove (see Chaps. 1 and 2). Originally called the Main Building, it was named for Herbert Neal in 1948, for his service as Director of the MDIBL from 1926 to 1931.
22.
The second floor was largely taken up by offices on either end in the final construction, and the air-conditioning was a problem from the first summer (1991) onward—not so surprising when one considers that the air handling plans were designed by a Bangor (Maine) firm. And the spiral staircase was, appropriately, modeled after a double helix, the structure of DNA.
23.
Director’s Report (1990), p. 4
24.
Op. cit., p. 5
25.
Op. cit., p. 6
26.
Ibid.
27.
The new equipment was largely for molecular biological studies, which “will allow a wide spectrum of current and future techniques to be utilized by our Investigators, and will prompt new approaches to old problems, which has been the hallmark of the MDIBL for 92 years” (Director’s Report 1990, p. 6).
28.
Ibid.
29.
Director’s Report (1990), p. 7
30.
Despite some uncertainty in the market that year, income from the relatively conservative investment portfolio of the Laboratory (47 % mutual funds, 38 % bonds, 11 % cash, 4 % in stocks) and gifts had generated a 29 % increase in the “General Endowment Fund,” which now stood at $268,000. Other designated funds brought the endowment to $553,000, up $90,000 from the previous year (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 26, 1990, p. 10 and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 26, 1990, p. 1)
31.
Frank Epstein, who had succeeded Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen as President of the Laboratory in 1985, was renominated (and elected), as was David Evans, who had succeeded Leon Goldstein as Director in 1983.
32.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 26, 1990, pp. 1–2
33.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
34.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, pp. 9–11. Since there had been an unexpected decline in the overhead return from the NIEHS and necessary purchase of some capital equipment, the amount transferred was greater than the net income by $25,000, so the MDIBL had the first budget deficit since 1983 that year. Obviously, the Administration felt this was fiscally responsible after 6 years of substantial net proceeds after transfers (total = $140,000).
35.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, p. 2. The fact that Gibson held both a BS in Business and an MBA, and had worked with computerized accounting systems, suggested that the Laboratory was seeking a more professional business office for the future. Up until this point, the business office had used the same sort of bound ledgers that Bob Cratchit had used.
36.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, p. 2
37.
Since its move to Salisbury Cove, the Laboratory had held dogfish (and seals in earlier days) in large, wooden live cars that were partially submerged in Lab Cove so that seawater could circulate through the slatted walls. They had the disadvantage, however, that only surface water, which could be relatively warm in midsummer, circulated inside the structures.
38.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, p. 3
39.
Ibid. The AHA grants were to Drs. Forrest, Hebert, and Morad for their work on shark rectal gland, flounder bladder, and cardiac calcium channels, respectively (Director’s Report 1991, p. 4).
40.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, p. 3
41.
Op. cit., p. 4. As described in Chap. 3, the Wilde Cottage (formerly a leasehold to Chuck Wilde) was on the Liscomb Tract, which was south of the McCagg Tract and east of Hamilton Pond and had been purchased by the MDIBL in the mid-1930s.
42.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1991, p. 4
43.
Ibid.
44.
As of 1991, James McFarland had been the MDIBL’s Auditor for the past decade. He continues in that capacity as of 2015.
45.
At this point, the MDIBL had two phone lines into the office. The PIs in the various laboratories could be notified of a call via the intercom system. Each laboratory building had a single phone for such incoming calls. Phones in individual laboratories came later in that decade.
46.
Director’s Report (1991), pp. 1–2
47.
As indicated earlier, the Markey Foundation had always stipulated that it would completely expend the original bequest by 1997.
48.
Director’s Report (1991), pp. 3–4
49.
Op. cit., p. 4. As written in Chap. 9, it was generally assumed that Rall had patterned the Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Science Centers on his collaborative research experience at the MDIBL two decades previously.
50.
The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Studies, started in 1974 in East Boothbay, Maine, is a private, nonprofit institution specializing in “exploring the world’s oceans—from microbes to global ecosystems.” See http://www.bigelow.org.
51.
The EPSCoR program had been started by the NSF to stimulate research in states that historically had relatively few NSF grants awarded.
52.
Op. cit., pp. 4–5
53.
Op. cit., pp. 5–6
54.
Huxley, along with Alan Hodgkin, had worked out the chemical basis for the resting and action potentials across nerve cell membranes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential). Huxley was the grandson of T. H. Huxley, the defender of Charles Darwin. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huxley.
55.
Director’s Report (1991), p. 6
56.
Op. cit., p. 7
57.
Ibid.
58.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Trustees, July 25, 1991, p. 2
59.
Op. cit., p. 3
60.
Op. cit., p. 4
61.
Op. cit., p. 5. The Kinne Leasehold joined those of Patricio Silva (Smith Cottage), Frank Epstein (Hegner/Sheldon Cottage), and Leon Goldstein (Rappaport Cottage). The Doyle and Forster Leaseholds had been returned to the rental pool of the Laboratory in the late 1980s. By 2010, the White Cottage was the last remaining leasehold cottage at the MDIBL. It was sold back to the Laboratory in 2014, so there are now no longer any leasehold cottages at the Laboratory.
62.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 6, 1992, pp. 1–2
63.
The BMEP had been initiated by Dr. Boylan and his German colleagues (e.g., Hilmar Stolte) a decade previously.
64.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 6, 1992, p. 2
65.
The 12 trustees at that meeting included five who were not MDIBL scientists. Until 1981, the MDIBL Board of Trustees was entirely composed of Laboratory PIs; during most of the 1980s, one or two nonscientists were on the board. By 1990, the Board of Overseers (see Chap. 9) had ceased to exist and an increasing number of nonscientists were being recruited onto the Board of Trustees.
66.
In particular, she suggested that there was confusion over the overlapping roles of the Director and Associate Director. The Trustees concluded that the Laboratory needs “a single Director who has national scientific stature,” but Edith Milbury noted that there was some local confusion during the winter months, when the Associate Director was the only administrator in residence, and this “could be detrimental to fund raising.”
67.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 6, 1992, pp. 2–3
68.
Op. cit. p. 3. Ironically, Milbury’s report was followed by a short statement from Trustee Tom Clark (who was related to the Rockefeller family by marriage) indicating that his visit with David Rockefeller about the potential funding of “special programs” at the MDIBL ended with “no promises” given.
69.
President Epstein opened the meeting with the announcement that there would be three Trustee meetings each year from then on, which has continued to the present.
70.
$713,000 at the end of 1991
71.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, June 30,1992, p. 1
72.
Op. cit., p. 2
73.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
74.
Kent’s recurring cancer had necessitated a bone marrow transplant that spring.
75.
Op. cit., p. 3
76.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1992, p. 2. As indicated previously, Mrs. Blum was the daughter of Robert Halsey, who had worked at the MDIBL in the late 1930s, and also a recent benefactor of the Laboratory. Rahn had given a seminar in the summer of 1963 and had been a Visiting Scholar in the summer of 1972. He had been the President of the American Physiological Society in 1963 and had made a point of seeking out the Laboratory’s bust of S. Weir Mitchell (then in Bowen Hall) because Mitchell had been one of the founders of the APS and its second President. As discussed in Chap. 2, Mitchell had been a leading psychiatrist and author of the late nineteenth century, Mount Desert Island summer resident, and namesake for the initial site of the MDIBL in Salisbury Cove.
77.
Op. cit., pp. 2 and 8
78.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
79.
Op. cit., p. 3. As the writer of such letters for nine years, the author can attest to the importance, and discomfort, of the process.
80.
Op. cit., pp. 3–5
81.
The access road to Spruce Point (the site of the Smith, Hegner, Lewis, Marshall, Rieck, and White cottages) also led to a traditional launch site into Salisbury Cove, which was used daily by local fishermen, including the postmaster, Skippy Dunton (see Chap. 4). Maine custom was to signal ownership by chaining off such a road each year for 1 day.
82.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1992, p. 4
83.
Op. cit., p. 5
84.
Maren was as active as ever in the research and social functions of the Laboratory at this later time in his career, but he had become increasingly worried, and vocal, that the good old days at the MDIBL were gone. One day the author had heard Maren musing about the lack of martini drinking at Laboratory social functions by the newer generations. The comment was made in the presence of the co-op manager of the late 1980s, Bob King, who responded: “Yes, and we don’t joust anymore either!”
85.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1992, p. 6. As we shall see in subsequent chapters, short courses for undergraduate and graduate students, medical students, medical residents, and medical fellows will become an integral component of the MDIBL’s programs early in the twenty-first century.
86.
In addition to salary overlaps during the transition between Business Managers and Associate Directors, there had been an expanded development effort with the Star Point Society, dedication of the renovated Neal Laboratory, tuition for Gary Gorczyca’s electrician training program, and the upgrade of Martha Farley to full time in the office staff.
87.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 1
88.
Op. cit., pp. 1–3
89.
See Amos’ reminiscences about this course in Chap. 3.
90.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 3
91.
Ibid.
92.
The award was given to “a distinguished scientist whose outstanding contributions provide significant progress in the field of experimental eye research.”
93.
Henson will be introduced as another member of the Fifth Generation in the next chapter.
94.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 4
95.
Op. cit., pp. 4–5
96.
Op. cit., p. 5. Fortunately, subsequent advances in molecular technologies and acquisition of necessary equipment and space at the MDIBL in the next two decades overcame this potential concern.
97.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 5. Costs did increase for the next two decades, but grant budgets kept up for most PIs. By 2013, however, MDIBL fees had increased to levels that made it increasingly difficult for NSF funded PIs to come for more than a few weeks, and most were funded by MDIBL fellowships.
98.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 5. This trend had started early in the 1990s, largely due to problems with long-term funding from federal grants (NSF proposal success rates dipped to ca. 10 % and have remained there since) and societal changes (spouses with their own careers, children in summer camps, greater expectations for updated housing, etc.). The trend has continued to the present day.
99.
Director’s Report (1992), p. 5
100.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 23, 1992, pp. 1–2
101.
Op. cit., p. 3 and 7
102.
Op. cit., p. 3. It is apparent that this was the first time that potential nominees for Director of the MDIBL had been interviewed by a Search Committee.
103.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 23, 1992 pp. 3–4. The committee also suggested that a “development officer” be hired for the Laboratory. The Development Committee suggested that a development staff be established.
104.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 23, 1992, p. 4
105.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 11, 1993, p. 1
106.
Op. cit., p. 2
107.
Treasurer’s Report (1993), p. 3
108.
Ausiello’s research was included as a pilot project. His work will be introduced in the next chapter.
109.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 11, 1993, p. 2
110.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3. Historically, the Executive Committee had been composed of three elected members, and they met with the President and Director weekly during the summer to discuss ongoing administration of the Laboratory. They would also propose policy and administrative changes, to be voted on by the Trustees at their now triannual meetings. At this point the Executive Committee was composed entirely of Trustees who were current MDIBL PIs.
111.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 11, 1993, p. 3. The LRPC also proposed that the position of President be replaced by Chairperson of the Board.
112.
Clark and Homburger were both local, not MDIBL-scientist, Trustees. Homburger was a Swiss-trained MD who had joined the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1945 after fellowships at Yale and Harvard Medical Schools. He was head of clinical investigation at Sloan-Kettering before moving to Tufts as head of its cancer research program. His early research on cancer in hamsters became a focus during some of the trials against the tobacco industry at the end of the twentieth century. Ironically, he had been a friend and neighbor of C.C. Little in Bar Harbor, who had been the founder of the Jackson Laboratory and was an early supporter, President, and Trustee of the MDIBL, but was an apologist for the tobacco industry toward the end of his life. (See Chaps. 2 and 4 and http://www.smokershistory.com/Homburge.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._C._Little)
113.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, January 11, 1993, pp. 4–5
114.
Op. cit., pp. 5–6
115.
Op. cit., p. 6
116.
Ibid. The Hughes grant, unfortunately, was not funded.
117.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, July 2, 1993, p. 1
118.
Op. cit., pp. 1–2. For unremembered reasons (Dawson, pers. comm.), the proposal was never submitted, but it was one of the first, direct efforts to combine skills from the MDIBL with those at the neighboring Jackson Laboratory.
119.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, July 2, 1993, p. 2
120.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3. Like the CMTS grant, the proposed collaborative grant would support “an administrative core, an investigative component, education and training, facilities, collecting, and outreach program (seminars and high school programs).” Unfortunately, the proposal was never written, due to government complexities and DiBona’s declining health.
121.
Thompson, a physician, was one of the Trustees who were not MDIBL PIs. He had just recently retired from being Director of the New York Hospital in New York City.
122.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, July 2, 1993, p. 3
123.
Silk was another Trustee who was not a scientist. He was then an economics columnist and editorial writer for the New York Times. He had received a Ph.D. in economics from Duke University, taught at the University of Maine and Simmons College, and had written for Business Week, before joining the Times in 1970, where he remained until his death in 1995. His obituary in the Times noted that he had “set a standard for a generation of journalists as a pioneer in making complex economic issues understandable to general readers.” The Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson wrote: “He was one of the earliest properly trained scholars who decided to devote himself to the problems of journalism and public writing about economics. And he had a gift for making the intricacies of economics understandable.” (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/obituaries/leonard-silk-dies-76-times-columnist-helped-public-understand-economics.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm). At the MDIBL, he was known for his wise counsel and surprising ability at second base at Laboratory baseball games.
124.
As mentioned previously, at this point the BOT was composed predominantly of MDIBL scientists with only two to three “external” members.
125.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, July 2, 1993, pp. 3–4
126.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 22, 1993, p. 2. The Thorndykes had been significant donors to the MDIBL just after WWII and continued an interest in the Laboratory for the subsequent decades. Dr. Borei had been a PI at the Laboratory in the early 1960s before moving his research to an independent marine station he founded on Swan’s Island, just south of MDI in 1965.
127.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 22, 1993, p. 2. The actual balance sheet showed that income exceeded expenses by $286 that year, but critical capital improvements led to a net shortfall of $2,045 for fiscal 1992. As mentioned previously, the budget was approximately $550,000 that year, up 10 % from the previous year and 20 % from 1990 (Treasurer’s Report 1993 p. 4).
128.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 22, 1993, p. 2
129.
Op. cit., p. 3
130.
Ibid.
131.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4. Unfortunately, the more strict labeling of waste as it was produced did nothing to identify the contents of nearly 50 years of waste containers that had been accumulating at the Laboratory. As we shall see, substantial problems would arise as efforts were made over the next nearly two decades to identify and dispose of this older waste material.
132.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 22, 1993, p. 4
133.
Ibid.
134.
Ibid.
135.
The Koch lecture had been organized by the Boylan family as the second John Boylan Memorial Lecture. It was held under a tent on Star Point, behind the Neal Laboratory. The first lecture had been the previous summer—the speaker had been Carl Gottschalk, who had been a PI at the MDIBL in the late 1950s. His lecture was entitled “The History of Renal Physiology.”
136.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 22, 1993, pp. 4–5
137.
At this point, Kent was serving on the Board of the AHA, Maine Affiliate.
138.
Levine was and is Professor of Medicine and Lecturer in Pharmacology; Director of the Law, Policy, and Ethics Core of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS; and Senior Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University (http://www.yale.edu/bioethics/bio_levine.shtml). Swazey was also a bioethicist and had been the second President of the College of the Atlantic. She is currently the founder and President of the Acadia Institute in Bar Harbor. For an interesting article on the history of Dr. Swazey’s interest in bioethics, see http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/23/science/doctor-s-world-her-study-shattered-myth-that-fraud-science-rarity.html?pagewanted=all%26src=pm
139.
Director’s Report (1993), p. 1. Both of these discoveries will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.
140.
Director’s Report (1993), pp. 1–2
141.
Director’s Report (1993), p. 2
142.
Ibid.
143.
Director’s Report (1993), p. 2
144.
Op. cit., p. 3
145.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4
146.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 22, 1993, pp. 1–2
147.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
148.
Op. cit, p. 4
149.
Op. cit., p. 5. Construction costs were covered by a mortgage for $40,000 from Bar Harbor Banking and Trust (Fig. 11.2).
150.
Minutes of a Special Meeting of the Corporation, August 19, 1993, pp. 1–3
151.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, pp. 1–2
152.
This was the first proposal to the Davis Family Foundation, which would become a major donor to the MDIBL in the next 15 years. The proposal was successful, with an award of $15,000, which, when combined with an allocation of $5000 from the CMTS, allowed the purchase of an electrophysiology and oocyte injection facility for the Laboratory (Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 2).
153.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 3. Unfortunately the collaborative grant proposal with Jackson Laboratory was never submitted.
154.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 3. The pier and vertical pipes were never built. The system retains its original geometry, despite upgrades, to the present.
155.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 2
156.
Op. cit., p. 3
157.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4. As we shall see, the construction of the new teaching facility will become a cornerstone of the centennial celebration, aided by a substantial gift from Tom Maren.
158.
Dowben was then a Professor of Physiology at Brown University, best known for his authorship of the textbook General Physiology: A Molecular Approach and a monograph entitled Biological Membranes. He had been invited by Leon Goldstein to attend this meeting and consider becoming a Trustee of the MDIBL.
159.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 4. Such a discussion was a sure sign that the MDIBL was thinking about moving into the business of science, which was emerging during that decade when new biomedical companies were appearing daily.
160.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 4. These two campuses roughly corresponded to the original Mitchell and McCagg tracts, with some more modern additions, such as the Karst and Liscomb additions, respectively. See Chaps. 2 and 3.
161.
Despite periodic financial problems for the MDIBL over the years, the sale of Laboratory land had rarely been considered and was always opposed by the majority of Trustees and PIs. The first parcel of Laboratory land (the Byrnes and Hoskins cottages) went on sale in the summer of 2013, after the Laboratory had purchased two houses (across from its main entrance and Dahlgren Hall) the previous two years.
162.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, pp. 4–5
163.
Then and now, the NIH RO1 grants are given to institutions after a successful application by an individual researcher.
164.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 5
165.
Ibid.
166.
Ibid.
167.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 6. It should be apparent to the reader that, by the 1990s, there was an increasingly public discussion (especially by newly elected members of the Board of Trustees) about originating a substantial year-round research operation. This was due in large part to the efforts of Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen, who, even after her retirement from active research, felt that the future of the MDIBL lays in becoming a year-round research institution. This perception was supported by occasional queries by reviewers of MDIBL grant proposals who wondered about the efficacy of supporting a part-time, summer research operation with funds for new buildings and capital equipment.
168.
As we shall see, Jim Boyer’s personal contacts soon started to provide major funding for MDIBL development, which continues to the present.
169.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 21, 1994, p. 6
170.
Ibid.
171.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 1
172.
Op. cit., p. 2
173.
Ibid.
174.
Op. cit., p. 3. This was the beginning of the NSF-funded REU program at the MDIBL, which continues to the present.
175.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 3. Some of the participants were the first occupants of the two suites in the newly constructed Eden II apartment (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 8).
176.
The research of these new colleagues will be discussed in the next chapter.
177.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 3
178.
Op. cit., p. 4. It should be remembered that the village of Salisbury Cove is within the boundaries of the town of Bar Harbor. Residents of Salisbury Cove pay property taxes in Bar Harbor.
179.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 4
180.
Ibid. The Annual Dinner had begun a few years previously and Michael Zasloff had been the invited speaker the previous summer. The speaker for the 1994 Annual Dinner, Francis Collins, had been at the University of Michigan when his collaboration with colleagues at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children led to the discovery of the gene for cystic fibrosis. He is currently Director of the NIH. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins for a more complete biography. The proposed name of “Circle of Learning Award” was dropped due to lack of support.
181.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1994, p. 4
182.
Op. cit., p. 6. The MDIBL had, in fact, been contributing approximately $1000 annually to the town of Bar Harbor during the 1980s.
183.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 1. Sheldon had been Director of the MDIBL during the early 1950s, and Wilde had been Director during the late 1960s and President in 1978–1979. See Chaps. 4 and 6 for more details.
184.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 2. Nonpayment of charges by a few PIs had been a chronic problem for nearly a decade and would continue for another 16 years, until the most chronic offender was finally asked not to return to the Laboratory.
185.
For a pdf, go here: http://mdiblhistory.org/MDIBL_History_Web_Site/Previous_histories_files/Maren%20Review.pdf
186.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, pp. 2–3
187.
As per federal regulations, the Committee consisted of a veterinarian (John Bauersfeld, DVM), a clergyperson (Fr. Bob Raymond), an unaffiliated scientist (Dr. Diana Gazis), an MDIBL PI (Dr. Claiborne), and a laboratory administrator (Dr. Kent).
188.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 3
189.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4
190.
About this time, Ed Benz (then Chief of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh’s Medical School) brought his new wife (Peggy Vettese) to Cottage 2. After Kay Dawson and Jean Evans heard about the Benzes’ first night of trapping (and releasing near Hamilton Pond) some two dozen mice, they arrived at Cottage 2 the next morning with several, mouse-inspired gifts. The ensuing, close friendship of the three couples continues to the present.
191.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 4. The cottage problem persists (albeit reduced somewhat by repairs and renovations the past few years), exacerbated by the presence of multiple tenants and/or families per summer. Before the early 1990s, families might be assigned to the same cottage for many summers, leading to “nesting,” including purchase of furniture and kitchen utensils by the family.
192.
Gopher was an Internet file transfer system that predated the appearance of the World Wide Web and its hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). It was developed and housed at the University of Minnesota, where the golden gopher is the mascot of its sports teams. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol) for more information.
193.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 5
194.
Ibid.
195.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, pp. 5–6
196.
Op. cit., p. 6
197.
Director’s Report (1994), p. 1
198.
Thirteen years later, David Evans gave the Krogh Lecture at the APS meeting of 2008 (Evans 2008).
199.
Published, respectively, as Schmidt-Nielsen (1983, 1995b)
200.
Carl Gottschalk had worked at the MDIBL in the late 1950s. See Chap. 5 for details. MDIBL scientists who have received this award are Jeff Garvin, Biff Forbush, Heini Murer, and Steve Hebert.
201.
Director’s Report (1994), p. 1
202.
Op. cit., p. 2. See also Chap. 3 and Director’s report for 1935, in Bull MDIBL (1936), p. 13.
203.
Director’s Report (1994), p. 3
204.
As noted above, the Long-Range Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees had been discussing a proposal to change the title of “President of the MDIBL” to the “Chair of the Board of Trustees.” The new by-laws, which included the new infrastructure and title change, were passed by the Board of Trustees that afternoon (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Trustees, July 28, 1994, p. 1).
205.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1994, p. 7. To anyone who knew Frank Epstein, this passage is typical of his prose.
206.
Op. cit., pp. 7–8
207.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 28, 1994, pp. 1–2
208.
Op. cit., p. 3–4
209.
Op. cit., p. 4
210.
Minnich had been President from 1946 to 1950. See Chap. 3.
211.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 28, 1994, p. 5
212.
Frank Epstein compared this loss to the 6–10 % loss that other mutual funds had shown for the year and suggested that “we are ahead of the pack” (Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 1).
213.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, pp. 1–2
214.
The Director’s yearly “compensation” was $6616 in 1995, 1.2 % of the budget (Treasurer’s Report 1996, p. 3).
215.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 2
216.
Ibid.
217.
Op. cit., p. 3. It is interesting to note that the principals at this meeting (Boyer, Callards, Epstein, Forrest, Goldstein, Kinne, Silva, and Towle), with the exception of David Dawson, were not living in Laboratory rental cottages at this point. Also, some budget planning problems had arisen because Dick Gibson, the MDIBL Business Manager, was under treatment for cancer and was, therefore, losing time in the office.
218.
Koob had come to the MDIBL in the early 1980s, as a collaborator with Ian Callard. He had subsequently returned, initially as a Markey Fellow, and continued his research most summers for the next decade. He was then a Section Chief in the research division of the Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa, FL. See Chap. 10 for more details.
219.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 3
220.
To preserve historical continuity, the original builder/owner is listed before the then current holder of the leasehold.
221.
Al Rieck’s wife, Anne, had retained the leasehold since his death in 1974 because the older leasehold agreements had a “widow’s clause” to allow the widow to stay in the cottage after the PIs death. Ann had asked subsequent Directors each year if she could remain in the cottage. Because she remained an integral part of the Laboratory community, she was always granted her wish. By 1995, she had decided not to return to Salisbury Cove for the summers.
222.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, pp. 3–4
223.
Op. cit., p. 4
224.
Despite their recent mouse encounter in Cottage 2, this comment was not from Peggy Vettese (pers. comm.), so the mouse trapping and mouse gifts must have worked.
225.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 4
226.
Op. cit., p. 5
227.
Respectively, a planner and architect in Bar Harbor, who had been hired by the Laboratory to assist in the rezoning efforts
228.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 5
229.
Op. cit., p. 6
230.
The first alternative would have put the new dormitories in the backyards of the Cove and Meadow cottages (#1–6) that housed PI families.
231.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 6
232.
This was the first mention in official Laboratory documents of the idea of two new laboratories near Marshall. By 2010, one of the new laboratories had been constructed, and Marshall had been razed to provide a site for the second new laboratory, which was finished in 2013.
233.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, pp. 6–7
234.
Op. cit., p. 7. It should be obvious that the MDIBL was moving rapidly to enter the late twentieth-century modes of fundraising, with an emphasis on Board participation as donors and fundraisers. This was a significant paradigm shift from the historical Board of Trustees, which consisted of MDIBL PIs and functioned largely to advise the Director.
235.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, p. 7. Dr. Nathanson’s research will be introduced in the next chapter.
236.
Epstein’s term, ten years, is the longest of any President/Chair of the Board in the long history of the MDIBL.
237.
The Committee members that had been nominated for Chair were Leon Goldstein and Jim Boyer.
238.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1995, pp. 7–8
239.
Op. cit., p. 8
240.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, June 30, 1995, p. 1
241.
Indeed, when the idea of placing new dormitories near the PI cottages surfaced, there was nearly universal rejection of that alternative.
242.
This was the first mention in Laboratory documents of a Conference Center rather than a small addition to Dahlgren Hall. The idea of a substantial Conference Center had first been suggested by David Dawson, who felt strongly that the MDIBL needed such a center to attract future scientific meetings and conferences. As we shall see, the current Maren Auditorium and linker with Dahlgren Hall, which were built in time for the centennial in 1998, are the result.
243.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, June 30, 1995, pp. 3–4
244.
Sadly, Dick Gibson passed away on August 6, 1995, after “a courageous battle with cancer” (footnote in the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, p. 2).
245.
Op. cit., p. 2
246.
The number of participants in the Smith Symposium was too large for the current MDIBL facilities, so it was held at the Gates Center at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. This demonstrated why the MDIBL needed a conference center.
247.
Later in the meeting, a representative from AcadiaNet described the “high-speed” system that might be installed. The initial cost would be $9000, plus a monthly fee of $250, but Dawson suggested that some costs might be recovered by reduced use of Federal Express and long-distance telephone (Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, June 30, 1995, p. 3).
248.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, June 30, 1995, p. 2
249.
Op. cit., p. 3
250.
This was the cottage that E. K. Marshall had built in the early 1930s. Like the Lewis Cottage, this property had never been a leasehold, but the Laboratory had been offered the right of first refusal when the cottage had been sold by the Marshall family to a family outside the Laboratory community in 1973. In the early 1980s, Vick Murdaugh had purchased the cottage when he relinquished the Smith Leasehold Cottage (see Chap. 9).
251.
Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen wrote a very personal reminiscence of Helen Cserr for the 1995 Bull MDIBL (p. v), in which she described Cserr as “an inspired scientist” and a “true comparative physiologist,” whose work with “lymph flow in the brain was original and ingenious.” She ended the note by stating: “It is rare that we encounter such a handsome, enthusiastic, fearlessly independent and imaginative scientist as Helen, and because of tradition it is even rarer to find these characteristics in a woman.”
252.
Green had succeeded C. C. Little as the Director of the Jackson Laboratory from 1956 to 1975.
253.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, p. 2
254.
The net increase in administrative salaries was reduced somewhat by a decrease in maintenance staff salaries because of Wayne Mitchell’s back injury.
255.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3 and 12–13. This was the first significant net proceeds (before transfers) for the MDIBL since 1990.
256.
In fact, in the mid-1980s, PI couples would often rotate the duties of giving a small dinner party for the visiting seminar speakers. The author still has a large, red, plastic salad bowl that made the rounds during that period.
257.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, p. 3
258.
The MDIBL had tried various methods of sacrifice over the years; by this time it had settled on rapid pithing, through the snout, as the most humane. In this protocol, the snout is nicked with a sterilized razor blade and a thin, steel rod is inserted through the brain and down the spinal cord, destroying central processing and all sensory and motor spinal nerves.
259.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, pp. 3–4
260.
Op. cit., p. 4. Of course, using federal funding as the filter would miss evaluation of those colleagues who were supported by MDIBL New Investigator Awards or that rare individual who was able to fund a small operation using personal funds.
261.
See http://www.ehs.msu.edu/radiation/programs_guidelines/radmanual/09rm_sanctions.htm
262.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, p. 4
263.
Op. cit., p. 4–5
264.
Op. cit., p. 5
265.
The idea of common-use washers and dryers on Laboratory property had long been a point of discussion between cottage residents and Directors. The author can remember being approached at a Laboratory function by the wife of a PI, and good friend, with a lunch bag containing her damaged underwear that had been fused by the Bar Harbor Laundromat coin dryers. He can also remember getting calls from the Bowdens, the owners of the adjacent Edgewater Motel, after students had sneaked next door, late in the night, to use the laundry facilities at the Motel.
266.
The Forster Leasehold Cottage (which had been built by William Procter in the 1920s) had returned to the Laboratory when Roy Forster retired in the 1980s. It was initially named Cottage 13 to be more consistent with the other nearby cottages. But the Forster name was returned in the mid-1990s.
267.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, p. 6
268.
Ibid.
269.
Ibid. The notation for the “World Wide Web” and quotations around “home page” demonstrate that this was a new venture for the Laboratory in 1995. Thanks to J.B. and Cheryl Claiborne’s skills, the website was soon up and running and, while not elegant by today’s standards, was functional and informative. For the first few years, it resided on Claiborne’s server at Georgia Southern University (http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/mdibl/main.html) but has now evolved into a much more sophisticated site (http://www.mdibl.org) that is maintained on the MDIBL server.
270.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, pp. 6–7.
271.
Op. cit., p. 7
272.
Director’s Report (1995), p. 1
273.
Op. cit., pp. 1–2
274.
Probably the most prestigious Chair of Medicine in the United States, the Osler Chair is named for the physician who is generally described as the “Father of Modern Medicine” and was one of the founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital (see Bliss 1999). As noted in Chap. 2, Osler had been recruited to the University of Pennsylvania in 1884 by S. Wier Mitchell, visited Mitchell in Bar Harbor in 1910, and wrote a reminiscence for Mitchell’s obituary in The British Medical Journal in 1914 (Osler 1914).
275.
Haynes had been recruited to the Laboratory by Leon Goldstein in the early 1990s. His research will be introduced in the next chapter.
276.
Director’s Report (1995), pp. 2–3
277.
This statement presaged the adoption of new logos for the MDIBL in 2011 and 2014. See Epilogue.
278.
Director’s Report (1995), p. 3
279.
Ibid.
280.
Ibid.
281.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 27, 1995, pp. 8–9
282.
Op. cit., p. 10
283.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 27, 1995, p. 1
284.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
285.
Op. cit., p. 3. This tension between the desire for an unfettered research period (especially for those who spent most of the academic year teaching—or seeing patients) and the needs of the Laboratory to increase its fiscal base and secure its future by teaching and development had always been present.
286.
Like many PIs who taught university courses, Kormanik had to return to teaching in mid-August, but was forced to end his research at the MDIBL by the end of July, because of the fee structure of the Laboratory. If he stayed the first 2 weeks in August, the beginning of the second “season,” he would have been charged for the entire season. There were no weekly rates at that time. This was an ongoing problem, faced also by the author, which was only solved 15 years later when weekly rates were established. Unfortunately, such a change in fee structure necessitated a substantial increase in charges per week of research and scheduling problems for short-term laboratory and cottage habitation.
287.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 27, 1995, pp. 3–4
288.
Op. cit., p. 4
289.
In the early 1980s, Murdaugh had purchased the old Marshall Cottage on Spruce Point from the Campbell-Jones family, which had purchased it in the 1970s from the Marshall family. It was no longer Laboratory property, but Murdaugh wanted the MDIBL to have the right of first refusal.
290.
Op. cit., p. 5
291.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, November 28, 1995, pp. 1–2
292.
Op. cit., p. 2
293.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3. Called the “Fiona Rose” brochure, the publication pictured a very cute infant on the cover who was suffering (not noticeably) from cystic fibrosis, a disease that various of the MDIBL PIs were investigating at their home institutions and during their summers at the Laboratory.
294.
Op. cit., p. 3
295.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4
296.
Op. cit., pp. 4–5
297.
Rappaport had now been at the MDIBL for 48 summers.
298.
Op. cit., p. 5
299.
Ibid.
300.
Op. cit., pp. 5–6
301.
The plan had been drawn up by Stewart Brecher Associates of Bar Harbor.
302.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, November 28, 1995, p. 6
303.
Kent was clearly factoring in substantial overhead (maintenance and repairs), because the cottages were renting for approximately $5000 per summer at that point.
304.
Op. cit., pp. 6–7
305.
Op. cit., p. 7
306.
Felton was a Bar Harbor resident and future Trustee.
307.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, November 28, 1995, p. 7
308.
Op. cit., p. 8
309.
Ibid.
310.
Ibid.
311.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 13, 1996, p. 2
312.
Op. cit., p. 2–3
313.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4. This discussion was the last significant, official exchange among Board members about the pros and cons of leaseholds. It was difficult to access the real cost of leaseholds vs. rental cottages, exclusive of the historical concern about guaranteed housing for senior PIs vs. non-guaranteed housing for junior PIs. If a senior PI paid $30,000 for a leasehold cottage, the Laboratory might expect to generate a yearly return of $1500–3000 from investing that amount, while having to pay nothing for upkeep. If that cottage were rented for $5000 for a full summer, the yearly income was certainly higher than the investment return from a leasehold of that cottage, but upkeep and renovations had to be factored in. A new foundation, for instance, costs $10,000. The desire to keep overhead costs for cottages low tended to slow down routine cottage repair. Overriding much of this was the increased concern about continuous federal funding for individual PIs in the 1990s and beyond. The days were gone when a PI could assume that NSF or NIH funding would continue for decades. Moreover, the dynamics of the family were changing and working against a long-term commitment to the MDIBL—spouses had full time jobs, and children were increasingly reluctant to leave their hometown friends. The result of all this was that the leaseholds that were to be offered that year were never purchased and continue to the present as rental cottages, except for Wilde (burned), Byrnes (sold), and Hoskins (for sale).
314.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 13, 1996, p. 4
315.
Pers. comm. to the author
316.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 13, 1996, p. 4
317.
Dawson’s draft arose de novo (pers. comm.), without any direct reference to Frank Epstein’s earlier suggestion for a mission statement: “The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory conducts basic research in marine biology, with many implications for human health and for the environment” (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 28, 1988, p. 5; see Chap. 9).
318.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 13, 1996, pp. 4–5
319.
Op. cit., p. 5
320.
Hebert has already been introduced in the previous chapter, and Harris’ research at the MDIBL will be discussed in the next chapter. Brown is currently Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
321.
Two recent papers certainly support this hypothesis (Kwong et al. 2014; Dew and Pyle 2014).
322.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 13, 1996, pp. 5–6
323.
Op. cit., p. 6
324.
Op. cit., pp. 6–7
325.
Op. cit., p. 7
326.
Op. cit., p. 8
327.
Ibid.
328.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 2. Ballatori, the only formally trained toxicologist in the CMTS, had served as Associate Director of the Center since Jim Boyer had become the Director in 1992.
329.
This would provide information on which of the Laboratory’s cost centers (laboratory or cottage rental, specimen collecting, equipment rental, co-op, etc.) had generated or lost money that year.
330.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 2 and 9–11. The major components of the endowment included $340,000 in the General Endowment Fund, $226,000 in Scholarship Funds, $247,000 in the Tides of Tomorrow Fund (which was earmarked for the efforts to recruit year-round investigators), $86,000 in the Real Estate Fund, $41,000 in the Dahlgren Fund, $39,000 in the Life Membership Fund, $21,000 in the Course and Lecture Funds, and $14,000 in the Capital Reserve Fund.
331.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 2. The notation in the Minutes was actually “e-mail,” because the now standard notation of “email” had not come into common use by 1996. The Kinne/Kinne-Saffran review of the Smith Symposium was on pages iv-xv of the Bulletin.
332.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 3
333.
Ibid.
334.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4. By 2006, the Western North Atlantic population of Squalus acanthias had been declared “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/44169/0).
335.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 4
336.
Ibid. This is, in fact, where the next two dormitories were constructed.
337.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 5
338.
Altered slightly from what he had presented to the Board of Trustees in the spring, it now read: “To promote research and education in the biology of marine organisms, to foster understanding and preservation of the environment and to advance human health.” The Mission Statement was approved by the Corporation later in the meeting (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 7).
339.
Director’s Report (1996), p. 1.
340.
Op. cit., pp. 1–2
341.
See Evans (2010) for a discussion of the role of the MDIBL in the study of fish osmoregulation.
342.
Op. cit. p. 2
343.
Ibid.
344.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 25, 1996, p. 6
345.
Op. cit., p. 7
346.
Ibid.
347.
There is one photo of a past President missing, that of C. C. Little, who served from 1931 to 1933. See also Chap. 4. Those photographs are now mounted in Maren Auditorium, as are the photos of past Directors.
348.
Op. cit., p. 8
349.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 25, 1996, pp. 1–2
350.
Op. cit., p. 2; Henson had arrived as a Markey Fellow in the summer of 1990. His research will be introduced in the next chapter.
351.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
352.
Op. cit., p. 3
353.
Ibid. Later in the meeting, the Trustees voted to establish such a committee.
354.
Bollinger had been a colleague of David Dawson’s at the University of Michigan and Dean of the UM Law School. He had become Provost of Dartmouth College in 1994 and had just returned to Michigan as President in 1996. In 2002, he became the President of Columbia University, where he remains as of 2015 (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/president/docs/bio/index.html).
355.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 25, 1996, p. 4
356.
Op. cit., pp. 4–5. At this point, APS was merely renting labs in the Marshall Laboratory for the summer. Construction of the recirculating seawater system and winter rental would begin that fall, after the contracts were signed.
357.
The Laboratory had recently received a grant from the Amelia Peabody Foundation (Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, December 2, 1996, p. 5).
358.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 25, 1996, pp. 5–6. Boyer reminded the Trustees that the Kresge Foundation provided challenge grants for 25–33 % of funds, providing the applying institution could demonstrate its ability to raise the rest of the projected budget. He suggested to the Board that their contribution could come as “cash, marketable securities, pledges payable in five years, cash value of insurance policies, materials at market value, or irrevocable deferred gifts.”
359.
The Maren Foundation had pledged approximately $50,000 per year for fellowships the next few years and $100,000 per year until $1 million was reached in a separate fund. The Salisbury Cove Research Fund now stands at over $1.5 million, despite withdrawal of approximately $75,000 per year for the past few years for SCRF fellowships and the 2008 substantial stock market downturn.
360.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 25, 1996, pp. 5–6
361.
Op. cit., p. 7
362.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, December 2, 1996, p. 1
363.
Op. cit., pp. 1–2
364.
Op. cit., p. 2
365.
Ibid.
366.
Ibid.
367.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3. This dissection of the proposed budget was certainly a departure from the Laboratory’s long history of Director-generated budgets, with little or no input from the Trustees. The new, more active Board of Trustees (which included members with business experience) and the winter meetings facilitated this administrative change.
368.
At this point, the MDIBL still had a single phone in each laboratory building.
369.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, December 2, 1996, pp. 3–4
370.
Brecher was a local architect who had worked with the MDIBL in its successful efforts for rezoning two years before.
371.
Op. cit., p. 4
372.
Op. cit., p. 5
373.
Op. cit., pp. 5–6
374.
Op. cit., p. 7
375.
Op. cit., pp. 7–8
376.
Op. cit., pp. 8–9
377.
Son of John and Jean Boylan, Terence was not yet a member of the Board of Trustees but would become the next Chair of the Board in a few years. See also Chap. 3, where Terence is introduced as a young investigator and interacting with E.K. Marshall. As indicated earlier, Terence went on to a successful music career, but he was most proud of securing a $10 grant from the NIH (with his friend Bruce Cook) to build a rocket when he was 9 years old. See http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2010/csr-19.htm and http://public.csr.nih.gov/aboutcsr/NewsAndPublications/Outreach/Documents/rockete1.pdf.
378.
Unfortunately, Beth Kidder’s social history of the MDIBL has never been published and has not been seen by the author.
379.
Emy Lesser had been recruited to the Board of Overseers by Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen a few years before and had transitioned onto the Board of Trustees. She remained active in the social affairs of the Laboratory for nearly two decades.
380.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ Meeting, December 2, 1996, p. 9
381.
Ibid.
382.
Helmut Weber was a local businessman who had been recruited to the Board of Overseers a decade before, served as Chair of that group, and had recently joined the Board of Trustees (see Chap. 9 and Fig. 9.3).
383.
Minutes of the Board of Trustees’ meeting, April 25, 1997, pp. 1–2
384.
Op. cit., p. 2. The “three major areas” were a new seawater system, renovation and expansion of Dahlgren Hall, and a new dormitory.
385.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
386.
Op. cit., p. 3
387.
Op. cit., p. 4
388.
Ibid.
389.
Op. cit., p. 5
390.
Davson, a physiologist from the Medical Research Council of the UK and University College, London, was world renowned for his work on the eye, cerebral spinal fluid, and biological membranes. Author of such texts as Davson (1972), Davson and Segal (1996), and Davson (1970), he had participated at the Symposium on the Fluid Environment of the Brain, organized by Helen Cserr at the MDIBL in the summer of 1974 (Cserr et al. 1975) and had subsequently become a member of the Corporation. Richard Goss had worked on regeneration at the MDIBL during the late 1950s and early 1960s (see Chap. 5). Arnost Kleinzeller had arrived at the MDIBL in the summer of 1969 and worked on molecular transport across epithelial membranes every summer for the next 25 years (see Chaps. 6–10).
391.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 24, 1997, pp. 2–3 and 8–9
392.
Op. cit., p. 3
393.
Ibid.
394.
Ibid.
395.
Since the advent of radioisotopes after WWII, MDIBL PIs had used primarily isotopes of sodium, chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen to trace the pathways of ions and organic molecules across biological membranes. With the recent advent of molecular biology in the last two decades of the twentieth century and the study of DNA and specific proteins, the use of ³²P and ³⁵S had increased throughout biology.
396.
For decades, summer PIs had stored chemicals, supplies, and equipment for the next summer in the attics of individual laboratories. Unfortunately, such potentially hazardous materials remained when PIs did not return to the Laboratory in ensuing years, and the staff (and subsequent users of that laboratory) usually did not know the contents. Periodic purges of the attics, especially during this period of the 1990s, helped this problem somewhat, but it was not until new regulations were in place after 2010 that the problem was solved.
397.
The new administration building has never been built, and the use of tissue culture as an experimental protocol by MDIBL PIs has declined, so the tissue culture facility remains on the first floor of the Smith building.
398.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 24, 1997, pp. 3–4. Integrated Service Digital Networks were the first phone lines to carry voice, video, and data between computers. Ethernet and wireless communication systems followed within a decade.
399.
As the primary office secretary for many years, Mary Rush was involved each spring in working out the complex array of cottage and dormitory assignments (with a little help from the Director). She certainly knew firsthand what was needed for specific groups of potential tenants.
400.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 24, 1997, p. 4
401.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 24, 1997, pp. 4–5
402.
Director’s Report (1997), p. 1
403.
Op. cit., p. 2
404.
Ibid.
405.
Rappaport (1996)
406.
Given their identical first names, roles as sequential Directors of the MDIBL, and close friendship, Dawson and Evans were often confused. In response, Dawson started to refer to Evans as “my other brother Daryl” in reference to classic lines in the 1990s TV sitcom “Newhart.” See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN6UAzYY8qg, but note the alternative spelling of Daryl in the clip’s title.
407.
Director’s Report (1997), pp. 2–3
408.
Op. cit., p. 3
409.
Ibid.
410.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 24, 1997, p. 5
411.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 24, 1997, p. 1. The matter was resolved when the Trustees voted (by mail ballot on Sept. 8) to extend the terms of Jim Boyer (Chair) and Rolf Kinne (Vice-Chair) to 1999, avoiding overlap with the election of a new Director, slated for the summer of 1998 (MDIBL Corporation Minutes 1997, p. 30).
412.
Op cit., pp. 1–2
413.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
414.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4
415.
Op. cit., pp. 4–5
416.
After this meeting, a former patient of Dr. Boyer’s, and visitor to the meeting, approached him and pledged the bulk of this remainder for the renovation of Dahlgren Hall itself. With an interest in historical preservation, and working with Phoebe Boyer, the donor brought the front of Dahlgren back to its original configuration, with two front doors (one for boys, one for girls). The new entrance to Dahlgren is on the west side as part of the linker and patio configuration. The original school bell, long residing next to Bowen Dormitory, was replaced in the cupola on top of Dahlgren.
417.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 24, 1997, pp. 5–6
418.
Op. cit., p. 6
419.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, December 2, 1997, p. 1
420.
The Maren Foundation had donated $250,000 for the construction of the new center.
421.
The confocal microscope had been bought with funds that Drs. Michael Nathanson, David Miller, and John Henson received in an instrumentation grant from the NIH (Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, p. 4).
422.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, December 2, 1997, pp. 1–2
423.
Op. cit., p. 2
424.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
425.
Op. cit., p. 3
426.
Ibid.
427.
Op. cit., p. 4
428.
Ibid.
429.
Op. cit., p. 4–5
430.
Op. cit., p. 5
431.
Ibid.
432.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 4, 1998, pp. 1–2
433.
Op. cit., p. 2. Within a decade a zebrafish facility was up and running at the MDIBL and two year-round investigators who used zebrafish in their research had been hired.
434.
By that spring meeting of the Trustees, the new auditorium had been named for Tom Maren, in celebration of his vital gift to the project and his many years of service to the MDIBL. There is no record of a formal vote, but no dissent was ever expressed.
435.
As mentioned in Chap. 7, the Hahns had been killed in an automobile accident in 1972. Jessica Lewis Myers was the youngest daughter of Warren and Margaret Lewis, pioneer researchers at the MDIBL (and Harpswell Laboratory) during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
436.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 4, 1998, p. 3. The total cost of the project was of the order of $800,000 (pers. comm. from Jim Boyer to the author via e-mail on January 9, 2014).
437.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 4, 1998, p. 3. This suggestion was never acted upon, so the tax-exempt status was apparently never questioned because of the gift shop in the linker between Dahlgren and Maren.
438.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 4, 1998, p. 3. Many Laboratory PIs and their families “purchased” chairs in the first few rows in Maren, and inscribed plates can be seen on the backs of these chairs. The VW beetle was raffled off, and, ironically, the VW dealer in Bangor was the winner.
439.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 4, 1998, p. 4
440.
Ibid.
441.
Ibid.
442.
The Annual Meeting always had been held in Dahlgren Hall before 1998.
443.
Jack Myers, husband of Jessica Lewis Myers, had been a PI and President of the MDIBL in the late 1970s (see Chap. 7); Gerrit Bevelander had been a PI during the early 1930s and 1950s and had built a cottage on the shore of Emery Cove that still bears his name (Chaps. 3 and 6); Mabel Frings and her husband, Hubert, had been PIs during the 1950s (Chap. 5).
444.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, p. 2
445.
Ibid.
446.
A motion to purchase the scanner was passed.
447.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, pp. 2–3
448.
Op. cit., p. 3
449.
Op. cit., pp. 3–4
450.
Op. cit., p. 4
451.
Jim Boyer thanked Drs. Nathanson, Miller, and Henson for their successful proposal to the NIH for the confocal microscope.
452.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, p. 4. The bulk of the administrative staff remains in the original administrative building, Kingsley, to which Smith is attached.
453.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, p. 5
454.
Ibid.
455.
Ibid.
456.
Op. cit., pp. 5–6. Of this group, Gorczyca, Hanscome, and Madore are still on the MDIBL staff. Nancy Madore had been hired in 1994 and immediately became a beloved cook and “housemother” for the student members of the co-op (Fig. 11.3).
457.
Op. cit., p. 6. The ISU course was the first recurring course taught at the MDIBL since Ulric Dahlgren’s course in marine biology in the late 1930s. There are 20 courses scheduled for 2015 at the Laboratory.
458.
Director’s Report (1998), p. 1
459.
Ibid.
460.
Op. cit., pp. 1–2
461.
Op. cit., p. 2
462.
Ibid.
463.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
464.
Forrest had been the choice of the Nominating Committee and would be officially elected at the Trustees’ Meeting that afternoon.
465.
Director’s Report (1998), p. 3
466.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, July 23, 1998, p. 7
467.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 23, 1998, pp. 1–2
468.
Op. cit., p. 2
469.
Op. cit., pp. 2–3
470.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, December 2, 1996, pp. 5–6
471.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 23, 1998, p. 4
472.
Op. cit., p. 5

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Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
David H. Evans

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Evans, D.H. (2015). The Centennial Decade of the MDIBL. In: Marine Physiology Down East: The Story of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory. Perspectives in Physiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2960-3_11

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