ANNUAt REPORT 1997COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY ANNUAL REPORT 1997 ©1998 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory P.O. Box 100 1 Bungtown Road Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724 Website: http://www.cshl.org Managing Editor Wendy Goldstein Editorial staff Dorothy Brown Nonscientific Photography Margot Bennett, Ed Campodonico, Bill Dickerson, Mar *la Emmons Typography Elaine Gaveglia Cover design Tony Urgo Book design Emily Harste Front cover: Hippocampal pyramidal neurons in a living brain slice infected with a GFP-expressing virus imaged with two-pho- ton laser scanning microscopy. Individual spines, the post-synap- tic parts of synapses, can be clearly seen. (Mirjana Maletic- Zavati, Roberto Malinow, Karel Svoboda) Back cover: Richards Building Section title pages: Marlena Emmons, Ed Campodonico Contents Officers of the Corporation/Board of Trustees v Governance and Major Affiliations vi Committees vii Alfred Day Hershey (1908-1997) viii PRESIDENT'S ESSAY Remembering Manny Delbriick (1917-1998)8 DIRECTOR'S REPORT 10 Highlights14 ADMINISTRATION REPORT 41 RESEARCH 47 Tumor Viruses 48 Molecular Genetics 75 Cell Biology 107 Structure and Genomics 139 Neuroscience 163 Author Index 191 COLD SPRING HARBOR MEETINGS AND COURSES 193 Academic Affairs 194 Symposium on Quantitative Biology196 Meetings 199 Postgraduate Courses 223 Seminars 263 Undergraduate Research 265 Nature Study267 BANBURY CENTER 269 Director's Report 270 Meetings 276 DNA LEARNING CENTER 301 Director's Report303 Workshops, Meetings, and Collaborations317 COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY PRESS 321 Publications 322 Executive Director's Report 323 FINANCE 329 Financial Statements 330 Financial Support334 Grants 334 Methods of Contributing 342 Capital and Program Contributions 343 Child Care Center Capital Campaign 344 Annual Contributions 345 LABORATORY STAFF 355 iii Standing (from left):E.S. Marks, M.F. Gerry, T.A. Saunders Ill, M. Ptashne, J.A. Steitz, J.R. Reeves, G.R. Fink, C.T. Caskey, L.N. Grace, J.J. Phelan, Jr., W.S. Robertson, B. Stillman, L.B. Polsky, G. Globel, M.D. Lindsay, J.P. Cleary Sitting (from left): T.J. Knight, D.L. Luke III, W.V.P. Russell, J.D. Watson, W. Pidot Not shown: E.E. Harlow, J. Kuriyan, A.J. Levine, L. Mendell, J.A. Movshon, H. Dolan, D.H. Koch, W.L. Matheson, W.R. Miller, W.E. Murray, J.R. Reese Officers of the Corporation David L. Luke III, Chairman James D. Watson, Ph.D., President William R. Miller, Vice Chairman Bruce Stillman, Ph.D., Director Thomas A. Saunders Ill, Vice Chairman G. Morgan Browne, Administrative Director John R. Reese, Treasurer Martha Farish Gerry, Secretary Board of Trustees Scientific Trustees Edward E. Harlow, Ph.D. Helen Dolan John R. Reese Massachusetts General Hospital Oyster Bay, New York Cold Spring Harbor, New York John Kuriyan, Ph.D. Martha Farish Gerry William S. Robertson Howard Hughes Medical Institute Mill Neck, New York Huntington, New York Rockefeller University Lola N. Grace Thomas A. Saunders III Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D. Oyster Bay Cove, New York Locust Valley, New York Princeton University David H. Koch James D. Watson, Ph.D Lorne Mendell, Ph.D. New York, New York Cold Spring Harbor, New York State University of New York, Stony Brook David L. Luke III Honorary Trustees New York, New York J. Anthony Movshon, Ph.D. Bayard Clarkson, M.D. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Edwin S. Marks Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer New York University Kings Point, New York Center, New York, New York Mark Ptashne, Ph.D. William L. Matheson Robert Cummings Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Mill Neck, New York Glen Head, New York Center William R. Miller H. Bentley Glass Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D. New York, New York Boulder, Colorado Yale University School of Medicine William E. Murray Townsend J. Knight Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. New York, New York New York, New York Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory John J. Phelan, Jr. Mary D. Lindsay Individual Trustees Mill Neck, New York New York, New York C. Thomas Caskey Whitney D. Pidot Walter H. Page West Point, Pennsylvania Locust Valley, New York Cold Spring Harbor, New York John P. Cleary, Esq. Leon B. Polsky Wendy VP. Russell Oyster Bay, New York New York, New York Oyster Bay, New York Governance and Major Affiliations The Laboratory is governed by a 30-member Board of Trustees which meets three or four times a year. Authority to act for the Board of Trustees between meetings is vested in the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. The Executive Committee is composed of the Officers of the Board plus any other members who may be elected to the Executive Committee by the Board of Trustees. Additional standing and ad hoc committees are appointed by the Board of Trustees to provide guidance and advice in specific areas of the Laboratory's operations. Representation on the Board of Trustees itself is divided between community representatives and scientists from major educational and research institutions. The Laboratory is chartered as an educational and research institution by the Board of Regents of the Education Department of the State of New York.It is designated as a "public charity" by the Internal Revenue Service. vi Committees Audit John P. Cleary, Esq. Thomas A. Saunders Ill Rick Cosnotti James D. Watson, Ph.D. Whitney D. Pidot, Chairman Martha F Gerry Lola N. Grace Lola N. Grace Ex Officio William L. Matheson Townsend J. Knight David L. Luke Ill John J. Phelan Lauri J. Landeau, V.M.D. Leon Polsky Carol Large Nominating Mary D. Lindsay Banbury Program David L. Luke Ill David L. Luke III, Chairman Wendy V.P. Russell William R. Miller Arnold Levine, Ph.D., Chairman James D. Watson, Ph.D. Whitney D. Pidot Martha F. Gerry John R. Reese John Kurian, Ph.D. Executive Committee Thomas A. Saunders Ill Anthony Movshon, Ph.D. James D. Watson, Ph.D. Jan A. Witkowski, Ph.D. David L. Luke III, Chairman G. Morgan Browne Robertson House Building John P. Cleary, Esq. Lola N. Grace William S. Robertson, Chairman Helen A. Dolan, Chairman Edwin S. Marks G. Morgan Browne Arthur Brings William R. Miller Jack Richards John P. Cleary, Esq. John J. Phelan Maude Robertson Martha F. Gerry Whitney D. Pidot Jan Witkowski, Ph.D. Mary D. Lindsay John R. Reese Jack Richards Thomas A. Saunders Ill Robertson Research Fund Wendy V.P. Russell Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. Elizabeth Watson James D. Watson, Ph.D. John R. Reese, Chairman Commercial Relations G. Morgan Browne Finance and Investment David L. Luke III John P. Phelan, Chairman Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. John R. Reese, Chairman G. Morgan Browne James D. Watson, Ph.D. G. Morgan Browne Winship Herr, Ph.D. Lola N. Grace David L. Luke Ill Family Representatives William D. Keen John P. Maroney David H. Koch William R. Miller Katherine Ernst, Chairman David L. Luke Ill Mark Ptashne, Ph.D. Walter Meier, M.D. Edwin S. Marks Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. William S. Robertson William R. Miller Carl Schafer William E. Murray Compensation Leon Polsky Tenure and Appointments William S. Robertson David L. Luke III, Chairman Thomas A. Saunders Ill William R. Miller Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D., Chairman Whitney D. Pidot C. Thomas Caskey, M.D. John R. Reese Long-range Planning Edward Harlow, Ph.D. Thomas A. Saunders Ill John Kuriyan, Ph.D. Bruce Stillman, Ph.D., Chairman Arnold Levine, Ph.D. Development Thomas Caskey, M.D. Lorne Mendell, Ph.D. Arnold Levine, Ph.D. J. Anthony Movshon, Ph.D. Thomas A. Saunders, Chairman William R. Miller Mark Ptashne, Ph.D. G. Morgan Browne Mark Ptashne, Ph.D. Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. vii Alfred Day Hershey (1908-1997) Most of the basic facts about the gene and how it functions were learned through studies of bacteriophages, the viruses of bacteria. Phages came into biological prominence through experiments done in wartime United States by the German physicist, Max DelbrOck, and the Italian biologist, Salvador Luria. They believed that in studying how a single phage particle multiplies within a host bacterium to form many identical progeny phages, they were in effect studying naked genes in action. Soon they recruited the American chemist-turned-biologist Alfred Hershey to their way of thinking, and in 1943 the "Phage Group" was born. Of this famous trio, who were to receive in 1969 the Nobel Prize, Hershey was initially the least celebrated. Al had no trace of DelbrOck's almost evangelical charisma or of Luria's candid assertiveness and never welcomed the need to travel and expose his ideas to a wide audience. He framed his experiments to convince him- self, not others, that he was on the right track. Then he could enjoy what he called Hershey Heaven, doing experiments that he understood would give the same answer upon repetition. Although both he and Luria had indepen- dently demonstrated that phages upon multiplying give rise to stable vari- ants (mutants), it was Hershey, then in St. Louis, who in 1948 showed that their genetic determinants (genes) were linearly linked to each other like the genes along chromosomes of higher organisms. His most famous experiment, however, occurred soon after he moved to the Department of Genetics of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. There, in 1952, with his assistant, Martha Chase, he showed that phage DNA, not its protein component, contains the phage genes. After a tadpole-shaped phage particle attaches to a bacteri- um, its DNA enters through a tiny hole while its protein coat remains outside. Key to Hershey's success was showing that viral infection is not affected by violent agitation in a kitchen blender, which removes the empty viral protein shells from the bacterial surface. Although there was already good evidence from the 1944 announcement of Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty at the Rockefeller Institute that DNA could genetically alter the surface properties of bacteria, its broader significance was unknown.