July and, like a sous-chef teaching assistants have prepped the laboratory tables with the materials needed for the day's experiments. Months of groundwork have gone into this moment, preparing course modules and transforming an empty lab in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, to one that will house the latest in yeast-related research. It is a brief moment of calm before the 16 students arrive to begin what will be an intensive, three-week yeast genetics and genomics. bread rise, or the catalyst for the fer- menting process of their home brew. But for this select group of scientists and researchers, yeast--specifically, key to research that has implications for understanding the functions of human cells and genomes. faculty has helped lead this seminal course in yeast genetics and genomics, which has attracted many of the world's outstanding yeast geneticists and molecular biologists, whether as teachers or students, since the course's inception in 1970. compendium of the "giants of yeast biology," including 2013 Nobel laure- ates Randy W. Schekman, PhD, and James E. Rothman, PhD; award- winning geneticists; and those who have had major influences in the fields of biology and microbiology, says Marc R. Gartenberg, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, at the medical school. things happen there," he says. (above), professor of director, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, and instructor of yeast genetics and genomics a the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, says that students who are interested in using yeast for research come from range of backgrounds. learn the techniques involved--from the most basic methods to the latest ones-- and disseminate them to scientists in their own labs. O E M R S O |