About the Basic Sciences Division
The Hutchinson Center's Basic Sciences Division comprises small, independent research groups investigating the basic molecular, cellular, developmental and evolutionary mechanisms underlying fundamental biological processes.
Our investigators pursue numerous approaches and exploit a broad range of experimental systems, including viruses, bacteria, yeast, nematodes, fruit flies, mice and humans. This broad spectrum of models enables a thorough analysis of much of the internal workings of cells, as well as the complex interactions between cells and organisms.
Although each laboratory is independent, informal and formal collaborations frequently bring together investigators with common interests. For example, many division members who study various aspects of chromosome biology, including nucleosome structure and positioning, chromatin domains, genetic recombination, the transcription machinery, and chromosome segregation, are able to exchange ideas for new approaches and cooperate to develop new technologies.
Other research areas that are well-represented in the division include the control of cell growth and division, developmental biology, structural biology, aging, metabolism, and molecular aspects of evolution.
From the division's founding in 1981, its organizers made a conscious decision to model it in an egalitarian style, based on the following ideas: (1) Each investigator determines his or her own model system for investigation and questions to pursue; (2) Space is determined solely on the basis of rank; (3) Major decisions, including hiring, promotion and development of programs or initiatives, are made by vote of the faculty (one person, one vote, regardless of rank, with the exception of promotions for which only those in a higher rank vote); and (4) Scientific accomplishment is the primary criterion for promotion. We believe this approach has produced many beneficial outcomes.
The division's reputation for excitement, collegiality and interactivity has helped with recruiting and retaining staff and has led to many important scientific advances. Modest, fixed laboratory sizes eliminate empire-building and encourage interactions among labs. This arrangement also means that our researchers are pursuing a variety of model systems and scientific questions at any one time, thereby increasing the intellectual ferment.
At the bench level, this extensive process of sharing has resulted in the spread of new ideas, reagents and techniques throughout the division within a matter of days of their introduction. A network of informal weekly laboratory meetings, often including multiple groups, helps to foster this exchange, as do weekly or monthly meetings of clubs composed of scientists with common research interests, such as the cell cycle club, developmental biology club, structural biology group, retrovirus group, yeast club, fly club, worm club and others. Moreover, this collaborative approach to science naturally produces numerous publications jointly authored by members of different laboratories in the division.
At a more formal level, the division cosponsors the Friday Evening Seminar, a forum in which students and postdoctoral fellows present their work to the entire research community. In addition, a weekly Basic Sciences faculty lunch provides the opportunity for a different faculty member from the division to present a review of his or her laboratory's work for the preceding year. A seminar program, in which faculty invite scientists from other institutions to present their work, supplements this program. On average, there are two or more such seminars weekly.
Division members also participate in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program, a joint effort between the Hutchinson Center and University of Washington that began in 1994. Our graduate program competes directly for students with the strongest research universities across the nation, and we are extremely pleased with the quality of our students. In 2000 we established the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award and Symposium, which is held at the Center annually and recognizes outstanding achievements in the biological sciences by graduate students throughout the world.
We credit the success of many of the division's individual scientific programs to a scientific milieu that fosters interactions and to the nurturing environment provided by our senior members.
— Jim Roberts, MD, PhD
Member/Director
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