MSI Symposium

Welcome to the microbial world.

Since its inception in 2004, MSI has sponsored and hosted an annual symposium for those in the Harvard and greater Boston communities. The spring event showcases magnificent research across a breadth of microbe-centric topics spanning environmental and biomedical sciences.

Join  us for the 21st annual symposium on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

From both the Biomedical & Environmental Microbial worlds, this years speakers are:
Tanja Bosak, Ashlee Earl, Nicole Gerardo, Daniel Graham, Alex Probst, & Wenyuan Shi.

To conclude our event, the MSI Distinguished Achievement Lectures will be given by former MSI Co-Directors
Colleen Cavanaugh & Roberto Kolter

Speaker bios and abstracts can be found here.

With SciArt by Mark O Martin & Jennifer Quinn, Joshua Rosenstock, Michele Banks, and Noemie Matthey,
and a Fermented Food Festival!

Mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks with refreshments will be provided, and there will be a 75 minute break for lunch. A poster session and a cocktail reception open to all will immediately follow the symposium.

Parking Directions & Information

The Northwest Building is located at 52 Oxford Street in Cambrige.  

View the Harvard Map here, and a Google Map here

MSI strongly recommends the use of public transportation to travel to the symposium; options include the Red Line T (Harvard Square) as well as numerous buses.

For those who need or prefer to drive, parking permits can be purchased through the Harvard Online Parking Portal (HOPPS)Note that permits must be purchased in advance of arrival, and are not available at the lot itself. The closest parking facility is the underground lot at 52 Oxford Street.  It is then a short walk to the symposium area.  For GPS coordinates to the parking facility, here is the exact location of the garage.

Walking & Biking Directions

Northwest Labs is located at 52 Oxford Street in Cambrige.  
View the Harvard Map here, and a Google Map here

MSI strongly recommends the use of public transportation to travel to the Symposium.  Northwest Labs is a 10 minute walk from the Harvard Square T Station, and close to several bus lines, including the 77, 83, & 96.  Bike racks are conveniently located in several locations around the perimeter of the building. 

Not-driving directions from Harvard Square:  
Enter Harvard Yard.  Keeping the statue of John Harvard on your right, traverse diagonally through the yard and exit onto the Science Center Plaza. Continue following the directions below.

Not-driving directions from the Science Center Plaza:
From there, cross at the crosswalk (where Kirkland Street becomes Oxford Street) between Memorial Hall (on your right) and the Science Center (on your left).  Continue to the left down Oxford Street for a little over a tenth of a mile (~700 feet, or the length of two football fields).  On your right, there will be a large open green space, and you will see the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  Enter the green space, and Northwest Hall is the large glass building on your far left.  Enter the main doors by the plaza, and head downstairs underneath the large hanging fossil to reach the registration table. Click here for a map of the path from the Science Center to Northwest. 

 

Instructions for Check-In

Check-in for pre-registered attendees, which is required, begins at 8:15am in B100 at the table at the bottom of the stairs and continues as needed throughout the day.  No new registrations will be sold at the door on the day of the event.

Refreshments, Lunch, & Reception

A reception will immediately follow the symposium, beginning at 5:30pm in the Northwest Labs lower lobby.

Snacks & coffee will be provided during the mid-morning and mid-afternoon social breaks.  

There will be a 75-minute break for lunch mid-day.  Harvard square is a short 10-minute walk through Harvard Yard - many lunch options can be found on the Harvard Square Business Association website. Food trucks also park on the plaza in front of the Science Center.  

Here are some of our favorite lunch spots in the walkable area:

Flour Bakery & Café: 114 Mt. Auburn Street; 8-6 (flourbakery.com)

Cardullos Gourmet Shop: 6 Brattle St; 10a-9p (cardullos.com)

Clover Food Lab: 7 Holyoke St; 7a-10p (cloverfoodlab.com)

Felipe’s Taqueria: 21 Brattle St; 7a-2a; (felipesboston.com)

Pinocchio’s Pizza: 20 Eliot St; 11a-2a; (pinocchiospizza.net)

Honeycomb Creamery: 1702 Massachusetts Ave; 12p-11p; (honeycombcreamery.com)

 

Post-Symposium Online Viewing

Synchronous online viewing will not be offered Symposium. However, a selection of talks will be recorded and may subsequently made available online in MSI's growing collection of archived microbial science talks.