On Friday, August 11, teams from three Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Courses met under the blazing afternoon sun for the 2023 CSHL Plate Race. The crowd gathered along Bungtown Road included faculty and staff from all walks of Laboratory life. A blue shark danced on the sidelines. A cool breeze carried the yeasty smell of old Agar plates. They’d been saved over the summer from CSHL Courses’ experiments.
Since the early ’80s, the Plate Race has grown into an annual tradition at CSHL. The first races pit the Chromatin, Epigenetics & Gene Expression (Gene Ex) course against Yeast Genetics & Genomics. The original two were later joined by Imaging Structure & Function in the Nervous System. Over the years, as many as five Courses have competed in the 200m relay race.
“There’s some lighthearted rivalry, but it’s really about the camaraderie between the Courses,” says David Stewart, executive director of the Meetings & Courses Program and race officiant. “It’s a nice break after months of hard science for these students who come from all over the world.”
CSHL’s 2023 Courses Program resumes October 16. Look for more video highlights from this summer’s Courses coming soon.