Excerpts from the Globe's blog on the Boston-area medical community.
The Scientist magazine announced the results of its sixth annual Best Places to Work for Postdocs survey, and three Massachusetts research centers made the top 15.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ranked 12th, up from 38th in last year's survey. The magazine said Woods Hole has 19 post-doctoral scientists, with annual salaries of $52,564. The "value of the postdoc" was listed as a strength, and "facilities and infrastructure" as a weakness.
The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, ranked 14th, with surveyed postdocs saying funding was Whitehead's strength and "remuneration and compensation" was a weakness. Cristin Carr, a Whitehead spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that Whitehead has significantly improved its salaries and benefits for postdocs since the survey was done. Postdocs this year are being paid $47,000 to $50,000, up from a range of $38,000 to $50,000 last year.
The Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research came in 15th. It declined to tell the magazine how much it paid its 37 postdocs, but those surveyed said benefits were a strength. They listed "family and personal life" as a weakness.
GIDEON GIL
MIT breaks ground on cancer research center
MIT broke ground Friday on a $240 million center devoted to bringing together biologists, engineers, and material scientists to fight cancer. The Koch Institute at MIT, funded in large part by MIT alum David Koch (pronounced Coke), will serve as an organizing body for cancer research at MIT, replacing the 34-year-old Center for Cancer Research. The institute's new 180,000-square-foot building will rise on what has been a prime parking lot in the middle of the MIT campus - along Main Street, between Vassar and Ames. It will house about 500 scientists and staff members and the laboratories of 25 professors, who have been working for decades in cramped quarters across Ames Street.
Among its star faculty members: biologist and Nobel laureate Phillip Sharp, chemical engineer Robert Langer and cancer geneticist Tyler Jacks, who will run the institute.
KAREN WEINTRAUB
BU opens centers in Dubai
Boston University has opened centers devoted to dental research, education, and care in Dubai. The Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education Dubai and the Boston University Dental Health Center at Dubai Healthcare City will focus on research and training of graduate dentists in specialties. Healthcare City is a medical zone in the emirate on the eastern Arabian peninsula.
Faculty from the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine will develop the training programs, BU said. The first residents will enroll in July.
ELIZABETH COONEY
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
