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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Logo
The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a research and educational institution, consisting of science laboratories located in Cold Spring Harbor, New York on Long Island, USA. The Laboratory has research programs focusing on cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics, genomics and bioinformatics, and has a broad educational mission, including the recently established Watson School of Biological Sciences.
The laboratory began its history in 1904 as the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, founded by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Later, in 1921, the station was reorganized as the Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics.
The Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics scientists at Cold Spring Harbor made innumerable contributions to the sciences of genetics, medicine, and the then-infant science of molecular biology, and in 1963 its facilities merged with those of The Biological Laboratory (itself founded in 1890) to create what is known today as Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
One well-known aspect of the Laboratory is its hosting of the experiments of Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase and the work of James D. Watson and Francis Crick in studying DNA. It also offers many programs for students in high school and college in biotechnology and biology.
During the years 1910 to 1940, the laboratory was also the home of the Eugenics Record Office of biologist Charles B. Davenport and his assistant Harry H. Laughlin, two prominent American eugenicists of the period. In 1935 the Carnegie Institution sent a team to review their work, and as a result the ERO was ordered to stop all propaganda efforts. In 1939 the Institute withdrew funding for the ERO entirely, leading to its closure. Their reports, articles, charts, and pedigrees were considered scientific "facts" in their day, but have since been discredited.
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