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Symposium Archive

Symposium: 2023 |2022 |2021 |2020 |2019 |2018 |2017 | 2016 | 2015

2023-24 Symposium

Thank you to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 from 3:00-6:30 p.m.

At a glance:

  • 178 students
  • 20 teacher mentors
  • 19 high Schools

64 DNA barcoding and metabarcoding projects:

  • 70% animals
  • 17% lichen
  • 6% plants
  • 4% microbiomes
  • 3% fungi

Keynote Address

Metabarcoding to determine the benefits of converting (sub)urban lawns into meadows

Michael Tessler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor at Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York

2022-23 Symposium

Thank you to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Tuesday, June 6, 2023 from 3:00-6:30 p.m.

At a glance:

  • 173 students
  • 26 teacher mentors
  • 21 high Schools

60 DNA barcoding and metabarcoding projects:

  • 62% animals
  • 23% lichen
  • 10% plants
  • 3% fungi
  • 2% microbiomes

Keynote Address

Deciphering the Dimensions of Lichen Diversity From Cities to Wilderness

James Lendemer, Ph.D.
Associate Curator at the New York Botanical Garden and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center

2021-22 Symposium

Thank you to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Tuesday June 7, 2022 from 3:00-6:30 p.m.

At a glance:

  • 138 students
  • 18 mentors
  • 17 high schools

45 DNA barcoding and metabarcoding projects:

  • 56% animals
  • 30% lichens
  • 4% plants
  • 4% algae
  • 4% fungi
  • 2% microbiomes

Keynote Address

Decoding Harmful Algal Blooms with Molecular Tools

Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D.

Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Director, New York State Center for Clean Water Technology
Stony Brook University

2020-21 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the Virtual Symposium on Wednesday, June 1, 2021.

At a glance:

  • 102 students
  • 14 mentors
  • 17 high Schools

34 DNA barcoding and metabarcoding projects:

  • 91% animals
  • 3% plants
  • 3% algae
  • 3% microbiomes

Keynote Address

Understanding, deconstructing and rebuilding microbiomes to make a better world

Javier A. Izquierdo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology, Hofstra University

2019-20 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the Virtual Symposium on Wednesday, June 3 and June 4, 2020.

At a glance:

  • 124 students
  • 11 mentors<
  • 11 high Schools

45 DNA barcoding and metabarcoding projects:

  • 93% animals
  • 7% microbiomes

Keynote Address

Wildlife detectives: The story of genome research, discovery, and exploration and the critical role of museum science

Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

2018-19 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on June 4, 2019. In addition to traditional DNA barcoding and microbiome projects, environmental DNA (eDNA) projects were introduced this year, allowing teams to study the species and approximate abundance of fish in local habitats from mixed water samples.

At a glance:

  • 208 students
  • 22 teacher mentors
  • 25 high schools

79 DNA barcoding & metabarcoding projects:

  • 75% animals
  • 11% metabarcoding
  • 5% plants
  • 4% algae
  • 4% fungi
  • 1% lichens
>1200 sequences obtained

Keynote Address

The Interplay Between Diet and Microbiome in Cancer Risk

Semir Beyaz, Ph.D.
CSHL Fellow and Donaldson Translational Fellow
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

2017-18 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on June 5, 2018. This year the program expanded to include metabarcoding; student teams determined barcode sequences for microbes in a mixed sample to assess ecosystem response to environmental variables.

At a glance:

  • 382 students
  • 44 teacher mentors
  • 39 high schools

133 DNA barcoding & microbiome projects:

  • 83.5% animals
  • 3.8% algae
  • 3.0% plants
  • 1.5% fungi
  • 0.8% lichens
>1600 sequences obtained

Keynote Address

DNA Barcoding as a Tool for Conservation Biology

George Amato, Ph.D.
Director of Conservation Genomics
Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics
American Museum of Natural History

2016-17 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on June 7, 2017. This year the program expanded to include metabarcoding; student teams determined barcode sequences for microbes in a mixed sample to assess ecosystem response to environmental variables.

At a glance:

  • 312 students
  • 33 teacher mentors
  • 30 high schools

85 BLI projects:
>1400 sequences obtained

  • 72% animals
  • 18% plants
  • 7% algae
  • 2% fungi
  • 1% lichens

21 microbiome projects:
11 billion nucleotides of microbial sequence

  • 24% vectors for disease
  • 19% soil
  • 19% terrestrial invertebrates
  • 19% water
  • 9% plants
  • 5% aquatic macroinvertebrates
  • 5% biofouling

Keynote Address

Metabolic Insights from Species Diversity through DNA Barcoding

Jeremy Seto, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
New York City College of Technology
The City University of New York

2015-16 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on June 10, 2016.

At a glance:

  • 327 students
  • 35 teacher mentors
  • 30 high schools

113 projects:

  • 52% plants
  • 37% animals
  • 6% fungi
  • 4% lichens
  • 1% other

>1700 samples collected
>2000 sequences obtained

Welcome & Keynote Address

A Life in Science and Nature

Mark Stoeckle, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Program for the Human Environment
The Rockefeller University

[00:00] Welcome: Sharon Pepenella
[04:50] Keynote address

2014-15 Symposium

Thanks to all of the teams who submitted proposals, performed experiments, and presented project results at the poster sessions held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center on June 5, 2015.

At a glance:

  • 24 participating teams
  • 61 students
  • 13 high schools

  • 50% plants
  • 33% animals
  • 13% lichens
  • 4% fungi

Students collected and analyzed an average of 20 samples per team

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