On September 21, the Biosciences Area held a welcome event to acknowledge the coming together of many new and existing research groups at the Aquatic Park facility in West Berkeley. Laboratory Director Mike Witherell and Deputy Director Horst Simon attended and shared their support. The informal program consisted of brief comments by Helen Cademartori, Biosciences Area Deputy for Operations; Louise Glass, Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology (EGSB) Division Director, who provided her perspective via videoconference; Mary Maxon, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences; and Mike Witherell. Witherell acknowledged the group for their shared vision for Aquatic Park and the many inter- and cross-Area collaborations that will be fostered through the colocation of these researchers.

Horst Simon, Mary Maxon, Helen Cademartori, and Mike Witherell at the Aquatic Park Welcome Lunch. (Credit: Marilyn Chung, Berkeley Lab)

Over the summer, the Arkin, Butland, Deutschbauer, and Novichkov groups have moved to the space, making it the home of the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) and the ENIGMA scientific focus area, as well. Gary Anderson and Louise Glass will be relocating to Aquatic Park this fall. These labs, along with the many groups in the Biological Systems & Engineering Division that are already in residence, are now poised to form collaborations within and across multiple Areas. Additional photos from the event can be seen in the Berkeley Lab photo archive.