Bigelow Laboratory’s Aug. 7 Café Scientifique will feature a discussion by bioinformatician and Bigelow Senior Research Scientist Dr. David McClellan about what happens at the molecular level when living cells adapt to changes in their environment. Titled Where Adaptation Meets Environmental Change—Evolution at the Nano Scale, the talk will begin at 6 p.m. in the Boothbay Harbor Opera House at 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor.  

McClellan’s research in the Bigelow Evolutionary Bioinformatics Laboratory addresses the analytical methods and computer software needed to collect and use complex biological data to examine the molecular mechanisms behind evolution.

“Rapid advances in gene sequencing technologies have made it possible study evolution at a scale that has never been possible before,” McClellan said. “For example, we’re able to begin investigating how drug and vaccine resistance in bacteria and viruses actually evolves, look at adaptation in a variety of life forms, and start to understand the effect of environmental changes on the processes that support life, both in the ocean and on land.”

McClellan holds a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Louisiana State University, serves as director of Bigelow Laboratory’s Postdoctoral Training Program, and coordinates the Laboratory’s January Program of courses at Colby College in Waterville. In June, he gave two lectures about metabolism and protein evolution as a guest speaker at the University of Porto in Portugal.

The Laboratory’s Café Scientifique gatherings are informal discussions about scientific issues and society, current research, and the latest news from the field.  They are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2012 summer Café Scientifique program is available on the Laboratory’s website (www.bigelow.org).

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, non-profit center for global ocean research, ocean science education, and technology transfer.  A recognized leader in Maine's emerging innovation economy, the Laboratory’s research ranges from microbial oceanography to the large-scale biogeochemical processes that drive ocean ecosystems and global environmental conditions.