In the 1990s, when Joseph Mayo, D.V.M, ran out of gas leading coworkers home from a meeting in Bethesda, he pulled over to the side of the road on I-270 and waited for help. He didn’t have to wait long; within a few minutes a passing motorist took pity on the group of scientists and offered them a lift back to Fort Detrick.

Although Nancy Colburn, Ph.D., retired in January after 36 years at NCI, she won’t be disappearing from the NCI campus at Frederick anytime soon; she’s been appointed scientist emeritus in the Laboratory of Cancer Prevention, Center for Cancer Research.

Melissa Porter, who recently joined the staff of Craig Reynolds, Ph.D., director, Office of Scientific Operations, as administrative manager, has stepped forward to lead the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL) Green Team in its efforts to promote a “green” work environment. “I am excited to lead the FNL Green Team and have been impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the FNL Green Team,” Porter said.

Robert Blumenthal, Ph.D., is a nanotechnology and cell membrane expert at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL)—just as you would imagine someone with more than 40 years of experience in biomedical research would be. Blumenthal started his career as a principal investigator at NCI in Bethesda, but since 1997, he has called FNL (formerly NCI-Frederick) his home.

One morning in early January, Amar Klar sat down at his computer and found an e-mail with a curious message from a colleague. While reading a bestselling novel, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, his colleague, a professor at Princeton University, found a description of research on yeast genetics that was surprisingly similar to Klar’s early research. Even the laboratory in the novel was reminiscent of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where Klar had conducted his research.