Cold Spring Harbor probably is one of several institutions in the country like Rockefeller and like the Salk Institute where the focus is really on research and where someone who works there—a scientist who works there really spends ninety percent of his or her time doing research. So that’s one of the great attractions of a place like Cold Spring Harbor.

Rockefeller—some twenty or thirty years ago started—became a university. It was originally a medical research institute in that it started granting PhD degrees and this is something now Cold Spring Harbor has also added to its own program. So I think there’s a lot of resonance between what goes on at Rockefeller and what goes on at Cold Spring Harbor.

I think Cold Spring Harbor has the added attraction of this meeting point for scientists all around the world for giving courses and for meetings and that’s something for which it’s really quite unusual and quite unique in the country.

I think perhaps Woods Hole does this somewhat as well, but Woods Hole doesn’t have the same in-house scientific staff that Cold Spring Harbor has.

So, while it overlaps in various ways with other research institutions, it’s probably the only place that puts all these things together in one place.

Charles Gilbert is a Head of Laboratory of Neurobiology at Rockefeller University and Arthur and Janet Ross Professor of Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D from Harvard University. In 1993 he joined Rockefeller University as assistant professor and head of laboratory. In 1985 he became associate professor and professor in 1991.

Gilbert's research focus on the brain mechanisms of visual perception and learning, including the specific role of the brain’s primary visual cortex in analyzing visual images and in processing visual memory.

He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Posit Science Corporation and member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the W. Alden Spencer Award from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.