HOSTS
Rene Francolini
Rene is our resident scientist, and the "Lab" part of LabOratory! Originally a Jersey girl, she left to study at Carnegie Mellon University, where she did her undergrad and master's in Biological Sciences and Computational Biology. She worked as a Research Assistant at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in an environmental toxicology lab and a molecular ecology lab. She is currently a PhD student at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the University of Maine studying climate change and the kelp forests in the Gulf of Maine. When not in the lab, you can find her on stage in local theater productions, baking up nerdy and delicious baked goods in her kitchen, or hanging out with horseshoe crabs on the tidal flats of Cape Cod.
SAM SEWELL
Sam is our Sound Designer extraordinaire, and the "Oratory" part of LabOratory! Originally from Pennsylvania, she would go on to get a B.A. in Music Industry at Northeastern and then her Master's in Sound Design from CalArts. Over the years Sam has worked with a variety of artists on fantastic projects, from Pippin at the A.R.T. in Cambridge to Stomp in New York City. However, her talents go beyond just audio work as she has also been seen on stage in productions in The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cape Cod, MA, and Los Angeles, CA. Sam loves playing guitar and piano, getting her exercise on, and has a not-so-secret-secret talent of creating amazing works of chalkboard art.