Why National Laboratories?

Biologists are defined by both their field of investigation and where they work. When I was a tenured university professor in the pathology department of a medical school, my colleagues seemed to understand what I did for a living. Now that I work at a national laboratory, I am more likely to be greeted with blank stares. The questions that I do get, such as whether I need to write research grants (I do) or whether I work on the energy problem (I don't), indicate a pervasive lack of understanding of the nature of national labs and their important roles in biological research.