Jayme A. Souza-Neto appears on the front cover of a Brazilian Newspaper

along with a full page interview...

Autographs? anyone? (contact him for further details and availability)

MMI retreat 2009

-- Posted from my iPhone

Finally cloned

Jose finally cloned the much needed fragment!



-- Posted from my iPhone

Are you stressed-out? let my mosquito diagnose you!

It appears that some chemicals in human odors, which could be related to stress, are powerful repellents.

I have hungry Aedes ...any volunteers?





read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204660604574378933761528214.html?mod=yhoofront

-- JLRQ
--

Fiocruz Rio de Janeiro

George visited the Rio de Janeiro Fiocruz and the University in July 2009.

Lindsey's Graduation Cake

The Immune Signaling Pathway Cake!

Dimopoulos Group in teh Baltimore Metro

Dimopoulos Group like the escalators

Coffee brake during Kolymbari meeting

Kolymbari meeting in July 2009

George and Lindsey attended the 2009 Kolymbari meeting on mosquito vector molecular biology.

Fabio Manfredini in Sheffield in July 2009

George and Fabio made project plans over a beer in Sheffield.....

David Schneider innate immunity animations @ Ento - 09 Sheffield

Ento -09 Sheffield, @ Indian place

Entourage 09 Sheffield

David Schneider used amazing animations in his presentation.


-- Post From My iPhone

Ento 09 Sheffield

Bruno Lemaitre's presentation am a popular theme to us was also great.


-- Post From My iPhone

Ento 09 - Sheffield

Jean-Luc Imler gave a great presentation on our favourite theme.


-- Post From My iPhone

Project planning

Dscam is moving forward with Yuemei and Chris

-- Post From My iPhone

Shuzhen earlybird

Usually the only early bird in the laboratory - liked to get started with the day!


-- Post From My iPhone

Progress in dengue research

How Mosquitoes Work

Let's say it's summer time. You're out in your backyard enjoying the sun and grilling your dinner. Ouch! You look down at your arm and see a painful, swelling mosquito bite. Moments later, you feel another one bite you. What are these pesky insects? Why do they bite? Do they carry diseases? What can you do to protect yourself? READ MORE AT http://www.howstuffworks.com/mosquito.htm

What postdocs want

Personal peer review
by Bryan Venters, Postdoc journal

I want to hear that I have a job and that my manuscript's been accepted.

A goal all postdocs share is to publish their work so that they can build a competitive resumé. Recently I realized that the challenges of publishing a manuscript are strikingly parallel to many of the hurdles I will face when seeking a job. A few months ago I had an article published in Genome Research (B. J. Venters and B. F. Pugh Genome Res. 19, 360–371; 2009). The process of getting this and other papers published taught me some important lessons about applying for jobs.

First, finding a journal suitable for my manuscript is analogous to finding a position for which I am qualified. In other words, I seek to publish in a journal that is most relevant to my field and has the highest readership. However, if I misjudge the suitability of a manuscript for a particular journal, then the submission may be an exercise in futility. In the same way, whether in academia or industry, it is critical that I match my skills with the right position. Publishing papers requires tenacity, and this trait extends to mounting a successful job search.

Second, manuscript peer review is much like a job interview because my work is scrutinized and a decision is made one way or another. During peer review, I want to persuade the reviewers that my work is novel and represents a significant contribution to the field. Similarly, in a job interview, my goal is to convince others that my unique blend of skills and experiences will be an asset to the university, institution or company to which I am applying. Two phrases I hope to hear in the future are, "Your manuscript has been accepted" and "You're hired".

Text from Nature magazine.

I make the last phrase my words.
JASN

GSU Professor Invents Device to Reduce Deaths from Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

The ProVector is unique in its environmentally-friendly manner of killing mosquitoes.
http://www.wsav.com/sav/news/local/education/article/gsu_professor_invents_device_to_reduce_deaths_from_mosquito-borne_illnesses/10271/#fragment-2

Disney Malaria Movie

Human Landing Catches

Did you know that scientists that study mosquitoes in the field use a method called Human Landing Catches to collect the small beasts? The illustration to the left gives you an idea of how that is done and what it involves. The heroes scientists literally feed their research with their own blood!

Is George a mosquito?

World Vision Report has succeeded to transform George into a mosquito! Listen to this scientific breakthrough:

http://www.worldvisionreport.org/Stories/Week-of-April-18-2009/Malaria-Mosquitoes#

Famous Malaria Victims

- Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus died of fever, probably malaria, in AD 81
- Alexander the Great is believed to have died of malaria in 323 BC, on the route to India beyond Mesopotamia
- Alaric, King of the Goths, died of malaria in fourth century AD
- St. Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, died after a 10 day febrile illness that could have been malaria
- Otto II, King of the Germans and Emperor of Rome died on malaria on 7 Dec., 983
- Pope Gregory V is thought to have died of malaria in 999
- Pope Damasus II died in 1048 after only about 3 weeks in office, probably of malaria
- Friedrich IV, Herzog von Schwaben died of malaria on 19 August 1167
- German King and Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich died of malaria in 1197
- Genghis Khan, the Mongol overlord of the 13th Century who set up the largest land empire ever known, is believed to have suffered from a malaria like illness in the spring of 1227, even as he was nursing his injuries. After several months of sickness, the Great Khan died. He was about sixty years old.
- Richard, Earl of Cornwall died on 2 April 1272 of having been bled for ague
- Henry of Luxemburg died at Siena of a fever, probably malaria, on 24 August 1313
- Dante, Italian poet died of malaria 1321
- Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III Palaeologus is thought to have died of malaria in 1341
- In 1351, the much feared and ruthless ruler, Sultan Muhammed bin Tughluk contracted malaria while on a military campaign against rebels and within a short time succumbed to the disease.
- King Edward IV died in 1483 of various complications, including malaria
- Pope Leo X died of malaria in 1521
- Pope Sixtus V died of malaria in 1590
- Giambattista Castana was elected Pope Urban VII in 1590, but died of malaria before his coronation
- In 1623, when the Sacred College of Cardinals was convened to choose a successor to Pope Gregory XV, malaria felled many of these clergymen.
- Roman Emperor Charles V supposedly died of malaria in 1558
- Ethiopian Emperor Minas became ill with malaria and then died in 1563
- Spanish Explorer Alvaro Mendana de Neira, discoverer of the Soloman Islands in 1568, died of malaria in 1595
- Caravaggio, Italian painter probably died of malaria in 1610
- Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, died of malaria in 1658
- Lord Byron died of malaria in Greece in 1824
- Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry supposedly contracted malaria in Venezuela and died of the disease in 1819
- Josef Ressel, inventor of the propeller, died in 1857 of malaria
- King Mongkut of Thailand died of malaria in 1868
- Rebka Chenashu (Ethiopian 200m and 400m bonze medalist) died of malaria in 2003 at age 17
- Amrish Puri (Indian Film Actor) died in January 2005 of a blood clot to the brain while being treated for malaria
- Francis Ona, the Bougainville secessionist leader of Papua New Guinea, died of malaria at the age of 52 on 24 July, 2005
- George Washington, (1st President, 1789-1797): Developed his first bout with malaria in Virginia in 1749 at age 17. He had periodic attacks, recorded in 1752, 1761, 1784, and 1798.
- James Monroe (5th President, 1817-1825) caught malaria while visiting a swampy area along the Mississippi in 1785. He continued to have bouts for many years
- Andrew Jackson (7th President, 1829-1837) is thought to have contracted malaria in Florida swamps during the Seminole campaigns of 1818-1821
- Abraham Lincoln (16th President, 1861-1865) had periodic bouts of malaria when growing up
- Ulysses S. Grant (18th President, 1869-1877) had malaria throughout the 1850's
- James A. Garfield (20th President, 1881) developed malaria in 1848 in Ohio at age 16
- Theodore Roosevelt (26th President, 1901-1909) acquired malaria during a visit to Brazil in 1914
- John F. Kennedy (35th President, 1961-1963) acquired malaria during World War II, about 1943
- Belisarius in Rome in 536
- Emperor Kangxi (Emperor of the Qing dynasty, 1661-1722) was cured of malaria by French Jesuit missionaries in about 1693
- Louisa Maria, Queen of Spain, was cured of malaria with quinine in 1678
- King Charles II had recorded bouts of malaria in 1678 and 1679 and was cured using quinine
- Hannibal's wife and son
- Emperor Isabel
- Felipe II
- Felipe IV
- Felipe V
- Fernando VI
- Carlos II
- Christopher Columbus (had to cut short his fourth voyage to the new world in 1503, again attempting to find a sea route to Asia, due (in part) to malaria)
- Cesare Borgia in 1503
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, surgeon and writer of Sherlock Holmes fame
- Alfred Russell Wallace, co-discoverer along with Charles Darwin of the concept of Natural Selection
- Meriwether Lewis, explorer
- Henry Morton Stanley and Dr. David Livingstone, famed explorers
- Jefferson Davis, Politician and Provisional President of the Confederate States of America
- Lucretia Garfield, first lady to President Garfield
- George B. McClellan, Civil war general
- Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam revolutionary leader
- Jesse James
- General John J. Pershing
- Mahatma Gandhi, Father of Indian nation
- Ernest Hemingway, celebrated author
- Lord Horatio Nelson
- Leon Trotsky
- Eugene O'Neill, Playwrite
- Sir Harry Secombe
- Ross Kemp (Former East Enders star)
- Santa Teresa de Jesús
- Hernán Cortés
- Don Adams (Actor and director)
- Errol Flynn (Actor)
- Peta Wilson (Actress)
- Carol Landis (Actress)
- Raymond Burr (Actor)
- Audie Murphy (Actor and war hero)
- Michael Caine (Actor)
- Christopher Lee (Actor)
- Michael Dudikoff (Actor)
- Jeremy Piven (Actor)
- Al Jolson
- Jane Goodall, naturalist
- Davy Crockett, outdoorsman and congressman
- Steve Reeves (Body builder)
- Chris Matthews (MSNBCs Hardball)
- Anderson Cooper (Former ABC news correspondent)
- Roberto Clemente (Baseball player)
- Wilson Kipeter (800m champion)
- Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Soccer star)
- Dikembe Mutombo (Star center for the New Jersey Nets)
- Ezekiel Kemboi (Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion of Kenya)
- Mother Teresa was hospitalized with malaria in 1993
- Leander Paes, Indian tennis star

(source: http://www.malariasite.com/)

Some General Mosquito facts

- A mosquito only weighs 1/25,000 of an ounce.
- Mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths than any other living creature.
- There are over 2,500 species of mosquitoes scattered throughout the world.
- Hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes are born every day.
- Most adult mosquitoes live for about two weeks, while some species can live as long as 5 months.
- Only female mosquitoes bite—they need the protein for their eggs.
- Male mosquitoes survive by sucking on nectar and other plant juices.
- The welt that appears after a mosquito bites is an allergic reaction to the saliva that is injected into your skin to prevent your blood from clotting.
- Mosquitoes rarely travel farther than 300 feet from their birthplace.
- Light colors are less attractive to mosquitoes than dark colors; thus, mosquitoes are more likely to choose a victim wearing darker colors.
- Mosquitoes are found all over the world, even in cold places like the Arctic.
- Arctic researchers uncovered their chests, arms, and legs and reported as many as 9,000 mosquito bites per person, per minute. At this rate, an unprotected human would lose one half of his or her blood supply in approximately 2 hours!
- Some people are more attractive to mosquitoes than others. It is not clear why, but probably has something to do with the 300 odd chemicals produced by the skin.
- Mosquitoes prefer dark places like trees, grass and shrubs.
- Like humans, mosquitoes have food preferences—not all mosquito species bite humans, some prefer birds, horses, frogs or turtles.

Breaks and web-surfing makes better postdocs

Facebook, YouTube make better postdocs: study

Thu Apr 2, 2009 9:50am EDT

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It'll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.
The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.
Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, helped to sharpened workers' concentration.
"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," Coker said on the university's website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)
"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.
According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.
Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.
"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case."
However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office. Continued...

(JSN)

Malaria: Scientific breakthrough to wipe off malaria

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time identified a molecular pathway that triggers an immune response in multiple mosquito species capable of stopping the development of Plasmodium falciparum — the parasite that causes malaria in humans (report on Lindsey's caspar/cactus paper)-
http://en.afrik.com/article15472.html

SD

Skywalker meets Anopheles

"Star Wars" Laser Kills Mosquitoes
Physicists have created a laser weapon that targets mosquitoes. It is hoped that by finding an effective weapon against mosquitoes, the incidence of malaria could be reduced. Today, malaria kills about one million people every year around the world. Read the entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090318/sc_livescience/starwarslaserkillsmosquitoes;_ylt=AgITDKlOMs_MlhfjMADCRfKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTMwZGk4MzU0BGFzc2V0A2xpdmVzY2llbmNlLzIwMDkwMzE4L3N0YXJ3YXJzbGFzZXJraWxsc21vc3F1aXRvZXMEcG9zAzE5BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3N0YXJ3YXJzbGFzZQ

AMERICAN scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti-missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects.Read the entire article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5908535.ece

FLYING SYRINGES

The Bill & Melinda Gates charitable foundation has awarded 104 grants, each for $100,000, in a bid to inject entrepreneurial boldness and risk-taking into the often staid world of medical research ....... The winning grants offer a bewildering array of ideas from a bewildering array of researchers. Hiroyuki Matsuoka of Jichi Medical University in Japan wants to turn mosquitoes into flying syringes to deliver vaccines rather than illness.

Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, October 23, 2008; Page A12

Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203083.html

The Mosquito Syringe picture is from : http://mark-story.com/portfolio/view/mosquito-syringe

Mosquitoes Are The Toughest Living Beings - Or Aliens?

Russians: Mosquito Survives in Outer Space

According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, a mosquito managed to live 18 months clinging to the outside of the International Space Station, without any food, being bombarded by radiation and enduring fluctuating temperatures ranging from minus 230 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
"We brought him back to Earth. He is alive, and his feet are moving," Anatoly Grigoryev of the Russian Academy of Sciences told RIA Novosti.
The buzzing bug was part of a larger experiment in which bacteria, barley seeds, small crustaceans and larval insects were placed in a container strapped to the exterior of the space station, which orbits in zero gravity about 200 miles above the surface of the Earth.
From the RIA Novosti report, it wasn't clear if the insect — which may in fact be a non-biting midge rather than a mosquito — was placed in the container in the larval or the adult stage.
A European Space Agency experiment last fall found that primitive animals called tardigrades, also known as water bears, survived an even harsher exposure to space, including full vacuum and direct solar ultraviolet blasts. Moreover, several of the surviving tardigrades were able to normally reproduce. FOX NEWS Tuesday, February 24, 2009 .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,498784,00.html

Bite and Bite Again

Q. When you wake up with several mosquito bites and find one very bloated mosquito in the room, why has it bitten you so many times in a short period?

REad more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/science/13qna.html?_r=1

Beer, bats and Marmite beats a tropical peril

FROM THE TELEGRAPH, UK:

.....Based on my research, Chris has devised a plan. He has taken to the swimming pool to learn breath control, thus reducing his carbon dioxide output. He is planning to add ice (in his shame) to his beer to cool his core body temperature. And as he can't stand Marmite, he is going to smother his ankles in it. If that fails he will give a typically English two-fingered salute to the flying bloodsuckers and invest in a white kaftan!.....

See more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4203585/Beer%2C-bats-and-Marmite-beats-a-tropical-peril.html

Mosquitoes Also Sing!

Mosquito Mating Song: Dengue Fever Duet

The identification of a particular love ballad performed by Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for spreading dengue and yellow fevers, has one group of Cornell University scientists whistling happily along.... read more at: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1870535,00.html

Range Of Dengue-Fever Mosquito Could Be Dramatically Expanded By The Hoarding Of Rainwater

Ecologists have developed a new model to predict the impact of climate change on the dengue fever-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti in Australia ....... read more at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/136962.php

The Power (or Danger) of Photoshop

CASE 1: Microarray Images faked by UCSF postdoc

A University of California, San Francisco, postdoc ripped off images from a colleague and jiggered data files, the NIH's Office of Research Integrity (ORI) recently reported ...........

read more at: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55427/

CASE 2: Iowa biologist falsified figures
Former University of Iowa molecular biologist, Jusan Yang, falsified several figures in an unpublished manuscript and at two scientific meetings, the US Public Health Service's Office of Research Integrity (ORI) reported ......
read more at: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55182/

CASE 3: Postdoc censured for fudged images
A Texas stem cell researcher falsified data by mucking around with her results in Photoshop, according to an Office of Research Integrity (ORI)...
read more at: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55256/

An Interesting Solution to the Mosquito Problem

Alaska Science Forum, July 8, 1982

Article #551 by Larry Gedney

This article is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Larry Gedney is a seismologist at the Institute.

About a month ago, I requested that knowledgeable citizens respond to this column with their own favorite mosquito repellent remedies.
John Rosa, a 23-year resident of Alaska, reports a method that is probably not familiar to many of us. It requires at least one other participant. To quote: "First, when going fishing, camping, mining or even gardening, before you start, give your partner, wife, sweetheart or mother a banana. This produces a scent through the pores of their skin which attracts mosquitoes to them, leaving you relatively free."
Another of Mr. Rosa's recommendations, which may (or may not be) quite as tongue-in-cheek, is that a used Bull Durham bag filled with mothballs and hung outside the tent not only keeps mosquitoes away from the campsite, but also wards off black bears."

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF5/551.html

The Truth About Ultrasonic Mosquito Repellers

"The convenient, pocket-sized, battery-powered hoax"
Hahaha, this is interesting - a great but unethical business idea!
Read more at: http://itotd.com/articles/298/ultrasonic-mosquito-repellers/

Mosquito Inspired Music

THE MOSQUITO POEM (by William Cullen Bryant)

The Mosquito

Fair insect! that with threadlike legs spread out
And blood-extracting bill and filmy wing,
Dost murmur, as thou slowly sail'st about,
In pitiless ears, full many a plaintive thing,
And tell how little our large veins should bleed,
Would we but yield them to thy bitter need?

Unwillingly I own, and, what is worse,
Full angrily men hearken to thy plaint;
Thou gettest many a brush and many a curse,
For saying thou art gaunt and starved and faint.
Even the old beggar, while he asks for food,
Would kill thee, hapless stranger, if he could.

I call thee stranger, for the town, I ween,
Has not the honor of so proud a birth-
Thou com'st from Jersey meadows, fresh and green,
The offspring of the gods, though born on earth;
For Titan was thy sire, and fair was she,
The ocean nymph that nursed thy infancy.

Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung,
And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong,
Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung,
Rose in the sky, and bore thee soft along;
The south wind breathed to waft thee on thy way,
And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay.

Calm rose afar the city spires, and thence
Came the deep murmur of its throng of men,
And as its grateful odors met thy sense,
They seemed the perfumes of thy native fen.
Fair lay its crowded streets, and at the sight
Thy tiny song grew shriller with delight.

At length thy pinion fluttered in Broadway--
Ah, there were fairy steps, and white necks kissed
By wanton airs, and eyes whose killing ray
Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist;
And fresh as morn, on many a cheek and chin,
Bloomed the bright blood through the transparent skin.

Sure these were sights to tempt an anchorite!
What! do I hear thy slender voice complain?
Thou wailest when I talk of beauty's light,
As if it brought the memory of pain.
Thou art a wayward being--well--come near,
And pour thy tale of sorrow in mine ear.

What say'st thou, slanderer! rouge makes thee sick?
And China Bloom at best is sorry food?
And Rowland's Kalydor, if laid on thick,
Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood.Go!
'Twas a just reward that met thy crime-
But shun the sacrilege another time.

That bloom was made to look at--not to touch;
To worship--not approach--that radiant white;
And well might sudden vengeance light on such
As dared, like thee, most impiously to bite.
Thou shouldst have gazed at distance and admired-
Murmur'd thy admiration and retired.

Thou'rt welcome to the town--but why come here
To bleed a brother poet, gaunt like thee?
Alas! the little blood I have is dear,
And thin will be the banquet drawn from me.
Look round--the pale-eyed sisters in my cell,
Thy old acquaintance, Song and Famine, dwell.

Try some plump alderman, and suck the blood
Enrich'd by gen'rous wine and costly meat;
On well-filled skins, sleek as thy native mud,
Fix thy light pump, and press thy freckled feet.
Go to the men for whom, in ocean's halls,
The oyster breeds and the green turtle sprawls.

There corks are drawn, and the red vintage flows.
To fill the swelling veins for thee, and now
The ruddy cheek, and now the ruddier nose
Shall tempt thee, as thou flittest round the brow;
And when the hour of sleep its quiet brings,
No angry hand shall rise to brush thy wings.

William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 - June 12, 1878)

A BLOOD MEAL: BON APPETITE!

The Mosquito Ringtone

What is the Mosquito Ringtone?
The short version, A tone outside the audible range of hearing for most people over the age of 30. This means that you can get phone calls and receive text messages in class or school without teachers hearing it. For more in-depth information on how the mosquito ringtone works, please see http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/.

I'm here when not in office.

Come by for a drink!

Bill Gates on saving the world

Bill Gates' infamous TED talk, during which he released a jar of mosquitoes into the audience (and here you can insert your favorite joke involving Microsoft and bugs):



Other interesting TED talks are here!

-Shuzhen

New mosquito device "will keep teenagers off the streets"

Following the success of the Mosquito anti-teenager alarm, which works by emitting a high-pitched sound that only teenagers can hear, the company responsible has produced its new Mark III version. This works by releasing thousands of real mosquitoes infected with malaria. Having been bitten by the mosquitoes, the teenagers will then go to develop the disease, which can result in renal failure, coma and death, within 6-14 days, thus making it impossible for them to hang around in anti-social gangs. The manufacturers of the device, Klansmen SS Holdings, say it has a 90% success rate. "The target, or 'teenager', will, once bitten, start to develop cyclical occurrences of sudden coldness followed by rigor and then fever and sweating lasting four to six hours," said Mr. A.M.Frei, director of the company. "Charlie won't want to hang with his filthy compadres no more when the vomiting and convulsions kick in". Mrs Doris, chairman of the Residents Association of Nottingham said, "We would like to see more teenagers off the streets, cowering in their homes with bleeding ears, retching and shivering as they slide into comas. Anything to make Britain a more pleasant place to live in".

Article from The Spoof, 15 February 2008

And wearing this costume- Jayme if you do your Macha dance and singing, then I am sure, you will get the 1st prize for the Halloween party costume!!

Chris-I hope your long journey was not bad?

SD

Surprise!

Definitely my 2009's MMI Halloween party costume.
JSN.

Over-exuberant blogger

From a blog concerning the report of stable Wolbachia infection in Aedes aegypti...

"What if the bacteria is transmittable from mosquito to human? and what if this results in a deadly, mutated bacterium-viral cocktail and a new plague is unleashed!? ...You didn't need the sleep anyway! " by sergeantP

I think that we won't lose sleep over this... CC

WHO'S EXPERIMENT WAS THIS NOW?

Ok guys in the lab; can you please be a bit more careful with the insectary facility and make sure you close the doors to the GM suite when you're done with assays. GD

No worries...

Interesting article from Bitesize Bio about Why You Shouldn't Worry About Getting Results.
Wise words, but we'll see how effective they'll be the next time my PCR or plaque assay doesn't work :)

- Shuzhen

Write Here, Write now

Had a Committee meeting before the holidays and I got the OK to start writing my thesis. So I'm making the outline and realizing this is like "What I Did on my Summer Vacation" only it's hundreds of pages longer and is going to contain a lot of big words and acronyms most of my family and friends won't understand. Ok, it's more complicated than that but I've never tried to compile and analyze 5 years of my life before. Luckily, I get to focus on the parts that went well and leave out all the stuff that didn't work. That still leaves a lot to be described and discussed and woven into chapters that tell a story. It's daunting but at least I knew that going in.

What I didn't anticipate is the reaction of other people when I tell them the end is in sight. Most people outside of science say something along the lines of "God, you've been in school forever." Trying to then explain what a "post-doc" is drives home the feeling that thorough training takes forever. And because they're familiar with the training process, most science-friendly people ask about where I'm going next (which is another issue altogether). And still others don't even want to hear about it because their own work has hit a slow point. If I was the type of girl to wear T-shirts, I'd get this one so no one would have to ask:

~LSG

MASTER PIECE

My first comprehensive set of microarray experiments using a 2,300 gene A. gambiae cDNA microarray. Assays performed with colleagues at EMBL in 2000. GD

DIMOPOULOS GROUP 2003

A memory from ancient times: Vasso, Antonio, George, Yuemei and Lalita.

MEMBRANE FEEDING FROM NOW ON

I guess we will only membrane feed from now on. Right Chris?