Category Archives: Science / Engineering

Extreme Environmental Sampling Wanted

Stopping on the road, I venture over the railing, walking down the embankment. The heat at the waters edge overwhelms me. The smell of salt and bitterness is in the air.

It will be exciting to investigate what microbial communities inhabit these salt flats. Continue reading

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Standing on the shoulders of giants

Just then a song came into my head; REM’s ‘King of Birds’ lyrics, standing on the shoulders of giants, it leaves me cold. Continue reading

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Fall is here; faculty job search begins

I am stepping out from a secure and relatively safe environment of working in someone else’s laboratory and crossing the line to being the leader in my own laboratory. Continue reading

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Community

This is where I feel at home. In the midst of this community; scientists. Continue reading

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Scientific Sleuthing

At hand I have a set of known microbial metabolic pathways, a pretty good idea of what some of the intermediate and products are, a lot of chemistry knowledge, and a whole slew of really cool high tech tools. Continue reading

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Is meat made any other way still as sweet?

As excited as I am about the possibility of eating an engneered ‘steak’ or ‘pork chop’, I believe that much work needs to be done before we see the commercialization of genetically engineered meats available for consumption. Continue reading

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Padma Lakshmi opens the MIT Center for Gynepathology Research

Her pain was apparent in her heart felt rendering of how she had suffered through misdiagnosis and unnecessary medical procedures before a friend referred her to Dr. Seckin. Padma told of the relief she felt hearing Dr. Seckin’s words. He understood what she was going through. His life’s work has been dedicated to understanding the molecular underpinnings of this debilitating disease. Continue reading

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Thankful for being able to do what it is that I do …

I get this look of fear and awe when I explain that the things I study grow at 100-200 atmospheres, at temperatures between 50-75 degreed centigrade, and under acidic conditions so extreme it would peel the skin off your bones. Like I said, this is pretty cool stuff Continue reading

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Center for Alternative Technology – Paul Allen

Last Friday, Paul Allen from the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Machynlleth Mid-Wales spoke about the centers work during seminar in the Parson’s Lab.  He is the CAT Development Director and co-author of the Zero Carbon Britain (ZCB) report. … Continue reading

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Thermoplasma acidophilum -a model organism to study iron stress in microbes?

How does T. acidophilum manage the high concentrations of soluble iron, or other metals, liberated by its acidic environment? Continue reading

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