I love making a turkey soup after our main meal. I go through a ritual of boiling things down, fishing out the bones, seasoning it, etc. It takes a lot of time but man, I look forward to that first bowl of soup.
This year I made a classic microbiological mistake. After a long day I forgot and left the soup out overnight. Yes, earlier it had been boiled but since the boiling a number of us had dipped a nonsterile ladle in. Students should be able to think about how long it took their nutrient broth inoculations from this semester to go from clear to cloudy. I left the soup out for 24 hrs before realizing my mistake - the room was at a good 70 deg F (~20 degC). And yes, essentially this soup was a beautiful nutrient broth.
It broke my heart but I dumped the soup.
Bacteria always win....
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Current top 7 in Micro
Who doesn't like a top 10 list, right?
Current top 7 microbiology papers as ranked by the Faculty of 1000. Many of these topics relate to things we've been talking about in class this past month!
http://the-scientist.com/2011/11/15/top-7-in-microbiology-4/
Anti-malarial target, Yeast genome, septin cages as a way of trapping bacteria, mRNA's from bacteria as PAMPs, evolution of mitochondria, microbiome affecting viral infections, apoptosis
Current top 7 microbiology papers as ranked by the Faculty of 1000. Many of these topics relate to things we've been talking about in class this past month!
http://the-scientist.com/2011/11/15/top-7-in-microbiology-4/
Anti-malarial target, Yeast genome, septin cages as a way of trapping bacteria, mRNA's from bacteria as PAMPs, evolution of mitochondria, microbiome affecting viral infections, apoptosis
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
E. coli at the fair
Elon's student TV station did a bit on the E. coli outbreak and interviewed me for a few biological tidbits
http://phoenix14news.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/e-coli-outbreak-develops-following-nc-state-fair/
I thought they did a good job - remember that few people who haven't taken a microbiology course appreciate what you guys do. The typical person on the street sees bacteria as an invisible menace and only understands that there are bad ones, not the good side of the story. Heck, even microscopes seem pretty high tech to the general public...
http://phoenix14news.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/e-coli-outbreak-develops-following-nc-state-fair/
I thought they did a good job - remember that few people who haven't taken a microbiology course appreciate what you guys do. The typical person on the street sees bacteria as an invisible menace and only understands that there are bad ones, not the good side of the story. Heck, even microscopes seem pretty high tech to the general public...
Monday, November 7, 2011
Flu Near You service
sponsored by HealthMap, based on weekly voluntary surveys their goal is to map out and track how flu spreads through the region this year. Free registration to participate. Should be really interesting to monitor this
https://flunearyou.org/
https://flunearyou.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)