Happy Halloween!

life

Biology is amazing, I can't get enough of the endless forms of life.
Here is a link to beautiful pictures of slime molds.

I want to know what they are all about!

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Big News:

Adam and I are engaged to be wed!

...more details to come :)

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my lab job

I work in a molecular lab, and this is what i do:


My boss, Dean Glawe-a plant pathologist and mycologist-picks out what powdery mildew samples he wants me to sequence. I am his lab technician.


Remove powdery mildew from plant leaves with a scalpel.


Break open the cells with a lysing matrix of garnet sand and ceramic balls.
Use Qiagen kit for DNA extraction.


PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) on extracted DNA with primers that amplify only (hopefully) the segment you are looking for.
Gel electrophoresis of PCR product to visually confirm correct amplification before investing more time in following procedures.





Exosap-IT procedure to clean the sample of non-target DNA.


Prepare samples of amplified DNA to be sent to Sequencing facility.


Three days later, we know the sequence of base pairs (A,T,C or G) and can compare our segment with others whether online or previously extracted in our lab.

Amazing!!! Science is amazing!!!

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Mushroom Show!

The Puget Sound Mycological Society, PSMS, had their big mushroom show this weekend. It is a community awareness show/fundraiser for the club. I could not get the picture to be horizontal :(


The club members collect all the mushrooms and fungi they can find in the area, sort them by genus, and display them with name tags for the community to see.


Cortinarius violaceus.


Something cool.


There were mushroom books, posters, cooking classes, and on site identification of your own backyard mushrooms.


This really did smell like cherries!


The famous Amanita muscaria


The delicious Boletus edulus


Adam's favorite: Hericium, lion's mane, or bear's head.
It's edible, too!


My favorite: the Coral Fungi, Ramaria and Clavaria, etc.

urban life

I made a new stamp!


Maybe it will give you some ideas to make your own.

broomstick fuel

Why is this so funny?