New Publication!

When you’ve been in research a long time, you have your favorite journals– the ones that you always read the table of contents when they come out and put a number of their articles in your “to-read” pile. Now as a professor, my...

Reflections on Summer 2016

Summer research #2 is finished! Here are some of the thoughts running through my mind.   How is it already August 10? This summer flew by.   We made progress on all of the projects despite running into some complications (synthesis yields low, DNA sequencing...

Competent Cells

One of the most difficult things about starting your own research lab (well, actually starting research in any new location) is getting new protocols up and running. You organize everything as you have done before, work meticulously through the steps of an established...

Lab Party Summer 2016

The lab gathered earlier this week for dinner at Dr. Pollock’s house. We consumed summer food (grilled burgers, corn salsa, cucumber water, etc.), had good conversation, and even got to enjoy some frisbee in the backyard. It is nice to take some time to relax...

Electronics in the Lab

  When I started at UR, I inherited some of the equipment that had previously inhabited my lab space under the direction of my predecessor: some bench top shaking incubators, an electroporator, a -20 freezer, etc. and two balances. The analytical balance has been...