I am a microbiologist and molecular biologist turned tenured biotech faculty turned bioinformatics scientist turned entrepreneur. My passion is developing instructional materials for 21st century biology (
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It's been quite a year since I joined ScienceBlogs in June and there've been many interesting things to write about.
Here's a sampling of your favorites (and some of mine) from month to month.
June:
- Hello Kitty! or Don't Eat Me, I Study Genetics!
The story of the endangered Florida Panthers and the danger of getting confused between preserving the signs of inbreeding and preserving a species. - I also gave a workshop for teachers in June at the Bio-Link conference. So, June has quite a few posts about Bio-Link.
July:
- Am I really related to Cleopatra? Qualitatively measuring DNA sequence quality.
In which we explore geneaology, mitochondrial sequencing, and interpreting DNA sequencing results. - Digital Biology Fridays were also a big hit in July and throughout the year. Each Friday, I demonstrate educational activities that students can do to to learn how to use bioinformatics tools and databases. These dropped off for a bit in November and December but will resume shortly.
August:
- Waxing lyrical about that stuff in our ears
Truly a human interest story. This post presents the polymorphisms behind the consistency of ear wax and discusses the genetics of race. - Using HIV to understand evolution
In which we use HIV to demonstrate how evolution can be witnessed in just a few short weeks.
September:
- White people are mutants
Insights about human genetics race learned from mutant zebrafish. - It's not the subject, it's the teaching discusses the lack of teacher preparation at the college level. This post led to a series of posts on science teaching which will be continued in 2007. Just like Orac is interested in evidence-based-medicine, I am interested in seeing more evidence-based teaching.
October:
- Tales from the lab
I went a little crazy on Halloween, what can I say? - Will the real jellyfish please stand up?
Do science journalists and the companies that sell educational materials have a responsibility to portray science accurately? This post discusses the case of green fluorescent protein and jellyfish.
November:
- What's that taste?
Never leave Streptomyces cultures in your refrigerator at home! - Thanksgiving Leftovers: Under the Microscope
Would you recognize your leftovers at 40X magnification?
December:
- Just in time for Christmas: a virgin birth!
How genotyping was used to prove that Flora, the Komodo dragon, was indeed, truly a single mom. - The science behind Benghazi
Molecular epidemiology in action. See why the scientists were convinced.
