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...

Running Columns…

If you have been trained as an organic chemist (especially a synthetic one), you have most certainly sat for hours in front of a fume hood collecting test tubes as hopefully your desired product eluted off of a silica gel column. Looking back at graduate school, I...