Headed to Denver

I'm headed to Denver this weekend for the Society of Industrial Microbiology (SIM)'s annual meeting. My advisor, Dr Ingram, was invited to give a talk about our progress using E. coli to produce ethanol and he is sending me in his place. I'll be talking about our research group as a whole, not just my own work. Two other people from my research group will be there, but I don't expect to see any of my former co-workers from UCLA. There was an interesting article in the local newspaper about our research this week. While I'm gone, my officemate Tammy will feed the cats and Dominika and Agnieszka, the visiting grad students from Poland, will be keeping Sheba. I'm very lucky to have such reliable, helpful friends. Sheba spent one trial night with Dominka and Agnieszka last week, and the apartment seemed unbearably quiet and empty without her. It was hard to believe that was "normal" just 4 months ago.

We made another trip to St. Augustine Beach last weekend. Each time we go, the group gets larger. This past trip was the best one yet, we stayed for about 5 hours. There are more pictures here.

Nearly a year after doing my PhD defense, we finally submitted the 2nd paper from my research. We are very proud of the first paper, it was accepted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), one of the top US journals. There is a link to that paper here (restricted access). The second paper has been more of a struggle because the results aren't as exciting or straightforward. But we finally completed the manuscript and submitted the paper last Friday. So for now we are just waiting to hear if it is accepted or not. But it's nice to come home in the evening and not have that paper hanging over my head.

Who's read the latest Harry Potter? I have put off buying the book until after the conference, otherwise I might be distracted from working on my presentation. I heard that there was someone standing on a street corner here in Gainesville holding a sign that gave away the ending. For now, I've managed to avoid all spoilers. I am looking forward to buying the book before I leave Denver and reading it on the trip home!