We were really happy to have Anna Iouchmanov and Kendall Clay with us for the 2nd rotation, which wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. They worked so well together and it was a joy to welcome such bright and cooperative team members into the group for a while. They, like our 1st rotation students, were so adaptable and resilient in training during a pandemic. We enjoyed their enthusiasm and interest in the work, too! They worked on cloning some genes we’re interested in studying and we’re excited to continue this work!
Rotation 1 in the books!
We were grateful to have Taylor Medlock and Justin McCurdy rotate with us in the first ILS rotation. They were eager and adaptable, which has been especially important for rotation students working in the lab during a pandemic! They tried some new techniques and even got some things to work! Hooray! We wish them the best in their future rotations. We’re also excited to welcome Kendall Clay and Anna Iouchmanov to the lab for the 2nd rotation! Lots of exciting science happening this fall!
Congratulations, Tulip!
Congratulations to Tulip for passing her qualifying exams and becoming a doctoral candidate! She conducted her exam by Zoom and was a champ despite having to do things in several pandemic-adjusted ways. We’re looking forward to celebrating her next week!
A new (academic) year...
We’re excited (and maybe a little trepidatious) about a new academic year here at the University of Georgia. I (RRG) am teaching Cell Biology again (CBIO3400), which will be online. Though online teaching is a little disappointing, the course plan is really exciting and I’m looking forward to meeting a new cohort of students. I’m also teaching a small first year seminar on undergraduate research opportunities, so that will be fun. We have two ILS students joining us for the first rotation, Taylor Medlock and Justin McCurdy. We’re excited to have some new folks in the lab and have done a lot over the past several weeks to make training them easier and more effective (e.g. making training videos, reorganizing the lab). It’s an experiment but hopefully we’ll be able to give them a great training experience despite the pandemic still very active in our state! We’re taking a little hiatus from having new undergraduate trainees in the lab, but look forward to having some new undergrads join us in coming semesters.
Great news - NSF CAREER award!
I heard great news this week - our NSF CAREER Award has been funded! This will support the lab’s work on signaling in planarian regeneration over the next 5 years. It will also support many other cool educational and outreach efforts that we’re excited about. We’re eager to carry out these exciting research projects!