Farewell, Cambridge!

Every morning on our way to the Buttery, we would look out from

the Clare Bridge and see the still waters of the Cam and the

swans making their way on the river.

We're going to miss this morning walk, view and ritual.

The sun setting over Cambridge, much like it did on Friday night.

Last year, I wasn't able to write a goodbye blog so I am happy that I can do so this year, although it will be a sad goodbye to a good and lively group of kids and an excellent onsite coordinator.

We had our farewell dinner last night (Friday) in the Great Hall.  The students surprised us with goodbye cards and cookies.  Here are photos of the farewell dinner, Maggie and her friend Lynda (they will continue on their journey for a couple more weeks), and the students:

Our table awaits!

Across from Mark and me sat Zeke, Emily, Amber and Jennifer

Max and Codi

Lindsay and Anastasia

(R-L) Hong-Phuc, Lynda, Maggie, me, Mark, Anastasia & Lindsay

Zack and Zeke -

Zack stood up and gave a nice speech as well as handed out

signed cards and tins of cookies for Mark, Maggie and me.  It was a very nice surprise!

 

Autumn, Prab, Diane, Antonio are in the foreground

Mymy ("Mimi"), Miranda, Marissa, Tiffany, Ashley and Nick on the left

with Gary, Brian, Stephanie and Angela on the right

After dinner, we took more photos outside of the Porter's Lodge:

Dr. Sanders (holding his tin of English cookies) posing

with Nick, Ashley, Mymy and Gary (L-R)

Dr. Sanders with Marissa, Miranda, Stephanie and Tiffany

Dr. Sanders with Zack, Emily, Zeke, Joshua, Hong-Phuc, and Amber

Dr. Sanders with Lindsay, Anastasia and Codi

Dr. Sanders and Brian (the class' tutor)

 

 

Over the weekend, everyone made their plans to continue traveling or to head on home, perhaps (like us) with one more visit to London.  

Guest Lecturers - 2013

Mark's study abroad program is a multi-dimensional program -- in addition to his lectures on the subject [Biological Sciences 101/Molecular and Cellular Biology 198, Section 2, entitled "From Mendel to Genomes"], the students are transported to European settings where major scientific studies and breakthroughs occurred, such as Brno, Olomouc, and Hyncice in the Czech Republic for Mendel and Cambridge, UK for Watson & Crick and molecular genetics.  Furthermore, the students receive lectures from world class researchers on various aspects of genetics. Such exposure provides a depth of knowledge and understanding that is usually not attainable in merely a classroom setting.

The lecturers joined us for lunches or tea after their presentations.  It was a good opportunity for students to ask additional questions of them.  It is not very often that students meet and chat with world-class research scientists like these.  The lecturers were willing to answer all of their questions and provide them with insight as to the varied disciplines and avenues of research available to future scientists in the area of genetics in general.

Below you will find photos taken of these lecturers during this study abroad program:

Dr. Roman Hobza, X Chromosome Evolution and genetics research in the Czech Republic

Seminar presentation by Dr. Hobza at the Mendel Museum discussing genetics research

in the Czech Republic during and after Soviet occupation.

At our visit to the Institute of Experimental Botany in Olomouc,

the IEB director, Dr. Jaroslav Dolezel, gave a lecture

 and took the students on a tour of the facility to see experiments and meet other scientists.

When we arrive in Cambridge, the class is assigned

to the Latimer Room in Old Court for the first week.

During the first week at Cambridge, Dr. Melina Schuh, Research Group Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, gave the first lecture on actin + oocytes: old love - new affair.

 

During class later in the week, the class takes its break in Latimer very seriously . . .

The class was assigned to the Bennett Room for the last two weeks of instruction, which was situated very close to the dorms in Memorial Court

 

Dr. Nick Robinson, Research Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry in Cambridge,

gave a talk on the structural and biochemical analysis of the Archaeal DNA double-strand

break repair and end-resection machinery.

Dr. Paul Edwards, Research Group Leader at the Hutchison-MRC Research Center in Cambridge, gave a talk on chromosome rearrangements in cancer - from leukaemias to breast cancer.

 

 

Dr. Lori Passmore, Research Group Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,

on the topic of understanding sickle cell disease, 

gave a lecture on the control of gene expression by mRNA Poly A tails.

 

 

Dr. Nitzan Rosenfeld, Research Group Leader at the Hutchison-MRC Research Center

in Cambridge, gave a talk on circulating tumor DNA as a noninvasive diagnostic

and research tool for cancer.

 

We went to the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge to meet Dr. Siobhan Braybook, a UCD PhD graduate now working in Cambridge as a Career Development Fellow at the Sainsbury Lab.  She gave the students a talk on how plant cells grow and their "life in a box" - referring to the cell walls.  Dr. Braybook also gave the students a talk also on how to advance themselves in graduate schools in Europe, including Cambridge. 

Afterwards, she took the students for a walk around the Laboratory (it's a new building!) and the grounds, showing them where Charles Darwin walked to contemplate his ideas . . . .

 

The Laboratory does a lot of plant genetics, so here Dr,. Braybrook is showing

us some of the mutations.

 

 

The last lecturer, Dr. Adele Murrell, spoke to the class on genomic imprinting and what it taught us about us about epigenetic gene regulation.

 

 

 

British Gearheads, Part II

Hi, there!  It's Mark again, with Part II of my tiny cars blog . . .

First up is this tiny little Peugeot 4-door, just the right size for you and three French friends, although they'll have to leave their oversized egos behind...

 

Not to be outdone, the British have their own homegrown and somewhat larger Vauxhall sedan.  Pretty roomy as they go, but they are only manufactured as right-hand drive and you'll never see one on a U.S. road

 

 

And check out the grill medallion on the Vauxhall.  I'm thinking of running a contest to identify the origin of the creature bearing the "V" flag

 

Here's another Peugeot, this one a two-door model with just enough room in the back to change your mind.

 

And oh the classics...Ita snapped this one, an old, original, complete with tiny little wheelbarrow tyres (that's right people t-y-r-e-s is how you spell it), the original mini Cooper from the days before BMW bought up the company!

 

 

Panda in the house! This spiffy little wagon is by Fiat and, yes, the model is "Panda"!

 

Note the fetching square boxy design of the Panda, just the thing for a weekend drive to the countryside with the barking children and whining dog....

 

Nissan makes this little bubble bean.  It's similar to the blue bean model you saw in the first Gearhead blog which I know you read and memorized . . . .

...and it is a tiny little bean of a thing.  The model name is Micra - no more need be said.

 

Another Vauxhall.  Just as I don't know the origin of the monster/symbol on the Vauxhall medallion, neither do I know what the model name "Agila" means:

 

 

And lastly, another Ford entry, the Ford Ka.  I think that's a shortened version of the word Kar because, well, as is evident from the design, this model comes up a little short too.

 

The next time you're in the UK you can see these and other British funny cars for yourself.  Just remember to look the wrong way before attempting to cross the street and always use the crosswalks that are conveniently equipped with a button to push when you want to cross the street.  A short time after you push the button the red standing figure on the pedestrian light across the way will turn green indicating that you have approximately half as much time as an able-bodied person needs to actually cross the street.  As you approach the halfway point in your journey the green man begins to blink as do the lights that have stopped the on rushing automobile traffic.  This is a signal for the auto traffic to resume its head-long dash for the next roundabout and its your cue to run like hell to get out of the way.  Good luck and cheers mate!

Tiny Cars of British Gearheads

A post from Mark.....

Greetings Gearheads! 

This blog is about a few of the tiny little four-wheeled vehicles tooling around British roads that you will probably never see in America.  Once you've driven on British roads - I've done it, I don't recommend it, and I won't make that mistake again - you understand the logic of building and driving tiny cars.  You see, unlike wide American roads that were mostly built in recent years to accommodate motor vehicles, most British roads were built to accommodate donkey travel in about the year Richard III was getting bonked on the head and dumped in an unmarked grave (recently discovered as it turns out in the British city of Leischester, which is pronounced "Lister" (rhymes with "blister") for reason that no one can explain).  The only way two cars can possibly pass side by side on most British roads is if they are each roughly the width of a pedal-powered car.

This first photo is an exception.  I include it because the car is a Mitsubishi SUV with the imposing model name "Shogun".  There are such full-sized vehicles on the roads but they are infrequent and confined mostly to cities.  

 

This is more typical, a Fiat Punto

 

Or how about this one, a Renault Clio

 

Still too big for your taste?  Why not try on a dinky Nissan for size?

 

Looking for a high-class ride in a tiny small package?  Give this mini Mercedes a spin

 

Too foreign?  Let's go across the other ocean and go to Ford country for this little number.  I think the red flower is optional, but you never know.

 

Not to be out done, call in the French!  In dazzling red, here's Peugeot's entry

 

Oh, and speaking of the French entry, the next photo was taken in Paris where mini 4-wheelers are all the rage.  Check out the snazzy golf cart like vehicle in the foreground

 

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Toyota takes its turn

 

That's the first installment folks.  There are more to come in a follow-up