Had a ton of fun at the University of Florida Biology Seminar series sharing my latest work on thermophilic ostracods and what (finally) killed them! It was great to see some old friends and share my newest research directions with a crowd that can appreciate putting ostracods in a thermocycler.

The most important quality a scientist can possess is resilience. It is rare that a project ever runs from initiation to completion without a snag or a tweak (I don't think I've ever seen this happen, actually). And sometimes the snags turn out to be pretty awesome....

We've been growing jellyfish polyps for awhile, and when they metamorphosed to medusae we were ready to move ahead with a genome sequencing project. Until we found out that they were the the wrong jellyfish. Somehow our culture had been taken over by an imposter!

In a fun twist, the new species turned out to be one we are also interested in, because it represents another independent origin of eyes. So my amazing post-bac and two undergrads sat for HOURS and sorted out the polyps. 

Two for one jellyfish cultures. Perhaps two genomes to come? 

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Marina and Stu demonstrating the posture of "a hungry hungry polyp" 

I have a new favorite game. 

Aide, another postdoc in our lab, is working with tiny box jellyfish called Tripedelia. We have tiny baby polyps growing in the lab, and last week, we spotted our very first medusae. But the medusae have to live in a special tank, with waterflow angled to keep them from getting stuck in a corner. So we get to move them.

You roll up your sleeves, you grab a plastic Pasteur pipet, and you stand over the polyp tank until you see a medusa float by. And then you suck it up and run it across the room to the other tank. You gently release the jelly into the tank, and watch long enough to see him pulse his bell to swim away from you. Repeat. 

It's meditative. It's hypnotic. It's ridiculously fun. I'm not alone in this opinion; let's just say multiple people a day are moving medausae now ... just in case... wouldn't want to miss one... 

Hello from the California coast!

I am thrilled to be starting my postdoc with the Oakley Lab at UCSB. The Oakley Lab has a long history of exploring evolutionary innovations and the origins of novel traits, and I am very excited to be joining such a dynamic research group as I develop my research program further. 

Here's to finding the coffee on a new campus!