CSI pinball machine

I was greatly amused by the mention of lab equipment on a pinball machine (click the picture to zoom). Also on the machine, but not pictured here, was the DNA bonus!

CONSUMED: Mugs Ale House; 125 Bedford Ave, Williamsburg (Brooklyn)

Biochemical Pathways poster

click on pic for glorious detail

I hated biochemistry; too large a volume of chemical structures and pathways that were never really studied in context. In the end it became a memorisation exercise. But my aversion to six-carbon rings and all things cyclical did not stop me from pausing to appreciate this incredible poster from 1993 detailing some of the more essential biochemical pathways.

Perhaps to his credit, Gerhard Michal (editor) appears to have lifted a page from Harry Beck, including the choice of a similar typeface. Which is maybe why I'm curiously able to over look the content and appreciate the poster for its aesthetic. I'm just trying to decide now whether it would be missed if it was to be removed from my department, and where exactly I would put it if it was to somehow fall into my hands.

CONSUMED: my work; Manhattan

80th birthday symposium

Over 30 years ago, Ruth and Victor Nussenzweig discovered that if you irradiated sporozoites (the infectious form of the malaria parasite) and administered them as a vaccine, you could provide mice with sterile, long-lasting protection from malaria.

Thirty years later, over a hundred scientists from around the globe (all of whom had worked in some shape or form under one of the Nussenzweigs) would descend on New York University to pay tribute to that discovery (as well as the 80th birthdays of both Nussenzweigs). Indeed it was that revelation, in particular, that launched an entire field of malaria vaccine research.

I myself am a great-grandchild in that ever-expanding scientific family tree. And I can only aspire to have a sliver of the real world impact that these two Brazilian scientists have borne from their careers.

CONSUMED: New York University Medical Center; Manhattan

edible ink cupcakes

So I can eat a Plasmodium vivax hypnozoite? And have it be rife with vanilla frosting goodness? Yes please! (And thank goodness for parasite genome projects.)

CONSUMED: my work; Manhattan