mosquito piñata

Every year on April 25th, the global health community "celebrates" World Malaria Day, a day for advocacy and awareness about malaria. To this end, my department (of Medical Parasitology) held a happy hour barbeque. Some very talented students in the department also took it upon themselves to convert the piñata of a pastelled butterfly into a monstrous mosquito. And in a round of broom-stick swings, we slew that mosquito and engorged it of its chocolate contents. A very fitting, symbolic gesture to mark the day.

CONSUMED: The Underground; 613 2nd Ave, Kips Bay (Manhattan)

Beauty Bar

Somehow, Beauty Bar has become my department's watering hole of choice, which is strange considering that we're scientists, not hipsters, and that it's a good 10 blocks away.

OK well maybe some of us are hipsters.

The caveat of Beauty Bar is also what gives it its name: free manicures with the purchase of a beer. Instead of the odour of beer-soaked floors, the volatile scent of acetone permeates the room. I smell enough chemicals in my lab that I would prefer not to inhale more during our social hour. But it's the small price to pay for the good company of my workmates (and to capitalise on $3 Blue Point Toasted Lagers).

CONSUMED: Beauty Bar; 231 E 14th St, East Village (Manhattan)

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

Biolegend chocolate

One of my suppliers at work decided for this holiday season to send out boxes of chocolates to their customers. Except this was no ordinary box of chocolates. They had custom chocolate plaques made with their company logo. Talk about over-the-top branding (especially for a science reagent company).

CONSUMED: my work; Manhattan

shuffleboard at The Diamond

My work's bowling night migrated-slash-degenerated to another bar where a game of a similar-but-different sort happened. The teams were Brooklyn vs. Not Brooklyn. And sadly, Not Brooklyn won (I would like to blame our loss on the fact that Brooklyn just drank more than Not Brooklyn).

CONSUMED: The Diamond; 43 Franklin St, Greenpoint (Brooklyn)

bowling at The Gutter Bar

Bowling. That great American pastime where even the first-timers can get a strike. And my department had a pretty good go at our first departmental bowling night. Pitchers were passed around, gutters were christened, and work was not mentioned once.

CONSUMED: The Gutter Bar; 200 N 14th St, Greenpoint (Brooklyn)

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