Guten Morgen! Was war gestern schön was hat euch gefreut? Es sind die kleinen Dinge die zählen.
Heute ausnahmsweise Bakterien: die roten Kolonien sind vermutlich Serratia marcescens. Dieses Bakterium ist für viele mittelalterliche Blutwunder verantwortlich. Die Rote Färbung und dass Kolonien schleimige Filme auf feuchten Oberflächen bilden erklärt wie z.B. Hostien über Nacht mit "Blut" durchtränkt waren oder blutige Tränen an Statuen. #diekleinendinge#microbiology#serratia#biodiversity
American pediatrician and microbiologist Hattie Alexander was born #OTD in 1901.
She is particularly renowned for her groundbreaking work on the treatment and prevention of Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) infections, which cause meningitis, pneumonia, and other serious illnesses, especially in children. In the course of her research on antibiotics, she noted and reported the appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of Hib which was caused by random genetic mutations in DNA.
Tonight I hosted a screening and discussion of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. Everything worked technically and there was a good audience. I am very grateful for my chemistry students who came and contributed to the conversation.
Even if you don’t know Henrietta’s story, you’ve probably benefited from her cells. You can read the excellent book (by the same name) or this: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henrietta-lacks.
Happy to share our latest paper, in which we examined the timing at which different microbial groups colonized the ocean!
The first author (Carolina Martinez) is starting her lab at UC Santa Barbara in 2024 and is looking to recruit postdocs and PhD students, so if this looks interesting to you, please reach out to her!
A timeline of bacterial and archaeal diversification in the ocean