tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35429922765864362262024-02-20T16:38:40.089-08:00My ResearchSee what projects I have been involved in, where I've worked and glimpse some of the outcomes of my work.
I am trying to post on a semi-regular basis depending on how busy I am and if anything noteworthy has happened. If you are interested by my posts then do subscribe to my blog using the subscribe link in the menu to the right.
See also my reports and my photography pages under the links section for more.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-24897139760257935492010-12-23T15:20:00.000-08:002010-12-23T15:24:39.399-08:00Change of GoalsWell I know I've not been keeping up on this blog very regularly but I'm going to post an update. I have been thinking long and hard about my career goals and I have come to the decision that I do not need a Phd to do what I want to do after graduate school. After a very stressful year I have decided that I don't want to get a Phd but I will write up my thesis for a masters and I hope to defend it this coming spring.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-67159189391058261872010-06-11T10:12:00.001-07:002010-06-11T10:15:12.375-07:00Long time no post<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/TBJuxYeyVnI/AAAAAAAAAMA/YruOShHGyiI/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/TBJuxYeyVnI/AAAAAAAAAMA/YruOShHGyiI/s400/DSC_0044.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481565491127539314" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/TBJuw0QQ0YI/AAAAAAAAAL4/tpbhWCb1lMg/s1600/DSC_0042.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/TBJuw0QQ0YI/AAAAAAAAAL4/tpbhWCb1lMg/s400/DSC_0042.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481565481402945922" /></a><br />I've just built some irrigation in a hoop house at the farm. Here are two photos of the trial I have running currently to test the set up. I'm hoping the central plant (inoculated with warm season phytophthora spp) will spread their infection to the surrounding healthy Rhodies. <div><br /></div>Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-68648205983661276072010-02-23T12:25:00.001-08:002010-02-23T12:26:41.805-08:00Southern Red spider mitesMore mites! Since southern red spidermites were found on Pieris plants in the chamber I had to toss all those plants and order more. The chamber has since been completely cleaned out and decontaminated.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-64862304478902640472010-01-10T19:00:00.001-08:002010-01-10T19:10:31.037-08:00mite outbreakWe found spider mites which feed on cultures in some phytophthora plates so we had to throw out a lot of cultures and decontaminate the incubators. This has set things back a little bit in the lab. I have instead been getting going with some data analysis of my field experiments which have been running for a year now. It's nice to see the seasonal differences in the species of phytophthora which do best at different temperatures. I now have more ideas about what to move forward with and I can repeat a second year of data to gain more confidence in my results.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-64050078211301719562009-12-09T13:08:00.001-08:002009-12-09T13:24:49.213-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SyATVFjNWfI/AAAAAAAAAIA/FfQe-QSJrok/s1600-h/wordle.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 196px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SyATVFjNWfI/AAAAAAAAAIA/FfQe-QSJrok/s400/wordle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413348005087369714" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.wordle.net/">http://www.wordle.net/</a>Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-44961089981008884342009-10-29T11:16:00.000-07:002009-10-29T11:32:38.927-07:00Koch's PostulatesActivation of isolates was successful with almost all isolates so I am now able to move on to carry out Kochs postulates with them. The aim of Koch's postulates is to confirm a diagnosis that a particular suspected organism is causing the observed disease. The steps were first described by Robert Koch in 1882 and later added to by Erwin F Smith in 1905. The steps are as follows: <br /><br />1. determine the suspected pathogen is consistently associated with the disease<br />2. isolate the suspected pathogen from the diseased plant and grow it in pure culture on artificial media and describe it. <br />3. Inoculate the isolated organism onto a healthy plant of the same species to see if it causes the same disease symptoms. <br />4. Re-culture the pathogen and determine that it is the same as the original isolate. <br /><br />Steps one and two have already been completed so I am now going to work on steps 3 and 4.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-1976903798255733162009-10-15T14:53:00.001-07:002009-10-15T14:55:22.796-07:00Isolate activationI am hoping to 'activate' some isolates by inoculating them into rhododendrons and then re-isolating them from the plant after infection has occurred in an attempt to remind the isolates how to be virulent. Some times we have isolates that have been maintained for so long in culture that they start to behave strangely or they stop sporulating for example. This is a technique to re-activate them before using them in experiments.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-39925607158615061732009-09-14T15:14:00.000-07:002009-09-17T12:47:58.488-07:00Soil inoculation relative success<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SrKSO6GCDTI/AAAAAAAAAGI/1PylIjdybvU/s1600-h/DSC_0042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SrKSO6GCDTI/AAAAAAAAAGI/1PylIjdybvU/s200/DSC_0042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382525289471544626" border="0" /></a>I have been trying to inoculate rhododendron roots with Phytophthora spp for a while and Kim and I have tried several methods that are reported in the literature. I set my latest trial up in the mist chamber to maximise the water availability and finally I seem to have symptoms all be it in only one rep out of three and on only one species out of 7 but never the less I have symptoms yay. See the wilting plant on the right compared with happy plant on the left.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-60995203390793704692009-09-14T15:01:00.000-07:002009-09-14T15:05:13.645-07:00Detached leaf experimentI ran another repeat of my detached leaf inoculation where I dip inoculate leaves in zoospores suspension and incubate them without wounding for 2 weeks. I spent 8 hours on Labor Day doing this and it looks as though it hasn't worked. This is the fourth time I have set this experiment up and the other 3 times I got good data, although the trends don't exactly match what I expected at least the leaves got infected. This time I was meticulous so I can't figure out why only 9 leaves out of 150 developed lesions. Gah! At least this shows the expected trend but there are so many misses I can't really use this as quantitative data. Perhaps I can just note the observations. So disheartening.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-79567467565311773732009-09-03T16:09:00.000-07:002009-09-03T16:10:54.585-07:00twitterIn case you haven't already noticed I have joined twitter and I'm having my tweets posted to the gadget in the right column of this blog so if you want to get an insight into what I am doing on a daily basis this will contain little snippets. You can follow me on twitter - @claret84Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-56737191285689242682009-08-28T16:17:00.001-07:002009-08-28T16:18:05.539-07:00New photos of farm inoculationare available to view through Picasa as a slide show on <a href="http://claresphotography.blogspot.com/">my photography</a> blog.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-27700707642930302082009-08-27T12:57:00.000-07:002009-08-27T13:09:00.825-07:00Plants inoculated in the mist chamber<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">P. citricola</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm_iTtjxI/AAAAAAAAABw/0kpKbMYSJ-c/s1600-h/DSC_0081.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm_iTtjxI/AAAAAAAAABw/0kpKbMYSJ-c/s200/DSC_0081.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374737184528895762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">P. citrophthora</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm_OjMZrI/AAAAAAAAABo/QLVU9GZ4cok/s1600-h/DSC_0072.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm_OjMZrI/AAAAAAAAABo/QLVU9GZ4cok/s200/DSC_0072.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374737179225122482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">P. syringae<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm-puZYMI/AAAAAAAAABg/tW1sJevJ82o/s1600-h/DSC_0030.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm-puZYMI/AAAAAAAAABg/tW1sJevJ82o/s200/DSC_0030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374737169339998402" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">P. cinnamomi<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm-H3X2aI/AAAAAAAAABY/D4soS8tmtBI/s1600-h/DSC_0020.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm-H3X2aI/AAAAAAAAABY/D4soS8tmtBI/s200/DSC_0020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374737160250841506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">P. nicotianae<br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm9uLOxrI/AAAAAAAAABQ/KCOsHWEM3_Y/s1600-h/DSC_0010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/Spbm9uLOxrI/AAAAAAAAABQ/KCOsHWEM3_Y/s200/DSC_0010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374737153354811058" border="0" /></a>Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-22038202639132578012009-08-19T21:38:00.000-07:002009-08-20T13:41:19.976-07:00googly eyes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/So2035XQhhI/AAAAAAAAABI/r2KJluMwdmc/s1600-h/googly+eyes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/So2035XQhhI/AAAAAAAAABI/r2KJluMwdmc/s320/googly+eyes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372148802907047442" border="0" /></a><br />I posted a little video at the bottom of this page, just for fun. It is a sketch from Saturday Night Live. The site that hosts the video streams an advert before the video begins. It's pretty funny I think.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-50725985299106031292009-08-19T17:00:00.000-07:002009-08-19T17:05:15.928-07:00beautiful drip spread lesions<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SoyS0B_2vEI/AAAAAAAAABA/fDI6K9JUhbI/s1600-h/DSC_0007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SoyS0B_2vEI/AAAAAAAAABA/fDI6K9JUhbI/s320/DSC_0007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371829878133275714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SoySzQvzoKI/AAAAAAAAAA4/Eps7Hp48_oU/s1600-h/DSC_0001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SoySzQvzoKI/AAAAAAAAAA4/Eps7Hp48_oU/s320/DSC_0001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371829864912625826" border="0" /></a><br />Here are some new photos from today in the mist chamber, the Phytophthoras are doing nicely in there where it is all wet.Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-87776316874589393202009-08-13T14:12:00.000-07:002009-08-13T14:15:31.059-07:00Current ActivitiesI'm helping to compile data from a study looking at a potential new species of Phytophthora, and conducting kochs postulates on several isolates in collaboration with another lab. I'm also pulling together the data from my poster to put into a paper written by a post doc in our lab to try to get that published too. I'm running a mist chamber inoculation concurrently with my field work to compare findings at 2 different temperatures under very moist conditions. I will also be repeating a detache leaf inoculation using P. ramorum as I obtained rather strange results last time. <br /><br />that's all for nowClare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-46259254539832684442009-08-06T15:55:00.000-07:002009-08-06T16:19:36.366-07:00APS meetingHere I am at the American Phytopathological Society Meeting in Portland OR earlier this week. I presented this poster on the pathogenic fitness of the clonal lineages of <span style="font-style: italic;">Phytophthora ramorum</span>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SntfcNyBH1I/AAAAAAAAAAM/pUnyfU7lMYs/s1600-h/poster+presentation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2KY9bzvsz6Q/SntfcNyBH1I/AAAAAAAAAAM/pUnyfU7lMYs/s400/poster+presentation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366988319282503506" border="0" /></a>Clare Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540937324050248267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-23670071665012587762009-07-27T14:19:00.000-07:002009-08-20T13:41:46.869-07:00Disease spreadThe first photo shows <span style="font-style: italic;">P. syringae</span> spreading aerially, probably by rain splash during winter. The second photo shows <span style="font-style: italic;">P. nicotianae</span> spreading within the plant during late spring/early summer.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cLNNLVgiZCpwQ3KlzB2ssU3QW3OADKwkdOz-K7HMT28ZDi2jysEftoyaoenJwR2rQvLgyvZW3UnZRPLosWayFk4LMySvCxgPQiQ9NCQsZSICa-RMSPm1BnA-u0nRb5HxmNJEBrAz6fwu/s1600-h/DSCF6039.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cLNNLVgiZCpwQ3KlzB2ssU3QW3OADKwkdOz-K7HMT28ZDi2jysEftoyaoenJwR2rQvLgyvZW3UnZRPLosWayFk4LMySvCxgPQiQ9NCQsZSICa-RMSPm1BnA-u0nRb5HxmNJEBrAz6fwu/s400/DSCF6039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363253676267458338" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8_FfIycvdxCViUn8qdjm02hze_xnaFVRFGY_Ylw4jJKp3bvfEMKbHFf54pXBQuQgko0eeBaXu0AcKyV0Q8slvKDeqdbCd0zsHqt1470aFS3xVbtspnQA7k1QTaqCNlFGTsIbJGZWX137/s1600-h/sp09+foliar+week+3+p.+nicotianae+systemic+015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8_FfIycvdxCViUn8qdjm02hze_xnaFVRFGY_Ylw4jJKp3bvfEMKbHFf54pXBQuQgko0eeBaXu0AcKyV0Q8slvKDeqdbCd0zsHqt1470aFS3xVbtspnQA7k1QTaqCNlFGTsIbJGZWX137/s400/sp09+foliar+week+3+p.+nicotianae+systemic+015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363253836861978354" border="0" /></a><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/elliotcl/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-1161561472924561072009-04-16T12:36:00.000-07:002009-04-16T12:39:01.150-07:00research in the newsHere is an <a href="http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february72008/oregon_nurseries_2-6-08.php">article </a>from February of last year on the Salem news website, talking about the importance of research on <span style="font-style: italic;">Phytophthora </span>spp. and other pathogens for the nursery industry in Oregon which recently exceeded $1bn in sales value. Several people I work with are mentioned and my project on the epidemiology of Phytophthora spp on Rhododendron is mentioned.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-91944696270687259652009-03-11T11:04:00.000-07:002009-03-11T12:17:59.738-07:00Field experimentFinally I am having some success at inoculating my field experiment. Here is a graph showing my initial data. There are significant differences between species and between cultivars and as expected <span style="font-style: italic;">P. syringae</span> (7) is the most aggressive pathogen so far. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rNpIZT6vCApmcIk0jaxZ84qEuqgMJ2DwOxuP_7Hurifa8sUI8FF7DqIvZR-ryZg0Kzf_glKcUfFgpocIyCf2vbs1yYXndrOaTOR9axpFE84G1peLnuXOKE6lrxa33RGtCKneoUSbb87i/s1600-h/graph+1.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 369px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rNpIZT6vCApmcIk0jaxZ84qEuqgMJ2DwOxuP_7Hurifa8sUI8FF7DqIvZR-ryZg0Kzf_glKcUfFgpocIyCf2vbs1yYXndrOaTOR9axpFE84G1peLnuXOKE6lrxa33RGtCKneoUSbb87i/s400/graph+1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311993793087922354" border="0" /></a>This photo shows a <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhododendron </span>inoculated with <span style="font-style: italic;">Phytophthora syringae </span>as part of my field experiment. You can see how the infection has spread aerially by rain splash to near by leaves and has dripped down on to the two leaves below the inoculated leaf.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH5Z3UOypog0cj9aWEvASglJU3GB6NPbaHrT_F5NRYWNAWKZ94NeLklakXKNEKSXTHFKHh-zfarIm-rN1iLrzm1lSklLCAlqVZauzM7J6M5pH0mSg4Gd1qZoGra04ZtLgciv6SJdZ54Ud/s1600-h/DSCF6038.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH5Z3UOypog0cj9aWEvASglJU3GB6NPbaHrT_F5NRYWNAWKZ94NeLklakXKNEKSXTHFKHh-zfarIm-rN1iLrzm1lSklLCAlqVZauzM7J6M5pH0mSg4Gd1qZoGra04ZtLgciv6SJdZ54Ud/s400/DSCF6038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311992855323928210" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-31561911923020373482009-03-10T20:21:00.000-07:002009-03-11T12:17:09.557-07:00trip to the state capitolOn Friday I went to the capitol building in Salem to testify in favour of house bill 2508 for the abolition of fees for graduate students with a tuition waiver. I went along with other members of the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE) the union for the grads on OSU's campus, and the GTFF which is the equivalent at the University of Oregon. The GTFF and CGE are part of the larger union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).<br /><br />the proposed HB 2508 would stop the universities in Oregon from charging fees on top of tuition to graduate students when we have funding which provides a tuition waiver. The current situation sees 17% of my net pay go back to the university each year, last year this amounted to $2840.<br /><br />Here is a photo of members of CGE and the GTFF in front of the capitol after testifying for over an hour to a concerned committee.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNQpY313mBefl_xjmyGoKmd9lCdXCvvpD1VlfM75cZL0jlBLaSiCTRdC75nKWRq8YARnllaWJJBVgN1xzzwQEbToeTatCtcYjbq_NXM0R2gRV5_M6spILTDBPvGZWCp8BcqF_GpoEan3D/s1600-h/cge+salem.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNQpY313mBefl_xjmyGoKmd9lCdXCvvpD1VlfM75cZL0jlBLaSiCTRdC75nKWRq8YARnllaWJJBVgN1xzzwQEbToeTatCtcYjbq_NXM0R2gRV5_M6spILTDBPvGZWCp8BcqF_GpoEan3D/s400/cge+salem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311768713477353570" border="0" /></a>It was a great experience and it seemed that they committee really took on board our message although in these economic times of severe budget cuts it seems unlikely that any dramatic changes will occur in the near future but hopefully this will begin to open up conversations about how we can improve the situation for graduate students in Oregon.<br /><br />The CGE has also posted remarks about Friday's trip on their <a href="http://cge6069.org/">blog </a>and you can download an audio recording of the proceedings from Friday's hearing <a href="http://www.leg.state.or.us/listn/archive/archive.2009s/HED-200903061300.ram">here</a>. The hearing for HB 2508 begins 16min 29sec into the recording and I testify at 38min 15sec and it closes at 1hr 36min 26sec after 12 testimonies in favour of the bill and 1 agains the bill (someone sent to represent the university).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-77360201151365947432009-02-18T17:21:00.000-08:002009-02-18T17:24:37.332-08:00Statistics and Abstract<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial;" lang="EN-GB">I've been analysing the data obtained from the experiments last term where I dipped whole plants in inoculum and measured the number of lesions and the area of the lesions on the plant. I have submitted an abstract for a poster to present at one or two meetings this summer. <br /><br /></span> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Phytophthora ramorum - pathogenic fitness of the three clonal lineages</span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Clare Elliott, Virginia McDonald and Niklaus Grunwald<br /></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The Oomycete pathogen <i>Phytophthora ramorum</i> causes sudden oak death on oak and ramorum blight on a wide range of ornamental plants causing severe economic losses to the nursery industry. The <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> population of <i>P. ramorum </i>consists of three distinct clonal lineages referred to as NA1, NA2, and EU1. <span style=""></span>The hypothesis of differences in pathogenic fitness among these three lineages was tested through the infection of detached leaves and whole plants in wounded and un-wounded inoculations of <i>Rhododendron</i>. <span style=""> </span>In independent experiments the fitness of isolates within lineages was determined using the fitness components lesion area (LA), sporulation capacity (SC), incubation period (IP<sub>w</sub>) and the area under the lesion expansion curve (AULEC) on two cultivars of <i>Rhododendron</i>; the more susceptible cv. <i>R.</i> <i>catawbiense</i> ‘Boursault’ and the moderately resistant cv. ‘Lee’s Dark Purple’. <span style=""> </span>For all wounded detached leaf experiments and for the whole plant work 3 isolates from each clonal lineage were tested, and for the un-wounded detached leaf assay the sample size was increased to 10 isolates per lineage. <span style=""> </span>In the non-wounded whole plant experiments incidence was measured by number of infection points and number of leaves infected and severity was measured by total lesion area and average lesion area per leaf. <o:p></o:p>LA demonstrated significant differences among lineages in two out of three wounded detached leaf experiments; however, SC, IP<sub>w</sub> and AULEC showed no consistent significant differences among lineages. <span style=""> </span>There was also no consistent significant cultivar by lineage interaction among the wound inoculated experiments. The non-wounded whole plant dip inoculations showed a trend towards a difference between the NA1 lineage and EU1 and NA2 (0.1>p>0.05) but variability among isolates within lineages means that these slight differences are not statistically significant. In one out of the two experiments on whole plants significant differences between isolates within lineages were observed (p<0.026). style=""></span></span></p> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial;" lang="EN-GB">This study indicates that there are minor differences in fitness components among <i>P. ramorum </i>clonal lineages but suggests also that within lineage variability is great. <span style=""> </span>Experiments are ongoing with an increased sample size of 10 isolates per clonal lineage. </span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial;" lang="EN-GB"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-89799608960881233202009-01-22T10:43:00.000-08:002009-01-22T10:50:58.681-08:00TroubleshootingI am having a lot of trouble getting my rhododendron leaves to become infected and having discussed the issues with a group of scientists working on Phytophthoras I have come up with a list of ideas which may be the reason for this: <br /><br />1. The plants are dormant and have suberised for the winter and so their innate immunity afforded by their thick cuticle is especially effective. <br />2. The plants have been wounded by me cutting leaves from them for previous experiments and this has elicited systemic aquired resistance to infection. <br />3. The plants at the farm are irrigated by water which has been treated and this may be inhibiting the infectivity of the plants. <br /><br />To test these theories I will carry out a number of small scale experiments using detached leaves to determine if there is an effect of wounding the plants or if there is a difference in infectivity year round or how the irrigation is affecting the plants.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-64735850102899940802009-01-16T14:24:00.000-08:002009-01-16T14:30:45.111-08:00back to the researchWell it's a new term and I'm not taking any classes and I'm not teaching so I can devote all my time to my research and it's the perfect time for it as I am having my first committee meeting this term and I will give my research proposal seminar at the start of next term too so I will have plenty of time to prepare fully for those two events. <br /><br />I have finally got my committee members together and set a date so I need to prepare a summary of my research proposal for them and get my program of study signed off by them. I am gearing up to set up another farm experiment with a slightly different foliar inoculation method and I'm making plans for a lot of other little experiments to supplement the main project. <br /><br />Yesterday I spent the day helping Kim take down her soil inoculation experiment in the growth chamber and although her experiment didn't go as planned it was a good experience for me as I will need to follow a similar method when I take down my farm experiment. There are definately some lessons to be learnt from these initial runs of the soil inoculation and this might mean tweaking my experimental design for my field experiments a little. We'll see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-89601350973412106222009-01-07T20:57:00.000-08:002009-01-07T20:59:42.468-08:00Guppies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEeUzKi58SvNRqxY8zurTG0wzKNU_HaRw5foU3DWXg32OWZE5tUX4S03ulOzkDrwsHLerDGBY-68zb6l627N-HW1gZAMYlIxnr-zJD5ON8hCSPRD4yuK6t-YGgxBnNCnae_-UsiNv7_OO/s1600-h/DSCF5905.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEeUzKi58SvNRqxY8zurTG0wzKNU_HaRw5foU3DWXg32OWZE5tUX4S03ulOzkDrwsHLerDGBY-68zb6l627N-HW1gZAMYlIxnr-zJD5ON8hCSPRD4yuK6t-YGgxBnNCnae_-UsiNv7_OO/s400/DSCF5905.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288782790135532402" border="0" /></a>So it's not research related but I had my first batch of guppy babies at long last. Hurrah!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542992276586436226.post-42491694399999026652008-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:002008-12-02T09:52:26.578-08:00Term is almost overThere is less than one week remaining of classes and then only finals week. I'm flying back to the UK on December 12th. I have to run the last of the plant pathology labs today and then the lab final on Thursday. Next week is the plant path final which I will help to grade and then my final exam for Forest insect and disease management, and I also have to complete and turn in my collections of insects and forest pathogens which are almost complete, just need to label them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0