Field trip

• Well it has been a while since I updated. I have been analysing the data from the detached leaves experiment and preparing to start another replication of that experiment.
• This week I went to a nursery near Portland where they have had an infestation of P. ramorum and are under federal quarantine. We collected samples to bring back to the lab for further study.
  
• I have had midterm exams these past two weeks and I am a bit swamped with homework so the research is going slowly at the moment.
• I presented a little summary of what I am doing at one of our lab meetings recently.
  
• I also received that last of the leaf wetness sensors in the mail which I had been waiting for and I wired them all up so they are almost ready to go. Then I can get all this equipment out of the office and start using it!
  
• I had great success with the sterile pond water method for inducing sporangia production and below are some microscopy photos up of the structures I have in my cultures. I'm still getting to grips with the microscope camera and software so the aren't very good yet.
  
  above - sporangia - what I have been looking for for a long time!
  
  
  Above an oospore
  
  
  
  Above - sporangia
  
  
  
  Above - oospores
  
  
  
  Above - oospore, antheridum (for fertilisation) visible as knob on side of oospore

Sick leaves and pond water

The detached leaf experiment I set up hastily before Christmas actually worked a treat and so I am going to run two more reps of it and gather some more data from it using digital imaging to measure lesion area.
This morning I cycled to the covered bridge to collect some pond water which I then spent the morning filtering and sterilizing ready to try a new method for inducing sporangia production in my cultures.

News from my blog

In case you haven't been paying attention to the stuff on the left had side of this page I have been adding some new features I would like to point out to you, from the bottom up.

• There is a button for you to access my google calendar so you can see when I am available and when I am busy. You might find this useful if you want to phone me so you can call when I am not in a seminar, class or meeting. I'm not entirely sure what info you can see, I believe that you can only see busy/free rather than the details of my diary. Also this may only work if you have a google account. Whatever, let me know if there are problems with it.
  
• PhD comics is a fun site ideal for procrastination and hits on some funny and scarily true issues relating to my situation as a grad student in the US.
• the Meebo widget is a tool for instant messaging me if I am logged in, or leaving a message for me even if I am not online. This is a bit new to me but give it a go, I don't think you need a log in to message me, the OSU library uses this for students to ask questions to the library staff online.
  
• I added my facebook profile so add me if you haven't already.
  
• I recently discovered a new breed of charity of which KIVA.org is one. They facilitate microfinance initiatives in developing countries. You chose an entrepreneur and loan them money for their business. You should get the money back after 6 months and are free to re-loan or retrieve the money. Money dealing is through paypal so if you are in the UK you can still sign up through the US based KIVA plus pounds buy a lot of dollars these days so your money can go a long way.
  
• Finally I added a slide show of my photos from Kenya this summer (2007). At the moment there are only about 5 pictures but I plan on putting more up at some point.
  

I'm going home for Christmas so there may not be any posts for a while. You can subscribe to this blog through ATOM (see the bottom of this page) if you want to be notified when I update rather than having to check at intervals.

More on the Lwet sensors

OK - with the help of Tom, Walt and Nik we re-wired the C sensor and it is now giving sensible resistance output data (brown line) so three sensors are now mounted and wired and programmed successfully to the data logger and the remaining sensor is almost ready to go, however it is a little different as it links to a different data logger and gives % data rather than raw output so that will make comparisons difficult. Below is a graph of test data from my office, and below that is a photo and a diagram of the sensor set up.

Classes and Grades

The term is over and I got an A- in Mycology and an A in Statistics. Next term I will be taking the follow on Stats class which I expect to struggle in as this term we had a professor who was lenient with grades but who I didn't fully understand so I fear I will find it hard to move onto next terms syllabus. Anyway, I will also be taking a class in environmental physiology of plants which sounds interesting. It is nice to have two A's in the first term, it gives me a kind of buffer so that when I am in the midst of research I can focus on that more than classes and if I get the odd C I can still average a B grade, which is what I need to maintain my research assistantship (which is what pays me). This week I am frantically trying to make progress with my 2 research projects so that I can get to a point where I will be ready to dive into more practical stuff at the start of the winter term and start collecting data. I also want to find a bunch of papers to take home to read over the break.

TBA report

I have posted the TBA sponsors report that I have finally written on the reports page of this site. I have not sent the letter off yet so I am open to comments or advice on the letter. You can read it here. I'll e-mail it to the TBA office next week. It is supposed to give a summary of what I learnt and what were the highlights of the course. I think I might send this letter also to the Biology Dept at Nottingham to encourage other students to apply for it.

Woooo Data!

Well I've finally wired and programmed the sensors and I'm getting some sensible data from the data-logger! Yay. So here are a couple of graphs. As you can see when I added water to the capacitance sensor the capacitance increased and gradually decreased as it dried. And as expected the resistance decreased in the resistance sensor with the application of the same spray of water. Well these are just the first steps, I still have to get the other 2 sensors working and then move to the growth chambers for the real experiment.