I sincerely hope that: a) everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and b) no one else was awakened from the deep slumber of their turkey coma by the ominous and looming finals cloud. Like many others I am sure, I set off for the break full of hope for rest, rejuvenation, and A WHOLE LOT OF PIE. While I am not completely positive that I accomplished the first two items on that list, I certainly had my fill of pie. All in all, it was a lovely break. The worst part about it? It ended. The good news is, amidst all the finals hullaballoo, I’ve got fun things to think about….like RESEARCH!

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Well, I have some sad news to share, folks. Science sometimes slaps you in the face, and I’m pretty sure I have been dealt one of those spiteful slaps. If you recall, last time I wrote I was all but gushing about the work I was doing with TeaF and human adenovirus. As it turns out, after having devoted many hours in the lab (and comparable time in transit to VIMS), I had to call off my work there. What can I say? The research got expensive and was going virtually nowhere, so I reluctantly pulled the plug on that operation.  It was tough (I felt pretty sick at the thought of abandoning something I had invested in heavily), but I feel like it was ultimately the right decision. Moral of the story? Learn how to roll with the punches! For a few days I was decidedly sour over the whole situation; then I realized that pining and whining had little to no worth. So, I ended that brief mourning period, and here I am!

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Well guys, I have some exciting stuff to share with you! While my last few posts have been rather field-oriented, I’ve recently been working on some pretty cool stuff in ye old lab, and I’d like to fill you in. Remember those time series infectious assays I talked so much about in my first post or two? The ones where I was basically testing the efficacy of TeaF as a virucide? Well, I’ve revisited those procedures (sort-of), this time to test TeaF against Human Adenovirus.

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Well folks, it has been far too long, and you guys sure aren’t to blame. I apologize sincerely for my slacking in this blogsphere. You have my word this won’t happen again.

Now, I certainly have a lot of ground to cover in this post. Last time we met up I was preoccupied by a million and a half bug bites, if I do recall correctly. I had just finished my first field study, conducted at an upland site, and I hadn’t looked at the data. Well, I’ve got exciting news! Not only have I analyzed the data from that upland experiment, I have completed two others, with data to prove it.

Let’s first talk about my upland field experiment. After treating soil collars with one of four treatments (water, acetate, TeaF, or nutrients) I measured soil microbe respiration daily and took soil samples for virus particle and bacterial cell extraction. Here, take a look at my Respiration data. You’re probably thinking that the graph looks like a mess, lacking clear trends, and completely useless. You’re right! (except for the useless bit!) According to the respiration data I gathered from the upland field experiment, my treatments, and especially the TeaF virucidal treatment did not have a drastic impact on the microbial respiration. Now take a gander at my Virus particle direct count. If you remember back to my laboratory assays, I saw a drop of three logs in virus particle count after treatment of phage with TeaF. In the field I saw no such drop. Essentially, the TeaF virucidal was not nearly as effective at degrading virus particles in an upland soil as it was in the lab solution. [Read more...]

Sorry to burst your bubble, folks, but June is…over. It has left many of us in this blogsphere with glazed eyes and a hand tousling the hair atop our heads; where did the time go? This is a valid question to ask yourself, your friends, your enemies, and maybe even pets. Now, being a mere mortal and lacking the power to read the minds of others, I can only provide you with my simple answer: the culprit is Science. The crime: stealing June.  It was Science, in the laboratory, with the EGM-4.

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Well, it’s that time again. “What’s Kaitlin been up to in the lab lately?” you ask, eagerly, of course.  The answer to that question, unfortunately, is not much. In fact, the greater part of May was devoted to intense academic aerobics, a mad and crazed period of preparation for that glorious beast of a test known as the MCAT. After an attempt to swell my brain with the knowledge of all things good and pure (otherwise known as biology, chemistry, and physics), I took the exam. It feels good to have that test under my belt, to say the least.

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Hi everybody!

My name is Kaitlin, I am junior here at the lovely College of William & Mary, and my chosen scholastic path is that which rambles through the fields biological. After taking virology in the fall, I found myself increasingly consumed by questions pertaining to, you guessed it, viruses. More abundant than bacteria and much less studied, these biological entities are on the very cusp of life! I was possessed by my curiosity which led me into the Williamson Lab here on campus. Since this is our first meeting, I will simply give you a brief glance at where my project has been, and where it is headed. Here goes!

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