Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mannie!

More Lab Kudos

Another PNAS paper has come out from work of Liscum Lab members - this time work of Ullas and Daniel (former student). Awesome job guys!!!!

Click here for link to paper


It is this high quality of science that has allowed Da Boss to get his piece of news this week - promotion to Full Professor! Thanks to all past and present members of the lab from the ol' man!! I didn't get there on my own

"...The Ugly One"

Another Sad Departure

Well this year has been a tough one for departures of Liscum Lab members. First Renee (some months ago) and within the past month Amanda and Jessica R. Today it was Beth. For those of us remaining let me say we'll miss all of our departing members - they are ALL off to BIGGER and BETTER things though:

Amanda is off to Georgetown U for an excelerated MS program

Jessica R. is starting a tech position with Lori Eggert (Bio MU) shortly

Beth is headed for an RN position in sunny S CA (Santa Monica)

Best of luck to them all - they all know where the Blog is and it's purpose is to keep us all caught up!!! Drop us a line now and then.

"...The Ugly One"

Wango Tango!!

Look who's coming to the Blue Note....it's Uncle Ted!
http://www.thebluenote.com/

The tickets are kinda pricey, but no where else can you see so many people in zebra clothes.

More Congrats!!

This is a BIG graduation year for the Liscum Lab - this past weekend we had 4 graduations alone:

Alex - PhD
Amanda - BS Bio, w/Honors
Beth - BS Nursing
Jessica R - BS Bio, w/Honors

In two weeks Jessica E will be graduating from Hickman High in town!!!

BIG party this Sun to celebrate all these accomplishments - Caribbean theme!! Sign-up sheet (for foods, etc) in the lab.

Cinco de Mayo photos added

Hola lab folks! Photos from this year's Cinco de Mayo lunch have been added to the photo flicker on the right. Please have a look.

Adios!
-B

10th Anniversary T-Shirt Ready for Production - WANT ONE??

All current and former members of the lab...the 2006, 10th Anniversary Liscum Lab T-shirt is ready to go to the printers. We need a final count of #'s ASAP. Please contact Mannie (liscume@missouri.edu) if you want one (include # and sizes).

check out the shirt here

CONGRATS!!!

Congrats to the following Liscum Lab members:

Alex Esmon - successfully completed his PhD last week

Brandon Celaya - 3rd Place Award in MU Life Sciences Week poster session (Organismal Biology section)

Amanda Tinsley - Honorable Mention in MU Life Sciences Week poster session (Cell Biology section)


Good luck to Ullas Pedmale in the poster session at the International Plant Photobiology Meeting in Paris next week!

Check it Out - 2006 Lab T-Shirt Design

Below is a link to the current set of designs for the front of the 2006 and 10th anniversary lab shirt. Current consensus is design BLUE1. Feedback????

Check 'em out

I'll have a back design shortly after we finalize the front design.

WOW!!! CSI Get's Freaky!!

Just sitting around reading papers for Plant Development and watching a little CSI on Spike...."Fur and Loathing" - what a weird episode. Basic premise of one of the two story lines is to understand why a guy in a full body racoon suit was walking across a highway and got hit by a car. The CSIers just brought in a 'cat' in bra and panties (a guy in a blue furry cat suit - head and all!) who has apparently had 'skirtchy' with the racoon. Definition of skirtchy: animal forplay, essentially. Needless to say the CSI crew turned on the UV lamps to check out the cat suit and surprise, surprise...yup fluorescent haploid DNA. Boy what a weird episode. Makes all of our lives look down right tame, normal and dare I say quite forgetable! Alright, commercial is over...gotta go see why grown men dress up in animal suits to rub up against eachother...

Recent visitor

Thanks to everyone for their participation and enthusiasm during the recent visit by Winslow Briggs. For my part, I can honestly say getting to meet the man was quite an experience and honor. I sincerely hope I have a chance to see him again!

Thanks all!
-B

The Lab "Curse" Lives!!!

A little birdie tells me that the "bad water" in the lab continues to be a problem - with the birth of Bethany's son this past Halloween we thought that the lab we free of fetal development...NOPE. Apparently one of our "extended" family (a former student) is currently "with child" (since Nov). So he "curse" continues...this makes a solid 8 years with no period of rest for the wicked!!

Who's NEXT???? Be afraid, be very afraid!!

Resumption of Lab Meeting - THIS WEEK!

All, despite my current level of 'brain melt' I am experiencing this semester I believe the time is due to resume regular lab meetings - most of the recruitment stuff is done or near done and thus I can attend again.

Time: Noon, Friday 3 Mar
Place: 372 CSBLSF

B and Ullas will be discussing BRET stuff.

Oh the Days of Yesteryear: Doughboy and Kitty-Litter

Just sitting in STL eating breakfast and preparing myself for a day of reading Life Sciences Fellowship nominations and waiting for Taylor's 2 dances in her dance competition - we have considerable waiting given that her dances are separated by other stuff by about 4 hrs!! Tom's recent post, and Renee's responses to them, reminded me that the past few years have been quite free of "oddities" for the lab. We've come along way sine the days of rotation students who "have tried it before" (the infamous cat scat eating confession) and feel that a PhD is about disappearing for a couple months to "go home to bake cookies with mom". Having said that we certainly have some good stories of our 'distant estanged relatives".

OK, better get runing to the competition venue for the long wait.

Something only Mannie and Renee will care about...

To think what could have been....I almost got some for free.
Anybody feel like tuna and tabasco cheese nips?
Rose Designs

My Childhood and the X-Files Collide

Well sitting here watching the X-Files and one of my favorite two-parters is on: "Tempus Fugit"/"Max". Within the first 5 minutes of the second part ("Max") Mulder and Scully visit Max's (a frequent abductee) trailer in Barnes Corners, NY - here's the connection to my childhood - NO NOT frequent alien abduction, although some would conclude that would explain a lot - rather Barnes Corners (the real town) is located 6 miles from my hometown of Copenhagen NY. Just a couple minutes ago Mulder was in the Syracuse airport (or the facimile in Vancouver BC where the X-Files was filmed). Pretty cool to see ones childhood haunts depicted on TV in owns favorite show. It's been a long time since I've seen these episodes - not only do they remind me of home (NO not space) but they are killer episodes (and not for the plane crash at the heart of the story).

OK, back to the show and off the computer. Thought we needed an update to the blog...apparently everyone is so busy that they've had no time. Leave to the one who does the least in the lab (me) to post now!!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Cheers today to Jo for proposing a great idea of getting together this Friday after work to celebrate just being a lab. What a nice idea, especially this week! Please count me in and thanks again to you Jo. Yes, we heard you...


Hey... who can fill that last spot on the Liscum Laneconquerors (or Laneconquistadors as I prefer) this year? The day of our triumph (2/17/06, high noon) draws near and the team needs one more person. Do you think you can outbowl those departmental secretaries or that pesky history department? Please do volunteer.

Will Liscum make it? We missed him on the 2004 and 2005 teams.

Too busy with lab drama to post???

OK - I admit - I've been lurking. Trying desperately to keep up with the lab, but since I'm not an X-Files fan, don't have much to add comment-wise. So for those of us who need a Liscum Lab fix - more posts please..........

Anyhow - life here on Wisteria Lane is uneventful. Both of the F1s have been sick off and on for over a week - we had to take Abby into be tested for whooping cough (still waiting on test results, but I don't think she has it) and Ethan has been running a fever since Saturday. I'm about ready to disinfect the house with chlorox!

That's about the exciting news here - see why I need a lab fix??

Blog Going the Way of the Newsletter?

It's been ohhhh soooo quiet recently. Apparently I'm the only one with free time on my hands at 2 am....well just getting ready to hit the hay and thought I'd see if anyone has been on...nope, nadda, no one, not a sole.....quiet, silence, no news.

Here's to waiting for some more posts....

New Study: Auxins Do Not Relieve Nasal and Sinus Congestion Resulting from the Common Cold

UPI (12:43 AM EST) - A researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia has reported that the plant morphogen auxin (chemical identity; indole-3-acetic acid) can now be conclusively removed from any list that it might be on as a possible cure or relief for nasal and sinus congestion resulting from the "common cold". Professor N. O. Sheet told reporters, "I thought it might be worth finally putting to rest an idea, kicked around for a couple of decades in select circles, that the simple phytochemical and plant hormone auxin might hold the cure to the common cold." Prof. Sheet said, "I recently caught a nasty cold and my head felt just congested enough to do some tests...I wasn't surprised at the finding. I read several scientific papers devoted entirely to the role of auxin in axis formation during embryogenesis, but it did absolutely nothing for my pounding head. If anything my head felt more like an explosion waiting to happen after the tests than before, although I don't have any statistics to support this contention." If Prof. Sheet's findings hold up to the scrutinity of the scientific community it is nearly certain that his chances of wining one of the top prizes in science will continue to elude him.