The Corthals Lab Blog

As much as we would like to ignore it, the arrival of August marks the end of the summer research experience for all our students. But this does not mean the end of work! Data must be analyzed, papers published! Summer research experience is over... The Dávalos-Corthals Lab had a send off lunch at the Curry Club! Curry Club send off: an Indian food first for Margarita! From Left to right around the table: Bhavana, Margarita, Sanah, Ramatu Curry Club send off: From Left to right around the table: Bhavana, Margarita, Sanah, Ramatu Curry Club send off: From Left to right around the table: Sanah, Ramatu, Elise, Dr. C, Dr. D, Bhavana, Margarita Curry Club send off: Curry Club send off: From Left to right around the table: Sanah, Ramatu, Elise, Dr. C, Dr. D, Bhavana, Margarita

Never a dull moment at the Davalos-Corthals Lab: Dr. D was having her big star-scientist photo shoot today, which led to minion Margarita to show her own prowess at picture taking, while minion Sanah was becoming an FX specialist by working the smoke machine in the Stony Brook Greenhouse... Dr. D in the mist (photo by Minion Margarita - smoke machine action by Minion Sanah ) Dr. D in the mist - Jurassic Park style (photo by Minion Margarita - smoke machine action by Minion Sanah) Beware the Lurking minions!!!! *Dr. C's pic* Dr. C not in the mist (photo by Minion Margarita) Stony Brook Orchids (photo by Minion Margarita) Photographer Mike McGregor, Dr. D and Dr. C discussing props and fashion (photo by Minion Margarita) Photographer Mike McGregor & Dr. D (photo by Minion Margarita) Bromeliad (photo by Minion Margarita) Iris (photo by Minion Margarita) Minions with banana tree - But of course! *Dr. C's pic* *Dr. C'

After days of trying (perseverance always pays in the lab!), Minions got results! BANDS! And as celebration, minions got Corthals Lab Shirt... :) BANDSSSSS! RESULTS! Margarita's beautiful bands! (And nothing in the negative control! Yay!) Even the Davalos Lab minions got Corthals Lab shirts Minions enjoying their shirts in dorms

"These REUs are thinking: "I gotta eat." "I gotta hunt." "I gotta make my PCR work!". You gotta be able to relate to at least one of those things."  Uncanny, right? Jurasic World- Image from IO9

Tips to bring  your specimens home from the field  First installment: paperwork and airlines Ah, the great outdoors! The fun field trips! Battling mosquitoes, scorpions and other critters to collect precious specimens back to your lab for analyses... How virtuous you feel when you are packing it all up for return to your home lab. And then it happens: your package (especially if you are using packaging a little out of the ordinary, like, say, a cryogenic dryshipper) is held back right there and then, at the airline counter.  Quite... What to do??? How can you prevent this?! The answer to all those questions is: you most often cannot and have no recourse. So better have a panoply of back-up plans. Traveling light is (often) not an option on a field trip Here are a few tips for all of you, bio-explorers of the wilderness! First of all: paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!  The CDC permit: - Before you leave for the field (and I mean a couple of MONTHS be

After we presented our primer design and submitted a clear and grammatically correct list of our hypotheses to Drs. Davalos and Corthals, we are finally allowed to gaze upon the beauty of our just-delivered primers!    Margarita presents her primer design...   then Sanah (with no adorable baby bat pictures)...   But finally: we are at the bench!!! They are some oops on the way, though... And the atmosphere heats up, as territoriality takes place over the primers...  Sanah's Da Vinci moment... Ramatu has warned you. You have been warned! ... ...while Bhavana is singing: 'why can't we be friends?'...