Bucket list item achieved! 🦠

My latest nerd purchase is also relevant to my love of ecology: a woodland dragon with tiny mushroom caps on its tail. 💜🍄

My partner came back from Omega Mart in Las Vegas and he brought me exactly what I wanted.

Excited for Jo Handelsman's talk today at Oregon State's Microbiology department! We're so lucky to be able to host her!

Wow, they make statistics so accessible nowadays!

It's been a little over a week since I started at the Sharpton lab. Everyone has been so welcoming and helpful. It's been fun so far diving into Zebrafish gut microbiome readings and exploring Oregon's nature! @tjsharpton

When you're the first academic in your family and you're trying to figure out how graduation robes work...

Been a crazy year balancing motherhood and PhD work, but I've passed my defense, dissertation is written, and just have to do my exit talk this Friday. Luckily I have a crafty friend who helped commemorate this moment!

It pays off to have entomologist friends who make clever quilts for your newborn. 🦋 #SciArt #spotthemimick

Enjoying the view during my lunch break today! How I envy the life of dogs. 😅

We are very sophisticated in our lab (aka paranoid about how our building's air circulation was affecting plates growing on the bench).

The colorful world of toad microbes. Purple Janthinobacterium and orange chryseobacterium galore!

Shrinky dinks: researcher edition (aka why do they let me use autoclaves?)

So one of our lab techs made a fun sign after throwing out the dead snake in the lab fridge...

Teeny baby Colorado Boreal Toad, about to be treated with probiotics for a fungal disease. For comparison, adults are about the size of your palm!

CU Regents continue to avoid clear action towards increasing diversity on campus. We need diversity in science like our planet needs its ecological biodiversity!! Everyone has their place in this ecosystem. @diversifyCUnow #weCUregents @cuboulder @cusystem @CUMarkKennedy