tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18747806511335344592011-12-02T12:50:56.216-07:00Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-8105483016304573412011-12-02T12:42:00.001-07:002011-12-02T12:50:56.226-07:00

Something has been bugging me lately. So, I will blog about it- speaking to the ether/interwebs may help. You may notice that I have changed my photo on my page. In order to start the conversation. If anyone has had a mixed breed dog- a MUTT if you will, you know the curiosity that ensues- what IS my dog?? Genetic testing has become a craze to help folks answer this question, but in my mind- the

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-79323399155940146562010-12-07T13:24:00.008-07:002010-12-08T10:55:04.659-07:00

OK. It has been ages since I posted last. I just saw this article and though it was a good place to start. In the fungal pathogen world, there is a lot of debate about "what makes a pathogen" - basically, many of the human fungal pathogens out there are considered "opportunists" in that in a normal human host they are not able to cause disease. Well at least rarely are they a problem in healthy

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-48241873080025480912010-03-08T11:13:00.000-07:002010-03-08T11:14:10.835-07:00

I love fossils, especially when they are of fungi!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-90633761769709194172010-01-05T14:58:00.007-07:002010-01-05T15:24:41.537-07:00

So often I end up writing statements in grants such as "My research will cure (insert favorite cause here)." And I always feel a little weird about it. Because it certainly could be true, however much more likely is that my research will have little immediate effect. This is because I do basic research. This article in Infection and Immunity really said it well. It is by Fang and Casadevall,

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-739282709820933352009-12-23T20:36:00.002-07:002010-01-14T11:11:34.890-07:00

Great article!Remember to keep an open mind, even if that means you have to refute your own pet hypothesis.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-18973018890543500802009-11-24T20:55:00.006-07:002009-12-20T12:19:07.881-07:00

This article was on the main YAHOO page todayIs this what passes for intelligent debate? We'll blame Darwin for Columbine, and school shootings in Finland? And setting up scientists as the evil and unreliable determiners of human fate? OK, yes, I know that Darwin had some wacky ideas about race. But I accept evolution as fact. Darwin's limitations do not take away from this. To the first point.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-5764226612013799572009-10-30T09:56:00.002-07:002009-10-30T10:00:41.322-07:00

10. SNOW9. green green green!8. no overhead flights7. Silence at night6. happy dogs5. deer in the yard4. walking trail just outside the back gate3. people look you in the eye and say hello as you walk past2. mountains1. YNP is an hour away

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-31079542950497615732009-10-12T21:40:00.001-07:002009-10-12T21:42:14.680-07:00

Check out the big one

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-39911203300199196482009-10-11T21:16:00.005-07:002009-10-12T20:30:19.398-07:00

10. Dust9. overhead military flights (we are right in the flight path for DM)8. police helicopters with search lights every weekend7. Our frat-boy neighbors that listen to their iPods on level 10 while passed out on the porch at 4AM6. Cockroaches5. swamp coolers4. thorns, stickers and spikes3. border patrol2. the republican legislature1. July

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-45485217231195675732009-10-05T19:46:00.004-07:002009-10-05T20:43:44.197-07:00

10. Geckos by the porch light9. The Monsoons8. The smell of creosote bush after the rain7. lizards in the backyard6. the way the desert buzzes and hums at 100+ in the summer5. amazing sunsets4. Oct-March3. 4th ave to downtown2. awesome mexican food1. my friends!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-38538813341026452502009-09-24T09:52:00.002-07:002009-09-24T10:14:54.692-07:00

10. Lightening the load9. Finding things you thought you lost8. Reading the old diary7. Anticipation6. Burning the stack of bills, receipts and other junk in the firepit5. Having an excuse to get new stuff4. Bubble wrap3. hmmmmm....2. Moving?1. being done with it?

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-78560826935983347372009-09-23T17:13:00.003-07:002009-09-23T17:20:15.769-07:00

Top 10 things I hate about moving:10. Seriously, where did all this crap come from9. Killer dust bunnies8. Living in a pile of boxes7. Fear of throwing something away and realizing after the garbage has come that you needed it after all6. Leaving friends5. Forever jamming packing tape dispenser4. Finding old embarrassing photos you thought you threw out the last time you moved3. Knowing that

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-22616649766723045782009-07-17T21:01:00.003-07:002009-07-17T21:08:11.278-07:00

Nice rainstorm today. Wash away the dusty dirt. Dolly loves the mud. Victor is afraid of the rain. The two of them make me laugh. And that is good. Now I am going to relax and hit the books and writing tomorrow. In the air conditioning. It's gonna be hot and humid tomorrow! Really, life is pretty good.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-52853125929484340142009-07-16T08:13:00.004-07:002009-07-16T08:38:48.632-07:00

I wonder sometimes if there is something I need to learn about my choices in the people I have around me. Or is it just really bad luck that both my Master's and PhD advisors turned out to be the wrong person for me? And right at the most crucial point, in both cases, is when I realized it- and that is too late. The funny part is, they are complete opposite personalities. A main reason I picked

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-71744014838586674922009-07-11T12:44:00.002-07:002009-07-11T12:45:32.506-07:00

Dolly the sweetie

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-26057707208600769212009-04-25T13:44:00.002-07:002009-04-25T13:47:27.778-07:00

What a gorgeous beach. Could have stayed for a few more days. Alas, back to work. I've got a ton to do, and not enough time to do it. I guess that is the story for all grad students!!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-14904771502765605312009-04-16T08:06:00.001-07:002009-04-16T08:10:04.295-07:00

Waiting in the airport. Not a great time to leave, but I am looking forward to being in fl. Amanda and justin getting married :) hope to see selby gardens, which is a place I've wanted to see for a long time! Also the Dali museum. Will post pix!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-65374926301005804082009-03-31T16:59:00.004-07:002009-03-31T17:12:40.473-07:00

I have a feeling these posts will be further and further apart. As I look for jobs and try to finish the dissertation "thing," I fear that I will not devote as much time to extracurricular activities. I just got back from DC. NSF meeting. Posting a photo of the view of the Jefferson Memorial across the tidal pond, with some cherry trees in bloom. Jefferson is my favorite prez, even if he was a

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-36037279250588727652009-03-16T13:15:00.002-07:002009-03-16T13:21:35.098-07:00

Scott is picking me up in 1 hr and I am still not packed. But I can blog! Meeting starts Tomorrow. Looks like some great talks and best of all old friends I haven't seen in a while. Hope this itouch works as well as I need. I am leaving the laptop behind. Let's see how long I last, LOL!!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-44667545406453602212009-03-14T21:03:00.001-07:002009-03-14T21:05:51.886-07:00

Just seeing if it will really work. This keyboard I'd like 2 change, but still pretty cool. So long as I can get wireless!

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-36637804386207350142009-03-06T19:02:00.003-07:002009-03-06T19:16:51.177-07:00

The size of the bars to the left indicates the amount of GDP that is produced by each category. So, sectors of the economy that are "making bucks." The ecologists viewpoint is the classic food pyramid, at the bottom are all the things we need to support the rest: we depend on agriculture for our food, extraction of natural resources for our energy and raw materials, and forests for the wood to

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-14673331018422448082009-02-28T09:35:00.004-07:002009-02-28T10:07:29.956-07:00

Well, travels with Victor and Rob. We go out for Sunday drives quite often. This last trip was a bit of a change because where we were going to go was full of campers and rednecks. We wondered if it had been discovered when we found the turnoff marked with a fencepost and red flagging. And then driving down the road, realizing it was much more well-traveled than we had remembered, we feared that

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-68181565413633259992009-02-23T21:12:00.003-07:002009-02-23T21:38:46.662-07:00

Having fun with teaching selection. Here the kids are putting green and white pegs on different backgrounds and then being predators. The population changes as each generation is produced from the survivors. Fewer white left on a green background and vice versa.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-60911549280659123712009-01-29T23:31:00.002-07:002009-01-29T23:35:27.332-07:00

Today is my birthday. I won't divulge which one, just cuz I am a big baby.I spent the early part of the day teaching the scientific process (different from method). Good times. I think they got it.I ate my first In and Out burger.I had drink(s) with friends at an Irish pub.A good day.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-50197731824688651792009-01-04T16:53:00.003-07:002009-01-04T17:12:23.746-07:00

A recent post on a blog I follow, by a colleague, John Logsdon reminded me why I started this blog in the first place.The FACT of evolution has supported modern biology for the last 100 years. Any research biologist I know doesn't spend time arguing over the basic fact of evolution. It would be like a planetary scientist arguing that the earth doesn't revolve around the sun, it would be utter

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-90162471467890834082008-12-24T17:36:00.004-07:002008-12-24T17:57:57.877-07:00

Well, another year is almost gone. It gets you to thinking about what you've done, not done, and everything in between. I'll focus on what I have done, and what I've been thinking about. The "not dones" are still opportunities.I've stuck to my plan to get everyone a "gift" of a donation to a cause. I tried to do my best to match people to causes they would appreciate, maybe did better with some

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-20673103400225486962008-12-21T16:06:00.003-07:002008-12-21T16:19:30.270-07:00

Okay, back to evolution. I know, my other blogs are probably more interesting for most of you, if there are indeed any of you! But, I have a problem I am trying to think through, and it helps if I write it down. Or in this case, type it out. There are regions on cocci chromosomes that have low Fst. Fst is a measure of gene flow. Values close to 0 indicate that there is a lot of gene flow- in this

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-82353983938370676222008-12-15T11:48:00.003-07:002008-12-15T11:59:07.659-07:00

OK, I realize there is one other FP I have seen that didn't happen at Hastings. It was last year, flying home from the east coast. Getting on the plane, I see this guy, with a baseball cap on, looking at the floor, not looking up to meet anyone's eye. Which is suspicious, because usually the ppl in first class are always so happy to gloat at the sad poor people cramming on to the economy section.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-7131740534695573112008-11-28T21:22:00.003-07:002008-11-28T21:31:23.321-07:00

So once again, working at Hastings. Only in Missoula now. Video manager. Responsible. Back in school. Finally got my bearings back and direction in my life. Anyway. A woman is in the sale video aisle with her 2 kids. I recognize her but pretend I don't. I smile. She smiles back. I ask her if she needs anything. She is looking for some kids educational videos. Which we don't carry, but I let her

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-5697247247777045982008-11-25T19:29:00.004-07:002008-11-25T20:04:48.892-07:00

Again, working at Hastings. I have to keep this up b/c my bff is competing with me (LOL LD). A co-worker comes back from lunch, and comments that there is a red Porche outside in the parking. OK, if you knew Billings in the 90s- that was something unusual. Anyway, I decided to check it out. I went outside, and it looked like it was actually parked in front of the Subway next door, so I went back

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-24929242336000344222008-11-19T22:35:00.004-07:002008-11-19T22:50:43.262-07:00

So my friend posted her famous person story. I have some good ones. even living in MT, we see famous ppl. What is funny to me, is that they all happened at Hastings Books Music & Video. In Billings in 1991- incident number one. This really TALL redheaded woman came in. I was working in the stockroom on a Tuesday. Tuesday was the day we got magazines. She was hassling the book person at 10AM,

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-22839772292823411762008-11-19T08:15:00.001-07:002008-11-19T08:18:26.086-07:00

the things i should dowould doredokeep me awake in sleepthen dream through the daysleepwalkdreamtalkflying

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-38208453540123339422008-11-08T12:46:00.002-07:002008-11-08T12:51:37.202-07:00

With a new president. A historic moment yes. My hopes are that Pres Obama listens to his science advisor. That he fully funds science and science education. We can no longer afford to allow ourselves to lag behind other countries in numbers of students pursuing STEM degrees.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-51809363858995263672008-11-03T16:55:00.003-07:002008-11-03T17:02:42.056-07:00

I think you know where I stand. Regardless, get out and vote! I did early voting, so let's hope my vote actually gets counted. Light a fire people. We have tough times ahead, and only through serious change will we come out on the other side.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-20586719429432877452008-09-25T20:57:00.004-07:002008-09-25T21:04:07.251-07:00

Been having a great time this week- trying to ignore politics and transformation issues at UA. SO, been enjoying taking my 6th and 8th graders to Marine Discovery. The kids have been loving it. For some, even though their middle school is right across the street, it is the first time they've been on campus. I only hope the memory sticks with them a long time. Peace.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-87035984041790685842008-09-08T12:51:00.003-07:002008-09-08T13:18:29.042-07:00

And I am frankly disheartened that Palin and McCain think that "teaching the controversy" is even a reasonable suggestion. To be sure, McCain is less biased here, and has stated he "believes in" evolution. I am even a bit turned off when people say they "believe" in evolution. Folks, it has nothing to do with belief and has everything to do with experimentation, observation and critical thinking.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-78871112701265388182008-09-01T08:12:00.004-07:002008-09-01T08:21:12.221-07:00

In 1997 Ericksson and Winka described the class Eurotiomycetes when new ordinal descriptions of the Ascomycota were completed. At the time, only a single order, Eurotiales, was assigned to the class. Over the last ten years, a more complete picture has developed, such that the most recent analysis shows that the class contains at least two subclasses, Eurotiomycetidae and Chaetothyriomycetidae,

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-68855442804037228222008-08-25T13:58:00.001-07:002008-08-25T14:01:07.990-07:00

Hard to believe, but this might actually be my last year of school. I've been a professional student for 20 years now, I guess it is time to move on. OK, in actuality, I've had real jobs during that time. I've done the 9 to 5 thing. Didn't really like it. Sure the security is nice. Getting paid vacation. Benefits. Maybe not worrying about affording to go to the doctor. Maybe.But it feels good. I

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-29126760844748036452008-08-18T14:55:00.000-07:002008-08-18T14:59:04.752-07:00

I attended a Gordon research Conference entitled “Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology” at the Holderness School in Holderness New Hampshire, June 29th -July 4th, 2008. The stated goal of the conference is to provide a forum for presentation of the latest advances in fungal research with a particular emphasis on filamentous and pathogenic fungi. The meeting brought together leading mycologists

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-83036588487894906532008-07-10T07:28:00.000-07:002008-07-10T07:39:08.856-07:00

So, I promised to do a recap of the meeting, and highlights. This is my first pass. I'll have to do the specifics on the talks from my lab office because I alredy took all my notes to work, and left them on my desk. Part of the problem of having 3 offices...stuff gets lost easily :) First impressions of the site- New Hampshire is much more rural that I expected! Having been in Woods hole and Cold

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-56201585784229272642008-07-08T07:31:00.000-07:002008-07-08T07:55:58.018-07:00

All in all a good meeting. My talk went well, of course didn't say everything I wanted, in exactly the way I wanted, but I think it was OK. The main points got across. First Gordon conference, and I think I'll try to go next time around, in 2 years, provided I am still in mycology. John Taylor will be a co-chair, so bound to be lots of things I am interested in. So, this week here in Tucson,

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-44162282568725416532008-06-29T08:37:00.000-07:002008-06-29T08:41:53.097-07:00

Well, I am here in Manchester NH anyway. Still at the airport. An hour away from my final destination. I misread the bus schedule, and turns out I won't be able to catch the bus until 1:30, not 10:30, like I thought (sunday, duh). boohoo. So, at least they are progressive enough to have free wireless at the airport. I am always amazed at the larger airports charging for internet, yet small

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-43479861744087058442008-06-18T18:29:00.000-07:002008-06-18T18:33:22.858-07:00

I'll be heading to a Gordon Conference next week. Specifically, the Cellular & molecular fungal biology conference. I have to give a talk, so will be occupied with that, and not so much blogging. But I'll try to summarize some of the cool work if I can.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-23293622005908985612008-06-14T11:38:00.000-07:002008-06-14T12:02:36.063-07:00

A recent post on a great site, Panda's Thumb, summarizes a recent article on de novo origination of a gene. What does this mean? de novo is latin for "from new", and its usage is wide, and can mean different things. It can mean "newly arisen function," and might also be referred to as ab initio, or "from the beginning." Anyway, the paper basically shows how brewer's yeast made a brand new gene

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-1072354586863485492008-06-10T07:41:00.000-07:002008-06-10T08:14:01.946-07:00

An interesting, if rather long, article points out that humans may well be over carrying capacity of the planet. I spend a lot of time working with microbes on petri plates, so I have little difficulty in seeing the analogy. It contains a quote from one of my favorite people, R. Buckminster Fuller, "It will be a race to either paradise or oblivion, right to the last moment." Think about how we

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-42588581193892572332008-06-06T18:19:00.000-07:002008-06-06T18:38:37.440-07:00

There are benefits of sexual reproduction. In 1932, Muller along with Fisher (1930) proposed that sex might purge deleterious mutations, and increase fitness over time. The idea was further expanded upon by Kondrashov (1988). This process has been shown in a homothallic Ascomycete, Aspergillus nidulans, where sexual and asexual lineages have very low level of genetic differences (Bruggeman et al

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-24192352435450501172008-06-04T09:39:00.000-07:002008-06-04T10:45:44.092-07:00

The derivation of protein-protein interaction networks of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, C. elegans and Drosophila has recently become a popular method for understanding the biology of these organisms. Network analysis is most advanced in the budding yeast, S. cerevisiae. The network of S. cerevisiae was developed using empirical methods such as yeast two-hybrids (e.g. Ito et al. 2001), expression

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-47186674827223126322008-06-02T10:06:00.000-07:002008-06-14T12:03:38.873-07:00

A really great article in the new yorker, that explains so well how science has affected my life. I came to science "late in life" after dropping out of college, after becoming incredibly disillusioned with life in the modern age. OK, I started reading Kierkegaard in my Norwegian lit class, and it just made me stop and think for about 2 years. That and I realized I didn't really want to be a

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-3302464749783068382008-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:002008-06-14T12:04:20.676-07:00

The basis of mammalian host resistance to fungal pathogens is relatively under studied. But what is the best model system for studying fungal disease? Many fungi are not host specific, that is, they have the ability to be virulent in many different hosts. Experiments can not be done in vivo in humans, but can they be done on human cell lines. Is a mouse model appropriate for understanding

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-9054247004727655802008-05-30T19:39:00.000-07:002008-06-14T12:11:41.935-07:00

Ha! funny. Never would I get a hit, but because PZ linked my blog, I got 2 comments. 1 nice person, and 1 crazy person.If ppl want to read about my bits, fits and starts, be my guest. Say hi once in a while, and plz let me know if I say something factually inaccurate.I love keeping my toes in restoration ecology, because I think that is what hooked me into biology. That and my 7th grade biology

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-84626946471248036652008-05-29T11:23:00.000-07:002008-05-29T11:33:00.854-07:00

The effects of inbreeding may be mitigated in plant populations by a phenomenon known as purging of genetic load. Over time, inbred plants show decreased fitness followed by a rebound in certain fitness traits, and can exhibit higher fitness than the original population (Crnokrak and Barrett 2002). Darwin first noticed this in his breeding experiments with Ipomoea. This phenomenon is referred

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-14519049047105899582008-05-27T18:45:00.000-07:002008-05-27T18:47:58.812-07:00

Virulence or pathogenicity is a microbial trait expressed in a susceptible host and that trait allows the pathogen to cause damage to the host. In general fungi can be divided into two groups, those that are commensal and become an opportunistic infection, and endemics, which are those fungi that are acquired from the environment and have the ability to cause disease (Casadevall et al. 2003;

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-21573843733071435542008-05-22T09:29:00.000-07:002008-05-22T09:31:54.108-07:00

I wonder why/how anyone does it?? I feel like I am organized and a smart person, but I have the hardest time publishing. I get the experiments done, figure out the answer, give a talk, and then, I get bored. How can one stay motivated and see it to the finish?? hmmmm. I'd rather go camping.

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1874780651133534459.post-45297929313345500762008-05-20T09:40:00.000-07:002008-05-20T09:50:54.935-07:00

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060124&ct=1&SESSID=6cedc9e903a118743bb7cdc435eabea5I like to think that the debate is over. I am beginning to realize the threat that science poses to religion. Surrounding myself with others who think as I do, it is often hard to see that most people do not think critically, and indeed view it as a sin to

Dr Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09451390165397714000noreply@blogger.com1