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7 September 2009

Grad school has swallowed me alive


Yes, I'm still alive. And doing rather well, thanks for asking. Unfortunately grad school has become my whole life this past month or so. I have been silencing genes and counting aphids until it feels my head has been drained of grey matter and stuffed with balls of cotton wool. There are several new stories carefully packed in that cotton wool, of course, but you will just have to be patient with me. In the mean time, here are some images from my research, to tide you over until the next proper installment of (E&E)². The top image shows 3,3'-diaminobenzidine staining in a leaf of resistant wheat after feeding by aphids has caused the massive release of peroxides. The bottom aniline blue image is of callose deposits that strengthen cell walls in response to the little suckers.


Sometimes sciences can just be about pretty pictures, can't it?

3 comments:

Chris Eldin said...

Waiting...
;-)

Aine said...

Yes-- it is about pretty pictures!

(They really are beautiful cell walls, btw...)

Counting aphids? Ugh. Gives me a headache just thinking about it. Hope you feel like a normal human again soon! ;)

Faith Peters said...

Loved reading this thankk you