Category Archives: Uncategorized

Watching Bacteria Grow: Winogradsky Panel Day 7

Posted on June 18, 2013 by David Esteban

The panel is changing more slowly now, but the oranges and greens are getting richer and the sulfur-enriched mud is showing more and coalescing black spots.
The level of the mud dropped overnight.  This could be due to settling of the … Continue reading →

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Watching Bacteria Grow: Winogradsky Panel Day 4

Posted on June 16, 2013 by David Esteban

The Winogradsky panel is developing much more quickly than I had expected. Differences are noticeable from day to day.

The panel at day 4.

The colors at the interface are richer and thicker. The green sulfur bacteria below the orange layer are … Continue reading →

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Watching Bacteria Grow: Winogradsky Panel

Posted on June 13, 2013 by David Esteban

One of the research projects in my lab is to investigate the microbial communities present in Winogradsky columns. You can read more about what a Winogradsky column is here.  Over the next little while, I will be carefully watching the … Continue reading →

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Your personal genome sequence

Posted on December 27, 2012 by David Esteban

As a bonus question on their final exam, I asked my intro biology students whether or not they would want to have their genome sequenced. The question was:
It is already possible to get your whole genome sequenced and it wont … Continue reading →

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It’s a slime mold, not a cupcake

Posted on July 13, 2012 by David Esteban

Slime molds look kind of like vomit but they are pretty awesome.  In fact, one of them is affectionately nicknamed “dog vomit slime mold.”  While vacationing in British Columbia, my 2 year old son, exploring in the trees and shrubs, … Continue reading →

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Fighting Fire with Fire: Using Poxviruses to Combat Cancer

Posted on April 2, 2012 by David Esteban

Contributed by guest blogger: Brooke Schieffer ’12
In September of last year, a group of researchers infected cancer patients with a genetically engineered poxvirus. While this may sound like something out of a horror movie, it is actually quite the opposite: … Continue reading →

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Founding editor of JVI, Lloyd Kozloff, dies

Posted on March 16, 2012 by David Esteban

The Journal of Virology was founded in 1967 by three scientists, including Lloyd Kozloff, who passed away this week.
Sarah Kozloff, Lloyd’s daughter, is a professor in the Film Department at Vassar College.  She told me of her scientist father about a … Continue reading →

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I’ll take my milk pasteurized, thanks

Posted on November 22, 2011 by David Esteban

A recent article in Vassar’s newspaper, The Miscellany News, discussed the Vassar Raw Milk Co-op, which brings unpasteurized milk to Vassar College (Co-op offers raw milk delivery service, Nov 10,2011). The article raises several important questions about raw milk, … Continue reading →

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I Don’t Want Dengue Fever

Posted on October 6, 2011 by David Esteban

When a student is absent from class, they usually send me an email to explain why. Occasionally I get emails from students in my microbiology or virology classes explaining their absence from class as a result of some infectious … Continue reading →

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Goodbye Rinderpest, Hello Measles

Posted on May 27, 2011 by David Esteban

Variola virus, the agent of smallpox, once held a lonely spot on the list of globally eradicated diseases. Now it is joined by rinderpest, the cattle plague. The OIE (Organization for Animal Health) declared the disease eradicated and … Continue reading →

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