Pray for Dakota

This little girl is very sick, she has a blood clot in her leg and a blood infection. This is a very bad combo, the bacteria in her blood are growing/hanging out in the clot in what is called a biofilm. Biofilms are microorganisms living and interacting together in a goo matrix (goo is not the technical term), they are highly resistant to stress that would kill them if they were going it alone, this unfortunately includes antibiotics. So the bacteria in her blood get knocked down by the antibiotics (she is on several very potent ones) but they are replaced with ones coming out of the biofilm/clot. They are using medication to try and dissolve the clot, which is a problem by itself, so the antibiotics can do their job but this is not without risks. They are using very aggressive treatments to try and knock this out once and for all so that they can save Dakota's life. She was born prematurely and so has been a fighter since the day she was born, please pray, send positive thoughts or whatever you believe in that the doctors have gotten her on the right treatments and that she has the strength to beat this thing! Thank you all!




Note: Thank you to all my regulars who are still reading this blog, I am sorry I have been too busy with work and life to keep up with both writing this blog and keeping up with your blogs. Once I get my life balanced and some issues worked out I will hopefully have the time to resume blogging more, so much has happened of the past few months I am pretty overwhelmed. I've been trying to stay in touch using twitter, if you have it and want to chit chat with me on there I am Microblogology, send me an @ message so I know you are one of my bloggy friends and not a spammer. If you have skype that is even better than twitter. Miss you all!

A Microblogologist Production

A few days ago I noticed a container in the hallway outside my lab. Being the snoop concerned citizen that I am I of course had to investigate. It was unlabeled and contained what appeared to be seeded pink hand soap. Yesterday I looked at it again and decided to make a documentary about it, enjoy:



Unfortunately the goo was gone by the time I got back to do my last set of plating so there was no explosion and no more trying to capture the pulsating/bubbling of the goo, it was fun while it lasted! The goo is actually a part of a competition thing that the food science major nerds do every year, it is a big deal to their kind and so the Dishwasher and I can't tell you what their ultra secret pink goo is at this point. If I am aware of it after the contest is over I can try and find out more about it and let you know if anyone wants. It has another endorsement from a coworker who has tried it, in its non-fermented form, no one seemed interested in trying the fermented form for some reason! If I get a memo about a taste panel for it I think I'll give it a try and maybe get a vid of it, if I have time.

Note: I am being exceedingly kind calling him the "lab jerk". He is a vile and loathsome creature (can be nice, chooses not to).

Special thanks to the Dishwasher for participating in the documentary!

Guess that Gizmo 9-5-08

It is time for Guess that Gizmo, sorry that it has been so long between posts (both GTG posts and regular posts), I have been busy with the issues at work and also trying to catch up with my blog reading. To make it up to you I am adding a bonus to this one, same rules apply as the GTG rules, the bonus picture is Guess that Goo. For those just tuning in and who want to get in on the fun you still can totally catch up, the first GTG of the semester is here. I will probably tally the scores at the end of the semester. Remember this is totally for fun, the prize(s) will be blog bling (I have until December how to figure out how to make something into blog bling...) Clicking the images will show them larger if that helps.

Gizmo:
Goo:For the goo, guess what the white stuff floating in the tube is.

Have fun and good luck =)!