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Ngaio, Mario and Martina
Although the proud parents missed the opportunity to give the new addition to their family a name ending in "o", we're still excited that they have recently announced baby Martina to the world. It sounds like she's reading the journals already, and planning to join the Sydney Protein Group, so you can't ask much more than that. Report suggests that the full level of sleep deprivation has not yet sunken in (to the parents), but we've no doubt that will come soon enough... Congratulations Ngaio and Mario - it's great to welcome another addition to the panoply of lab babies!
Joels NBD…
...which means New Bike Day in bike geek lingo... Joel has spent a bit of time (well, quite a bit of time) building up a new all-road touring bike based on a custom Ti frame built by titanproduct in China. Kitted out with an old Ultegra crankset (+38T Wolftooth chainring), 1x11 GRX (taking a risk with an out-of-spec 11-46 cassette that seems to be shifting smoothly) with Enigma C-six fork, GRX hydraulic discs, Chris King headset, SQlab saddle (very comfortable so far), Salsa Cowchipper bars (feel great), and Hunt wheels set up tubeless with a Son dynamo. And couplers of course...! Rides like a dream (around the block, at least) and - once the open the border to Victoria - there could...
Priya + 1
Priya Thaivalappil - who worked with Joel as a Research Assistant way back in 2014 - is now the proud mother of a bouncing (well, hopefully not bouncing too much) baby boy named Neil. He looks like a handful...! Congratulations Priya and thanks very much for keeping us up to date!
Scientists in Schools
Joel has been involved in the CSIRO Scientists in Schools program for a few years now, visiting a local primary school (Strathfield North Public School) once or twice a year to do a day of science with a bunch of the students (usually about 150 in a day in three...
Marylene wins SPG ECR Prize
This one slipped through the news net - apologies for that Marylène... On 15 June, the Sydney Protein Group had an Early Career Researcher event in which six speakers (including Marylène and Ana) vied for the opportunity to get a guaranteed speaking slot at the...
Cuong hands in his thesis – for good!
A huge collective sigh of relief was heard from the Nguyen household the other day when Cuong finished his thesis corrections and handed in the final copy of his thesis to the University! All three of his examiners' reports were excellent - commenting how well...
Katschi’s done it!
The other day Katschi did that momentous deed - handing in her PhD thesis. Yay! No more staying up all night (unless she wants to of course)... Well done Katschi - fantastic effort!!
Tom’s Cambridge fundraising is going well…
Tom - Jacqui's 2011 Bsc Hons student - has just won a University of Sydney Scholarship to pay part of his costs for doing a PhD at Cambridge (the UK one - not the rural sheep farming place in the North Island of NZ) - hopefully with one more lamington drive, he...
Saad’s new heir
In case you were thinking that Saad had been a bit distracted lately or were wondering why he wasn't here today, I can show you the reason - meet! I can see the resemblence... All set for a busy next six months on all fronts...
Mitchell’s amateur astronomy effort
Mitchell, one of our resident crystallographers and amateur astronomers, was on the ball this morning and managed to cunningly capture the transit of Venus using his binoculars and a white surface - cool. As he noted, it was probably the last time he was going to...
Paul insisted I put this up…
A surreptitious recording of an effort from our first jam yesterday with a 4-member ensemble - Paul on bass, Mitch on drums, Elissa Liew from Micro on keyboard (she sounds great here!) and yours truly on the tenor sax (and sounding a bit thin). [listen]. Felt great...
We are slowly turning Ana from the dark side…
Ana recorded her first 15N-HSQC today - and it was a ripper! Who needs those fiddly crystal things...? We will have her writing pulse programs by the end of the year......
A bumper week for papers
Jacqui has had a good couple of weeks, with 3 papers getting accepted or reviews that indicate only minor revisions are required - that backlog of papers is getting slowly but steadily cleared!
Michael’s quotable quotes from the lab retreat
How he remembered them, I don't know - was he wearing a wire? 1. "Suck it up, princess." (with the appropriate accent) 2. "You're in for a flaming sausage of a surprise - if you catch my drift." 3. "The mask of Dorro." 4. "Having to run 22 km to get ping pong...