I have just returned to Glasgow after an epic month of travelling....you may have read my reflections on ISBA in my last lab blog, but soon after returning from ISBA in Korea, I flew off with my PhD student Sarah (Twitter @SarahBrozio) to Trinidad in the Caribbean to carry out fieldwork....joining up with the University of Glasgow Trinidad Expedition, an annual student led expedition that lets 10 or so undergraduates experience life and science in Trinidad. This years trip was shorter than normal for Sarah and I due to other commitments, but we packed a lot in to it in 12 days. My laboratory works primarily on Streptomyces bacteria, but one of the more wacky projects in my lab is studying the biochemical and biophysical properties of the proteins that make up the foam nests of Leptodactylid frogs- primarily the Tungara frog (Engystomops pustulosus) - Sarah is in her final year and we are generating some very interesting data and it looks like these foam proteins may be suitable as a drug delivery system for anti-cancer drugs and also antibiotics. Our fieldwork consists of driving around the island, listening for these little brown frogs and then collecting amplexing pairs or their nests and taking them back to the lab. The amplexing (mating) pairs can be placed in a centimetre or so of water and then put somewhere dark and quiet to allow frog love to take its course. The wild collected or captive laid nests can then be processed, by painstakingly removing all of the eggs from the foam. This stops egg proteins contaminating those of the foam. No frogs or eggs are harmed in this process as the following day, all frogs are released and all the eggs are hatched in captivity and then the tadpoles are released back in to the water body in which they were laid. We can then take all of these protein samples back to our lab in Strathclyde for analysis. All of this work is done under collecting licences and export permits kindly issued by Mr McFarlane of the Game and Wildlife Division of the Trinidad and Tobago Government. The last couple of years we have also engaged in some little side projects - one using eDNA to monitor the critically endangered Golden tree frog (paper here) and one to use Oxford Nanopore MinIons to undertake metagenomic studies of the whole bromeliad phytotelmata community - from amphibians through to bacteria and fungi. The work we undertake often uses the amazing William Beebe Tropical Research Centre at Simla in the Arima Valley as our accommodation. This is a truly remarkable place run by the thoroughly lovely Ronnie Hernandez on behalf of the Asa Wright nature Centre. Beebe is seen as the godfather of Tropical ecology and was somewhat of a celebrity in his time (he is most famous for inventing the Bathosphere submarine). Simla was built for him and he lived and worked there for many years. Much of the foundations of Tropical ecology were worked out there and much of the early work on echolocation in bats too. It is a remarkable place, a little run down but it is fantastic to go to sleep, under your mosquito net to the sounds of the jungle and then wake to a totally different set of sounds. Simla allows you to immerse yourself in to work and thinking about science while surrounded by hummingbirds, frogs and snakes (some are venomous so one has to be careful at night). I find it inspirational to be there - working where Beebe lived and worked and where he was visited and carried out work along side other great names in Biology - such as Ernst Mayr (Evolutionary biologist and personal hero), E. O Wilson (Entomologist), Sir Peter Scott (of WWT fame) and Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz to name but a few. It is also a great place to meet other biologists, and the last couple of years we have shared Simla with Guppy researcher Jonathas Peirera from Andrew Hendry's group in McGill University, Canada who is doing really interesting work on the microevolution of Guppy fish. Simla is really inspirational and it is a great place to think and write, I managed to get lots of work done on some papers and a grant while I was there. This was my 6th field season in Trinidad and I have made a lot of friends on the island, so while we work there, we can catch up and hang out (lime as the Trinis would say) with them, take in the culture of the island, eat the amazing Trinidad food such as Doubles, dhalpuri roti and buss up shut. We now have a lot of data analysis to do and a lot of work to complete but I think it has been a successful trip (apart from getting a car towed and having to get it back from the wreckers yard and nearly losing a car off a mountain road- complete with my PhD student!). But for now it is back to the day job! I must thank the Glasgow University Expedition team for being so welcoming and allowing us to piggyback on their logistics, the Wildlife Division of the government, Mike Rutherford and Luke Rostant from University of the West Indies for rescuing us off El Tucuche with a 4x4 when we nearly lost the car! The guys from Oxford Nanopore for being great at accommodating our needs for flow cells and support. I can wait to go back next year for more jungle adventures! A foam nest of the Tungara frog found in a temporary pool on a building site in Arena forest, Trinidad A male Tungara frog getting ready to call for females Some of the Glasgow expedition team during a hike at Macqueripe (left to right) Adam, Me, Kirsty, Claire and Sarah Me with a little Anolis lizard (Anolis planiceps) found in the forest while frog hunting
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I've just returned from the 18th International Symposium on the Biology of Actinomycetes, held on Jeju Island, Korea. I get to a fair amount of conferences, yet this series of meetings is one of my favourites (Along with Gordon Research Conference on Bacterial Cell Surfaces). This was my 6th ISBA and more and more it feels more like a family reunion. I am fortunate that I work in a very collegiate field that is very open to collaboration, it is always an open meeting, frank yet friendly, scientifically rigorous and multinational. Yet ISBA is more than that, it genuinely feels like a group of friends from across the globe getting together to hang out and talk about their favourite group of bacteria....
Several thing stood out for me at this ISBA (Maybe it is me getting old and more reflective..), firstly- how international science is and how, despite the doom and gloom of Brexit and how it will negatively affect our work as scientists in the UK (and Europe), however discussions with my European colleagues reassures me that we will find a way to continue to work together. However, I did hear of several instances where Brexit is discouraging potential Marie Curie Fellows from applying to UK institutions- it is very sad to think that my country appears unwelcoming! The UK governments commitment to the GRCF and the Newton fund meant that I was able to discuss with several colleagues the potential to work together formally, where previously there has not been the opportunity, so there maybe some hope to spark up new collaborations. But most importantly, the science at ISBA just gets better and better - our symposium was opened by Professor Satoshi Omura, Nobel prize winner in 2015 - this, coupled with the AMR crisis has reinvigorated our field, increasing funding globally to the area and providing opportunities to work in areas that can deliver real impact to the people who need it. Much of the work presented at ISBA was of a fundamental nature allowing us to dig deeper in to this fascinating group of organisms, but with a firm eye on translational potential. One striking thing for me was the increase in Actinomycetes biologists trying to study ecologically and evolutionary relevant systems with these organisms - particularly Streptomyces. Attempt to explain their behaviour and interactions in an ecological context, which I think is going to be key if we are to exploit the biosynthetic potential of these organisms. Highlights for me were the talks of Danny Rozen, Matt Bush, Dennis Claessen, Marie Elliot and Matt Hutchings. All were focussing on basic biology of these organisms but all with novel, exciting biological stories to tell. The meeting also gave me the opportunity to experience Korea for the first time – I was absolutely blown away by the country, the people are welcoming, delightful and friendly – the food is amazing (Korean BBQ and Korean Fried Chicken were the highlights), there is a huge Craft beer movement, Seoul is a really cool city and Jeju island is fun and really beautiful. Go and visit! We even managed to take in a game at the under 20’s World Cup between Portugal and Costa Rica, held at the World Cup 2002 Jeju Stadium. Next ISBA will be in Toronto, Canada in 2020, organised by Justin Nodwell – see you there! So, last week was my final meeting as a member of Microbiology Society Council. It was the end of a long and highly enjoyable road, and one which I will hopefully rejoin at some point when I feel that the membership has gotten over their ‘Hoskisson fatigue’….
I’ve been a member of the Microbiology Society or Society for General Microbiology (SGM), as it was then, since I was an Undergraduate. I attended my first meeting in 1998 at a fresh PhD student (actually just before my studies commenced) and I’ve only missed two or three meetings since then. I then became involved in the organisation as fresh post-doctoral researcher, sitting on the now defunct ‘Fermentation and Bioprocessing group’ in 2002 and I helped organise my first symposium in 2003. When I started my own lab in University of Strathclyde in 2007, I applied to join SGM council as an elected member and attended my first meeting in October 2007. Joining Council was an eye opener, seeing the diversity of work that the society does and how passionate the members are about our Society. During my time on council, my roles changed – I joined the editorial board of Microbiology Today, I sat of the Scientific Conferences Committee as a council representative, I became editor of Microbiology Today, I Joined the Publications Committee, joined Editorial Boards, I sat on strategy working groups and on finance committee, I lead working groups to help with the rebranding of the Society and helping to develop our new logo, developing the new website. I sat on and then chaired our Equality and diversity working group, something I’m immensely proud of (and which established the Microbiology Society as a leader amongst learned societies in the area). Over the last three years I have chaired our communications committee and this has been enormous fun, working on a range of projects from Antibiotics Unearthed, Fun Kids Radio, helping with fact files and media requests, editing scripts for scientific content for plays, working on comics, and on our Silver Gilt Medal Winning Chelsea Flower Show exhibition. Working with the society has enabled me to attend events at Parliament on a few occasions to talk to MPs and Lords about Microbiology and also meet an amazing range of people. There have of course been the difficult and challenging decisions that council has taken during this period too – the move to London from Reading, buying in to Charles Darwin House and of course changing the name of the society! As one can see, working with the society can lead to an amazing array of things that you can get involved with and contribute too. It also allows you to learn about and develop skills in areas that you may not have considered before. Most of all, for me, the best thing about being involved in the society has been interacting with people – as a junior academic, meeting and spending time with leading academics and learning from their experience, forming great friendships with other microbiologists and meeting lots of members and trying to represent their views at meetings to ensure that we are inclusive and forward looking. Also, last but by no means least working closely with the amazing staff that the society has, some of the most talent, passionate and committed people I’ve ever met. I am very proud to call myself a member of the Microbiology Society, I’m proud of what we do to promote and encourage microbiology at all levels. I guess the point of writing this was to encourage Microbiology Society members to take the plunge, get involved and help make a great society even better. It is a fun experience and you will benefit enormously from it and as a consequence – every member of the society will benefit from your engagement. So, look out for nominations early next year. This also goes for every learned society, they thrive on engaged and committed members and consequently everyone benefits. So Thursday last week (15th September 2016) saw Emilio Cortes-Sanchez become graduate student number five to emerge from the Hoskisson lab, having successfully defended his PhD thesis. His thesis is entitled 'Synthetic biology approaches to novel pyrrole amide antibiotics'. We celebrated as a lab, which unfortunately ended up with me drinking Mescal with him....I got the caterpillar!
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Prof. Paul A HoskissonNews from the Hoskisson Lab Archives
June 2017
CategoriesBlog Posts for The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Young Academy of Scotland, Research the Headlines Blog which aims to address the way in which research is discussed and portrayed in the media. |