My new "lab" at full steam!

I haven't posted anything here for quite a while, which is a reflection of how busy I get in the first semester while I am convening the unit "Organisms to Ecosystems" for over 240 students here at Macquarie University. However, if at one hand that unit has been keeping me super busy, it has also allowed me to expose my mite research to the great cohort of first year students here at MQ, which resulted in recruiting a number of fantastic volunteers to my group!

At the moment I have my research really picking up and starting to go at full steam again after my initial phase of adaptation to a new university and the whole slowing down in research due to moving from WA to NSW as well. And it's only picking up right now because of two vital things: (1) Macquarie Uni granted me a New Staff grant, worth $18K, with which I've been buying new research toys (like the microscope in the photo to the right) and (2) my army of amazing volunteers, with special thanks to Niah Delamotte, Pouya Zadbar, Daniel Allman, Betty Huang and Ryan Cuthbert. My New Staff grant also allows me to pay Joshua Hobbs (a second year undergrad) and Poncho Aceves (one of Mariella's PhD students) to do research assistant work for me, and together these 7 people have been absolutely crucial for my research to keep moving — massive thanks to you guys, you absolutely rock!! If I get a Nobel Prize I will share the money with you, I swear!