Lauren is a 1st year Masters Student from Animal Biology working in the Fuller Lab. Her research focuses on understanding how fish have adapted to different levels of salinity (salt), primarily using the rainwater killifish Lucania parva.
What have you been up to this past week?
My week started with notifications that the Campus Cluster was down, which was annoying because I have been running STRUCTURE on my killifish samples in order to better understand the population structures that I am working with. I was hoping that it would be finished earlier this week, but oh well. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to submit a new job when the cluster was working again that would pick up where my last one left off. Other than that, I have been preparing to assemble the genome of the bluefin killifish, Lucania goodei, using some new sequencing data my lab just got back. I also just got the good news that I’ll be able to assemble the genome of my fish, the rainwater killifish, soon too. I am super excited about that. But besides all that computer-based work, I also make sure to feed the fish in the lab every day – we have a greenhouse filled with them!
What have you been reading recently?
Right now I’m reading The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. It’s a delightful mix of science, history, and murder and I definitely recommend it. Hopefully I’ll have some time over the weekend to sit down and finish reading it, and then start reading one of the other books that I have on my small but rapidly growing bookshelf. (I have the bad habit of buying books much faster than I can read them, something I’m sure many of you can understand.) It’s my dream to one day write a popular science book of my own so I read a ton of non-fiction. My favorites include but are not limited to Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, Stiff by Mary Roach, and How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut. If you have any book recommendations, I’d love to hear them! And add me on Goodreads while you are at it!
What have you been listening to recently?
I have almost no music on my phone (except “What does the fox say?” which I downloaded ironically years ago and keep forgetting to remove). Instead, I have a ton of podcasts. They are great for when I’m chilling in Espresso Royale, feeding the fish, baking, or painting and want to be hands-free. I have been catching up on all my podcast subscriptions recently: This Podcast Will Kill You, My Favorite Murder,Imaginary Worlds, Myths and Legends, Lore, In Defense of Plants, and so many others! I’ve heard Dr. Death is good so I’ll probably give it a listen soon. When it comes to podcasts, I listen to a ton of different categories and genres. Like books, I am always accepting podcast suggestions. Of course, when I just want to play something in the background that doesn’t require any attention, I’ll play a compilation I found on YouTube of relaxing Pokemon music from the video games or sound of a thunderstorm.
A view of your week…
