Jellyfish Girl is SJH's new nickname given to her by undergraduates in the micro lab at WLSC. They were pretty amazed to see such a young scientist transform an organism using plasmids and DNA. SJH was studying the effects of Goldenseal, the herb, on bacterial resistant e. coli. The outcome was that Goldenseal in fact did curtail the growth of e. coli even when it was resistant to antibiotic drugs. She transformed the e. coli by inserting a glow-in-the-dark plasmid from a jellyfish into the e. coli. This same plasmid also carried the antibacterial resistance, so when the little guys glowed, they were also resistant.

My energies have been spent with the jellyfish & e. coli instead of with the quilts and monoprints, as you can tell by the lack of blog posts. I have been the taxi driver, the fashion consultatnt, and the hand-holder during three very intense science competitions. It was well worth it. I got a lot of mother-daughter bonding time in and SJH took in lots of awards including two free trips to international science venues in San Diego & Phoenix. I can't make the CA trip, but I've got my ticket for Phoenix! It's snowing and cold here in WV today, so sunny Arizona is looking mighty fine.

2005 has been an amazing year so far for our family. I'm counting the many blessings, and the days to Phoenix!