January 2016 is right around the corner. While a new year always brings change, or at least the promise for change (I swear to make it to the gym for a change), this new year brings a critical change to clinical labs in the United States. Starting on the first of January, the Centers for Medical and Medicaid Services (CMS) will require clinical labs to revise their QC procedures on CLIA non-waived...

Early Life:

Louis Pasteur is, simply put, a continued source of inspiration for chemists and microbiologists around the world. His work found new ways to preserve our food, revolutionized healthcare, and has potentially saved millions of lives. He fundamentally changed how the world perceived biology by drawing attention to the microscopic building blocks of life. He worked at the very forefront of...

Well...oysters to be more accurate.

On October 1st, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) have announced a 14-day closure of oyster beds located in Duxbury Bay, Kingston Bay, Bluefish River, Back River, and Plymouth Harbor following two new cases of Vibrio parahaemolyticus have been linked to oysters...

In 2008, a deadly Salmonella outbreak in peanut butter ran unbridled across 46 states. Its deadly rampage was responsible for nine deaths as well 714 confirmed cases of illness. This number is considered extremely conservative as the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) often state that for every reported case of Salmonella another 38 go unreported. This could put the potential affected...

No, Blood Falls is not the newest Norwegian metal band, but it is actually a naturally occurring geologic wonder.  Blood falls flows out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica onto the neighboring West Lake Bonney which is completely frozen over. The isolated (even for Antarctica) anomaly as well as the glacier and valley was discovered in 1911 by an Australian geologist by the name of Griffith Taylor...

If you were on the internet a few months ago, then you more than likely saw this photo. The woman behind this image is Tasha Sturm, a Laboratory Technician for Cabrillo College and became, seemingly overnight, a sensation because of her love of microbiology. The image went viral on social media and news channels. Overnight, microbiology seemingly captured the attention of the world.  She took the...

On September 13^th, 2009 a University of Chicago researcher, Malcom Casadaban, was admitted to a local hospital due to fever, aches, cough and shortness of breath. Blood tests indicated renal failure, severely elevated white blood cell count, and a left shift in the ratio of immature to mature neutrophils. Blood smears indicated bacteremia. The patient was treated with vancomycin and pipercillin/tazobactam...

Space: the final frontier. Most hear the word and are immediately greeted by a myriad of images. Most of which are only fifty years old or younger. Sputnik's primitive shape against the inky blackness of space, a Saturn V rocket's gargantuan form ascending into the sky, Neil Armstrong planting an American flag on the moon, even Chris Hadfield singing a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" from the...

If you have seen the news lately, you may have heard about the recent outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in New York city, particularly the South Bronx. Over one hundred people have been affected by the illness and twelve people have died from the disease.   While Legionnaire's disease may sound like something that plagued ancient Rome, but it's namesake does not reflect how "young" our knowledge...

      Hybrid, Zero Emissions, Paperless: These, amongst others, are keywords that have become so woven into our daily vernacular that the very sight of them has almost become second nature. The movement to conserve energy or “Going Green” has been enjoying an all-time height of relevancy.  Environmental concerns such as climate change have become symbiotic with concerns from the scientific community...

Art restoration experts spend countless hours in awkward positions, breathing in harsh chemicals while meticulously cleaning, varnishing, and stippling irreplaceable works of art. A shaky hand or a rough touch could result in the destruction of a priceless work of art.  Consequently, students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia’s Institute of Heritage Restoration may have an unlikely alley...