On August 31, the lab said goodbye to Artyom, Olga, and Leon for the next year. The three of them are currently on sabbatical in Germany. We took respite from the 110 degree weather in the valley by escaping to Union Lake Reservoir in the Sierras where the temp was …only 95 F. Our BBQ produced delicious grilled chicken (thanks, Olga!) and did not burn down the forest, so we’ll call that a success.
Fire haze
Just chilling on the beach
Leon and his crew
Lab geezers
Ammon knocked it out of the park with his NIH postdoctoral grant. We are pleased to report that Dr. Thompson is now the recipient of two years of independent NIH funding for his work on transcriptome analysis and evolution. Way to, Ammon!
The Kopp lab went on a springtime hike this Sunday! We explored pine forest at 3,500 feet of elevation near Sly Park. Flexing our entomology muscles, we introduced the youngest lab member to field work. He has a strong interest in the community ecology of rotting logs.
An immature cicada nymph!
Logan and Gio enjoy lunch together!!!
Leon delegates work to his field crew.
Gio and Ammon share a laugh.
Kopp lab members also appreciate the plant kingdom!
We started playing improvised baseball (or cricket) with pine cones.
That face!
PHOTO CREDIT LEON, AGE 3.5 YEARS!!!
The photographer and field crew leader takes a well deserved break.
…grad students in the Kopp lab!
On Sunday we said a bittersweet goodbye to Gavin, who just finished his dissertation! He’s headed off to Mark Rebeiz’s lab in Pittsburgh. Gavin will be sorely missed in Davis. To send him off, we had a holiday party with latkes, eggnog, and lots of wine.
Gio and Olga schemed for weeks to create the perfect menu for a Kopp lab deep fried sea food extravaganza. We consumed an impressive array of animals from across the metazoan phylogeny — arthropods (aka crab cakes), vertebrates (delicious salmon) and bivalves (mussels)!
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