Playing With Bacteria

This week, our Elementary Ed. Majors in Biology were experimenting with genetic engineering. This lab was super cool. They were learning how genetic engineering is a process that enables scientists to put a desired gene into a plasmid, or ring of bacterial DNA. The object of this lab was to use specific genetic engineering processes to transform bacteria with a gene that codes of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP).

Bacteria naturally contain one or more small circular pieces of DNA called plasmids. The unique pGLO plasmid encodes the gene for GFP plus a gene for resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin called beta-lactamase. Ampicillin is an antibiotic that kills various bacterial strains. However, if a bacterium has a certain gene resistant to ampicillin then exposure to the drug ampicillin does not kill the bacterium.

The plasmid pGLO also incorporates a special gene regulation system, which can control expression of the fluorescent protein in transformed cells. The gene for GFP can be switched on in transformed cells by adding the sugar arabinose to the cells' nutrient medium. Selection of the cells that have been transformed with pGLO DNA is accomplished by growth on antibiotic plates. The transformed cells will appear white on plates not containing arabinose, and fluorescent green under UV light when arabinose is included in the nutrient agar medium.

The students seemed really engaged with this lab and were really excited to see their bacteria plates glow under UV light!

Glowing Bacteria!

Everyday Art & Share

Marc thought it would be a great idea to pick a topic, subject, or whatever everyday and create something by the end of the day that we could show each other. How adorable is that? Even though we can't be with each other and do art with each other, we can still make something art-related and share it with each other. These themed creations could be as simple as a sketch, something more intricate and complex, any media, any interpretation. So these are from this week's themes: Monday - Mythical Creatures, Tuesday - Your Dream Home, Wednesday - Your Dream Pet! Thursday through Sunday: well, we got really busy with work, class, and my other homework, so we are picking this back up today!

Tonight's theme will be: A Spaceship and you'll see the end products tomorrow! Enjoy! 

TheChristyBel

Monday - Mythical Creatures by Marc (Snow Monster)

Monday - Mythical Creatures by theChristybel (the Fiery Phoenix)

Tuesday - ChristyBel's Dream Home - A Log Cabin, Big Windows, & Lots of Water!

Tuesday - Marc's Dream Home - A Hammock and a Huge Glass-Window Garage

Wednesday - Marc's Dream Pet - A Penguin!

Wednesday - ChristyBel's Dream Pet...Moose - Duh!
I Think We'll Need More Room in the Van For It!

Learning Values...in Drawing

 Today we learned about values and shading! My favorite part of drawing! This was a super cool exercise we did. You cover your entire paper in a middle tone gray (mostly vine charcoal and maybe a layer of compressed charcoal). Then we examined a photo placed on the projector. Originally, the photo we were going to be drawing from appeared incredibly blurry. But the objective of the class was to not draw exactly what we saw, but to focus on the various intensities of dark and lightness. So, we use compressed charcoal to emphasize really dark areas (additive areas) and then use our erasers to emphasize really light areas (reductive areas). After each session, our instructor would focus our photo more and more until he showed us the focused picture. It was really cool. Our instructor stated that if he just shown us the picture, we would go straight to one object (can you guess it would be the cow on the bottom right) and not focus on anything else. He wanted us to capture the dark, light, and middle tones of the image first. This drawing is not done, but it was pretty interesting to make. I kind of like it unfinished!

TheChristyBel

Romantic Right?

When I got home from campus, I received a text that totally made me smile.

Everyone should talk to their significant other like this. Romantic right?!?! 

Haha.

:)

Send your someone special something to smile about.

TheChristyBel

This is a Sign of Endearment, Right?

GALentine's Day Brunch

This morning, my neighbor, Lisa, invited me to a GALentine's Day brunch with her and her colleagues in the Wildlife Ecology Department. Brunch was super wonderful. I met a group of really welcoming and wonderful ladies! We chatted about everything from being here in Laramie, our departments and focuses of studies, where we are from, and so much more! It was really nice and comforting how easy it was to come up with conversation with this group, despite being the outsider of the group (not from the same department). But Lisa's gals were awesome to have brunch with! We had brunch at the CrowBar over on 2nd and Ivinson Street in the Downtown area. Brunch was super delicious and the endless mimosas were great as well!

Hope you all had a great Valentine's/GALentine's Day!

TheChristyBel

The Last of the Christmas Mugs

Remember when I showed you those mugs I made for holiday gifts way back when?! Well, I have finally gotten the rest of them fired and packaged up for some very special people. Here, are the last mugs - they went through a Salt Fire Atmosphere - where the temperatures get mega hot and at a certain temperature, salt is added to the kiln. This allowed the salt particles to break up and adhere to the pieces placed in the kiln. It gives a very interesting crystallized look to them! I cannot tell who these are for, since they are on their way to the recipients now! But they are late holiday gifts!

Happy Late Christmas!

TheChristyBel

Happy Valentines Day!

Just wanted to stop by the blog and with all my followers and readers,

Happy Valentine's Day!

I really appreciate all of your support with this blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love you all!

TheChristyBel

Moose Kisses to You & Your Loved Ones
Xoxo,
TheChristyBel

Elementary Ed. Majors Meet Cockroaches

This morning, our LIFE1020 students got to have an in-depth analysis with the Invertebrates, specifically Arthropods. They were to investigate the sequence in which these hissing cockroaches move. Not going to lie, I did not even know the sequence in which legs move first to propel them to scurry! So it was cool making the hypotheses with the students and observing the cockroaches prove or falsify their guesses.

It was really awesome to see the uneasiness, excitement, and curiosity that the students had towards the hissing friends we brought into class. I was surprised many of the students actually wanted to get up close and personal with them! Many raised their hands and asked if they could hold them and how to properly hold them! It was awesome! Some even overcame their fear of 'creepy crawly bugs!' Super proud of them. 

TheChristyBel

Supporting Other Artist Friends

Today I received one of the most beautiful gifts: a painting hand-made directly for me. This professionally painted, matted, and framed piece was specifically made for me by my good friend, Alec Falle Hamilton. I met Alec through my fellow, TSS grad, Mandy Redpath when I went to spend Thanksgiving with her two years ago in Vail, CO. Alec is by far an incredible artist - his geometric and symmetric style uses a variety of mediums: acrylic, watercolor, pen, ink, and sharpie! And he's on a trend of using natural history and animals right now too. He calls them Spirit Animal Mandalas.

On his Facebook, he has been blasting his artwork like crazy and was even taking special orders where he would custom make you your own animal spirit. So, I totally messaged him asking to make me my Spirit Animal in a nature-theme. Guess which animal is my spirit animal....?!?! MOOSE! 

But he jumped right on it and had visible step-by-step photos of his progress! It was super cool to see the painting emerge in a matter of a few days! 

I paid him over PayPal and once he was finished with the original and got digital copies of the painting, he sent it over to my apartment!

I am soooo in love with my Alec original!

But you can order a print of it through his website! Totally check it out! He is incredibly talented and willing to make art specifically for you!

Thank you, Alec for this beautiful piece! 

TheChristyBel

Thank You Alec!

Photo Credit: All photos came from Alec' Facebook Page.

Rare Clouds Form Over the Tetons

I am wishing I was in Jackson right now...let me tell you and show you why!

Yesterday, there was this really cool wispy cloud that hovered over the Teton Mountain Range. Through the photos that I saw online, it looked super cool and mysterious! I really wish I could've been there to see it in person. 

The clouds were described as 'shape-shifting' and 'had billowed like a handkerchief of a seagull with its beak touching the Grand's summit.' 

Meteorologists called the cloud a lenticular cloud. These types of clouds form downwind of mountain ranges under certain atmospheric conditions. They perfectly occur in symmetrical disks appear like huge alien UFO flying saucers. The lenticular cloud that formed in the Tetons resulted from an unusual combination of strong winds and moisture residing at the 13,000 - 14,000-ft elevations. 

It is just crazy and mind-boggling that clouds can form not just from varying atmospheric conditions, but the land itself! Super cool.

There is a formal article about this where I got this information. Check it out!

TheChristyBel

Photo Credit to the Grand Teton National Park