charismaticmicrofauna

Notes from my 3 hour Delta delay at LaGuardia airport

I am reflecting on the last 7 days that I spent at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC), Molecular Biology of C1 Micorbial Metabolism conference in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. The GRC meets every 2 years to exchange and present ideas from experts in the field of C1 microbial metabolism. It is the cream of the crop among molecular biologists, biochemists, enzymologists, systemologists, and microbial physiologists from around the world whose purpose is to study the biology of micro organisms that use C1 in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, methyl, or any molecule with a single carbon atom attached to hydrogens and/or oxygen to fuel their metabolic reactions or produce these compounds as a result of biosynthesis or respiration.

This year was my second time attending the GRC. The first time I was accepted to participate was four years ago. It was  held at Bates College in Maine and I presented a poster of research that I had been bumbling my way through as an undergrad. I was physiologically characterizing a bacterium from the blue holes in the Bahamas. I was the only undergrad in attendance that year and it was a big deal for me. I was plucky, obnoxious, trying to prove myself, and also still trying to party while I still could because I knew that when grad school started the party would be over. That last part isn’t really true though. I just have to party more responsibly now.

This year I returned as a graduate student. I had a feeling that returning to the GRC was me coming full circle in a way. I have learned many  things since I was an undergrad. I have come quite far, and have had the opportunity to gain so much more experience in the laboratory and in academia. I am always learning that I have more to learn. I believed that my perception of participating in the GRC this year would be through wiser eyes, and that belief proved to be true. The experience this year was pleasantly exhilarating to be a part of through my fresh eyes and my ever more curious mind.

I returned to the lab with a renewed perspective of my research. It is easy to feel disconnected from the world when toiling over experiments. Precise measurements, continuous data collection errors, hours of dissecting minute details of protocols can feel isolating and every research scientist has doubted their purpose and questioned their goals. Being at the GRC gave me a sense of the great community of C1 metabolism scientists, researchers, and industry professionals that I am a part of, and I’m very proud of that. The connections and friends that I have made during these conferences are invaluable. I hope to return in two years when I am finishing my PhD thesis, and two years after when I am a post-doc.

 Waterville Valley, not a bad place to have a conference for 7 days.