Once upon a time in a Lab far far away, Princess Jane was a second year graduate student trying to clone a gene from maize. It was a bold and difficult Task set by her Supervisor. Jane toiled day and night optimizing her reactions, but to no avail. The Task was incomplete and the deadline fast approaching. “If I don’t finish this part of the project soon, then my thesis will be incomplete,” she thought sadly.

One evening, as Princess Jane was setting up her reaction for the twentieth time, she paused to reflect on her misfortunes. “The gene is too long!” she thought. “The design is too difficult!” she lamented. “The reaction just won’t work!” she cried, as despair set in. “Ah well,” she sighed. “Graduate student life must go on.”

As the midnight hour fast approached, Jane completed setting up her reaction. And with thoughts of hope and redemption dropped her tubes into the 37°C water bath just as the clock struck midnight. “Well, here goes. I wish this works!” she thought. And then a most mysterious and amazing thing happened.

The smooth, clear surface of the water shimmered gently as though disturbed by a breeze and out popped a fairy from the depths of the water bath. “I am Clonelia, Queen of the Lab Fairies,” declared the watery sprite in a smooth, clear voice. “I am here to grant your cloning wishes.”

Princess Jane’s initial shock quickly turned to elation. In a moment’s flash she saw all her dreams come true. “How does this work?” she asked excitedly.

“Every night, at the stroke of midnight, I can grant one wish. All you need to do is summon me by placing tubes in the water. I will fulfill your dreams.”

“Wow,” sighed Princess Jane. “Every night. Wait – every night at midnight?”

“Yes,” said Clonelia. “Well that’s just ridiculous,” said Jane. “I’m already here on weekends. I’m not working ‘til midnight every night. I’ll do my cloning myself.”

And with that, Princess Jane went home to bed.

Moral: Striking a work-life balance is as important as striking gold.

(Well, actually 6 since the first ad is not real…)

JOB POSTING: “IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME”

This is a call for outstanding candidates to apply for a tenure track assistant professor position within the context of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. The successful applicant is expected to work in areas of interest to current faculty members, to interact with related groups within our network and to have demonstrated ability in producing research material of excellent quality and interest.

Due to the competitive nature of this process, we ask that all candidates at the very least meet the following criteria:

The candidate’s current area of specialty must contain at least fourteen syllables.

The candidate’s expertise must speak naturally to collaborations with the disciplines of science history, Jungian philosophy, international peacekeeping, French Canadian politics, molecular genetics, early 80s pop music criticism, and West African cuisine.

The candidate must be able to “flex arm hang” for a minimum of twelve minutes.

The candidate must exhibit no more than two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon.

The candidate must be able to rub their tummy and pat their head at the same time.

The candidate must be, in no uncertain terms, hot.

In addition, short listed candidates will be subjected to a rigorous interview process that will likely involve puppetry, ultimate fighting, and some interpretative dance techniques. This, of course, might be televised nationally on CBS, so it is advisable that all applicants prepare in advance for these skill sets.

The successful applicant will covet a salary that will commensurate with experience and research record, but realistically is dependant on an obligation to play as the principle string in the University’s Chinese Orchestra during the first three years of his/her track.

We will also endeavor to provide the applicant with reasonable research space, and note that we have one of the country’s best supply of camping gear, should this be an issue. We do however ask that successful candidates will themselves provide start up funds to the sum of $1000, which must be used within 48 hours. During that period, you will, of course, be wearing brightly covered overalls and have access to a skilled carpenter who will almost certainly be just as hot as you.

The University of British Columbia is one of the leaders in North America with strong connections with many well regarded institutes, and we look forward to continuing this tradition with this placement. We hire on the basis of merit and are committed to employment equity. We encourage all qualified persons to apply; however citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. No losers please.

(…and now the real ones)

(Job posting link | pdf)

The Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL) and the Centre for High-throughput Biology (CHiBi) at the University of British Columbia are jointly launching a major recruiting initiative and invite applications for six new faculty positions. These full-time tenure-track positions will be filled primarily at the Assistant Professor level but exceptional candidates at a higher rank may be considered. The six new faculty will be located in exceptional research space at the centre of campus within a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative environment that includes biological and physical scientists and engineers, as well as proteomics and bioinformatics experts.

TWO TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITIONS IN CHEMICAL, MOLECULAR AND SYSTEMS BIOLOGY, AND BIOENGINEERING

Approaches using molecular genetics, chemical, computational or molecular biology or bioengineering to probe animals, plants and unicellular organisms, and models of disease therein, will be considered.

TWO TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITIONS IN METABOLIC ENGINEERING AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

All facets of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, from technology development and computational approaches to innovative applications, will be considered. Applicants with an interest in bioenergy and biorefining are particularly encouraged to apply.

TWO TENURE TRACK ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

The development of innovative technologies, devices, computational approaches or chemical and biophysical techniques is welcomed, with particular emphasis on genome-wide and high-throughput approaches.

Successful applicants for these positions must have a Ph.D., will have demonstrated outstanding research strength and creativity, have several years of productive experience, will be expected to contribute to high quality undergraduate/graduate teaching and to effectively supervise graduate students, and be prepared to integrate their expertise with innovative researchers at the University. Academic appointments could be within or between departments in the Faculties of Applied Science, Forestry, Medicine and/or Science, evidence of teaching effectiveness would be an asset.

The Michael Smith Laboratories and the Centre for High-throughput Biology comprise a diverse group of 22 research and teaching faculty and over 150 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research associates. Research strengths include medical and animal molecular genetics/biology, plant and forest molecular genetics/biology, bioprocess engineering, chemical biology, proteomics, micro-fluidics bioinformatics and statistical genomics. Importantly the group is also providing leadership for the Bio-energy and Refining Innovation (BERI) network as part of a university-wide initiative in sustainability. Applicants are strongly encouraged to visit http://www.michaelsmith.ubc.ca/ and http://www.chibi.ubc.ca/ to learn more about the unique technological and research opportunities available to new faculty members. Substantial start-up funds and exceptional mentoring will be provided.

UBC with over 12,000 faculty and staff plus 8,000 graduate students, has deep research strength across the Applied Sciences, the Life Sciences, the Physical Sciences and Computation, and has formal associations with research hospitals, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Genome British Columbia, the Genome Sciences Centre, the Centre for Drug Research and Development and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Researchers thus enjoy numerous opportunities for stimulating and productive collaborations. Opportunities exist to attract substantial research funding from government (e.g. Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canadian Foundation for Innovation), foundations (e.g. Michael Smith Foundation, Genome Canada) and industry.

Applications should include a letter of application indicating the appropriate competition number, a detailed curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of research and teaching interests, and the name, address, e-mail address and phone number of at least three referees. All positions are subject to final budgetary approval. The closing date for all applications is September 14, 2010.

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply. UBC is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.

Creativity is exploring and discovering things unknown to man,
the study of life and the literature of learning,

discovering new and old things. It is putting your mind
on a piece of paper. Creativity is mixing chemicals and trying experiments.

It is poetry and books. Without it, the world would not be complete.
It’s a way to express yourself in a poem or a song, to make explosions.

Creativity is an idea that comes from your mind and everyday life.

It is discovering, improving technology, is important and
from your heart. It is tough. It is studying the world, studying humans
and animals. It’s spilling your feelings on paper. Creativity is
in a lab, is life on earth, tests and typing. It is looking and discovering,
and expressing feelings in different ways. It is like art but using school supplies.

It’s trying to learn from the past like trying to read for the first time.

Creativity is something you do with nature, numbers, and just about
everything. It’s the expression of knowledge that can be turned into something
beautiful. It’s when a pen touches paper and an idea is formed.

Something you feel and showing that feeling in a story or poem.

It is anything on your mind, learning things that are going on in the world.
It is recording what has happened to you or someone you know.

You can write a dream or even something you’ve made up.

It’s fact and imagination on paper. Like life, it’s difficult but full
of discoveries. It’s the mind’s paintbrush.

We are grand father-grand son duo emotionally intertwined like the two complementary strands of a DNA duplex. Unlike the weak H bonds in the biomolecule, our attachment is due to divine bonds strengthened by a friendship extraordinaire.

Farzaan, eight-year old grandson of the senior author, is a regular viewer of ‘Backyard Science’ shows on television. Some months ago he dared his grand father, a university teacher of plant cytogenetics to coach him perform molecular biology experiments in their home in Kolkata, India.

The kid had jeered at his friend-grandpa: “You bore me incessantly with your books and bla bla about ‘jeans’ (genes), ‘Diana’ (DNA), ‘rana’ (RNA). C’mon, shut up and play with me now”.

Grandpa couldn’t figure out the course of action; he didn’t want to distance himself with either Farzaan or DNA. Could DNA be a kid’s play, the Professor wondered! The oldie knew to perform experiments only in well-equipped labs! He was neither trained nor did he ever train his students for molecular experiments outside the laboratories.

It was a virtually impossible challenge for the professional cytogeneticist@ until he stumbled upon ‘The MacGyver Project: Genomic DNA Extraction and Gel Electrophoresis Experiments Using Everyday Materials’ [1] through a Google search of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) sites. “Oh, no that cannot be true”, was the professional’s first reaction.

He hesitantly tried the procedure and, it did happen. Wow, it could be play! He then, successfully extracted genomic DNA from a leaf of betel (Piper betle L.) known as paan chewed by many Indians including himself. Once successful with the MacGyver protocol, the present authors began playing the DNA game. Both were happy with the novel eduplay.

They found the MacGyver extraction procedure to be the most handy and amenable to home-kitchen experiments among several inexpensive protocols available online.

A bulb of onion (Allium cepa L.) is a preferred material for demonstration of genomic DNA extraction in most protocols. The duo thought of doing something different. They used an onion flower-bunch known as inflorescence instead and obtained a substantial yield of DNA .

The experimental details are essentially and fundamentally similar to many other procedures already out there. However, items available at home and indigenous materials available in the local Indian market were used.

All items i.e. material, brass mortar-pestle, Aquaguard®-filtered drinking water, Vim® liquid dish washing soap, propanol or ethanol, homoeopathic vials etc, were pre-chilled in the icebox of a refrigerator.

Onion inflorescences attached to long stalks were purchased from a local vegetable vendor. The spathe (leafy wrap around the inflorescence) was removed. Flowers were, then, scraped from the tip of the stalk and put in a brass pestle for grinding.

One teaspoonful of water and a pinch of Tata® iodised table salt were added to flowers. The flower tissue was crushed by grinding and pulverised to make a viscous solution.

Two drops of Vim® detergent were added. The mixture was stirred gently with plastic ice-cream spoon for a few minutes.

The mixture was carefully poured in to a homoeopathic vial. Isopropanol, the rubbing alcohol, was slowly poured in the vial with an injection syringe to avoid disturbing the tissue suspension. Bubbles started rising almost immediately and in about ten minutes the DNA-cloud was seen between the mucky stratum of tissue-salt-soap mixture below and the clear alcohol layer above. DNA did not float as expected.

Absolute ethyl alcohol was added in place of isopropyl alcohol in our repeat experiments taking due care that all other steps remained unaltered.

A fascinating result was obtained (see figure below). Three vials represent the stages of precipitation and floatation of DNA.

The duo embarked upon a series of genomic DNA extraction experiments with whatever uncooked live eatables they could lay hands on. The two generations, separated by 55 years, enjoyed every bit of what they did. It was another matter that each experiment left the home kitchen messier and the ladies angrier. It was play!

Both are now among the growing crowd of MacGyver Project-inspired scientists keen to wipe the psychological fear of Molecular Biology from the minds of all interested persons in homes, students in schools, young freshers in colleges and enterprising researchers in small-time developing laboratories anywhere in the world.

As well, the senior author has since standardized the protocol and has shown (in to-be-published work) that genomic DNA as obtained shows exact banding when electrophoresed alongside DNA obtained by standard ‘professional’ protocols and is of equal PCR quality. He is aware of the ethical debates about DIY Molecular Biology by anyone interested anywhere. However, he firmly believes that the outreach of Molecular Biology to outside of costly laboratories, as is the case with agricultural technology and information technology, shall attract billions of minds to understanding and application of New Biology to the well being of global citizens at low costs. He is including the inexpensive procedure in course curriculum and research project work of his current students. Good luck to all MacGyverites!

1. Yas Shirazu, Donna Lee, and Esther Abd-Elmessih (2009) The MacGyver Project: Genomic DNA Extraction and Gel Electrophoresis Experiments Using Everyday Materials. Accessed here.