Grant application

The deadline for the grant application is approaching. But my research plan for the application is still unclear...

Woodlice endosymbionts

Together with my colleagues and collaborators, I am now screening endosymbionts from Japanese populations of various species of woodlice. It is very interesting and enjoyable to do such kind of work.

Eating at night

Yesterday, I went to a yoga class. When I came back home around ten, I was very hungry. So I cooked spaghetti and ate it. When I eat late at night, I often oversleep in the next morning. Yesterday was not an exception. I overslept this morning and rushed to the lab...

Sterilization of glass pipettes

Usually, I wrap six glass pipettes with aluminum foil. Then I put ca. 40 packs of the wrapped aluminum foil in a cookie can, and heat it at 180 degree Celsius for 4 hrs. This is the way I learned to sterilize glass pipettes in the past, and I follow this way in my lab.

This is not a standard way, and wrapping is tedious. So, today, I decided to change the way. I have ordered steel boxes for sterilizing glass pipettes. Maybe this is the way most of the researchers do.

Experiments to start

I had some problems in dealing with a particular insect cell line, which hindered the progress of my work. Recently, I have decided to ask an expert for help. I am going to visit him every week to start an experiment, which I wanted to perform. Wish my success! 

Do Wolbachia confer their hosts with resistance to pathogenic bacteria?

From today, I am going to read (relatively) recent papers about Wolbachia, intracellular symbionts of arthropods and nematodes.

Rotschaefer SM & Lazzaro BP (2012) No effect of Wolbachia on resistance to intracellular infection by pathogenic bacteria in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE 7: e40500

For the last several years, many papers have been published that shows Wolbachia confer insects with resistance to infection by various viruses and Plasmodium (malaria parasites). 

So I expected that Wolbachia may also confers their hosts with resistance to infection by other bacteria, and I was thinking about verifying this possibility. However, this paper clearly shows that Wolbachia has no effect on resistance to pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, Salmonella and Providencia. I must not be the only person who was disappointed by reading this paper.