Win-win!

A researcher from another lab stopped by my office this afternoon. I was telling him about our Sxy-CRP work - how we think that Sxy modifies how CRP binds and bends DNA at CRP-S sites. I'd forgotten that he's an expert in purification and analysis of DNA-binding proteins (they do Drosophila chromatin stuff), and when I remembered I dragged him down to the post-docs' office and introduced him to them. He had lots of good ideas.

Then he brought the conversation around to the reason he'd come to my office. He wasn't just socializing, but was hoping that we might know something about the E. coli technique called 'recombineering'. Well, yes indeed, one of the post-docs learned about it last year, got all the strains and papers, and discovered that nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

So now we're doubly blessed. First, this colleague will give us lots of help with the Sxy-CRP work, and second, he's taking on the task of getting recombineering working, and will even be grateful to us for giving him the tools to do so!