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(I just realized that I should take advantage of the NIH database of funded proposals - I can search the list for 'recombination' + 'bacteria' to see the kinds of things people write. I also think I might focus the significance a bit more on H. influenzae, rather than just emphasizing the generality of the need to better understand recombination.)
The failed CIHR proposal also needs to be rewritten in the next few weeks, so we can get a draft to internal review a month before the due date. The research associate has offered to go through the reviewer's concerns, annotating the draft at each point that needs work. I'm afraid that this will be much of the proposal. She's working hard to get more preliminary data on our cross-species complementation plan. The concern is that her preliminary data could show that this isn't going to work as easily as we are hoping, so this is risky. Luckily the reviewers weren't concerned about the lack of preliminary data for the optical tweezers section - instead they were concerned about it's significance.
On Monday afternoon I'm giving a talk about DNA uptake to the biophysics group at the university across town (henceforth SFU) where I'll be doing my optical tweezers sabbatical project. This will be a chalk talk because I want to keep it informal and get lots of interaction with the audience, and because I don't want to take the time to prepare polished slides. Luckily the room's walls are covered with chalkboards, and the organizer has promised coloured chalk.
I'll prepare for this talk by rereading the CIHR proposal (killing two birds with one stone).
I found your blog linked from OpenWetWare as I was researching who uses generic open hardware lab gear.
ReplyDeleteYour comment "lots of trying to craft plausible descriptions of the significance for human health. Not to mention lots of struggling to understand what the post-doc is finding in all the wonderful sequencing data." made me imagine mountains of paperwork to do even with classes on sabbatical, plus gave me a feel for research grantors demanding efficient application of grant money or else.
So this brings me to my question as I found your blog -- OpenWetWare does not seem to be much of a forum to ask questions, so what is a good list or forum to ask, "What inexpensive, modular, open documented freely copyable lab hardware is wanted, and what innovations would be good to add to the standard gear?" Specifically I am thinking of DNA measuring gear. Perhaps not peak performance, but so low in cost as to increase performance by being more available than the usual expensive tools. I'm pondering making some electrophoresis and PCR thermal cycling gear.