A week of visitors

This week we had several visitors to the lab.

On Sunday we hosted a delegation from the Helmholtz Association. This delegation included the president of the association as well as directors from several research centers. They did a whirlwind tour of Israel. Their schedule at the Hebrew University was for half a day, and included a general introduction and then topic-oriented meeting. I was chosen to host the Biology meeting in the lab. The guests included the President of the association, the Director of Research of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and the Director and Vice-Director of Research of the Max Delbruck Center in Berlin. 

As you can guess this was a very important crowd, and we assembled a team of scientists (established and new) to meet with them. The meeting ended up crowding 16 people in our small meeting/kitchen room, and as consequence was very informal. We also had a short tour of the robotics room.

This visit was a an excuse for us to do a thorough cleanup day on Thursday last week. I think that since it was open the lab never was so clean. The cleanup included also out of sight areas, such as the cold room, which was reorganized by Amit and Noa, who sorted through all the shelfs, removed old and outdated plates, and rearranged things in an accessible way.

On Monday, we were part of the country-wide "Scientists Night" events. The event at the Hebrew University included tours in labs, and our lab was one of the advertised tours. Each group was of 10 teenagers that didn't know much about labs and biology. Avital and Noa took charge of hosting the visit and explaining to the energetic youth why we have robotics.

One last, unexpected and less prestigious, visitor was a chameleon that started visiting my office window regularly. 

The first sighting of this science-curious lizard was when we had a meeting with five people in the room, and suddenly I noticed that everyone was focused on the window behind me. 

Since then it revisited almost every day, and finally I decided that it is calls for some pictures. The window is not 100% clean, but that ended up giving the images a bit of interesting blurs.

The Comeback + Visitors

About three months ago Moran went off on a maternity leave. Today was the official first step on returning to academic work. To make the transition easier she was accompanied by her family. We got a chance to meet the family and the joy young ones bring.

Robotic Facility Kickoff

You may recall that we had an event to celebrate the opening of the first half of our lab. Now that the renovation is almost over (only missing few furnitures), we decided to have a more official kickoff. The idea was to say "Thank You" to all the people who helped us build this lab out of nothing.

The last week, Ayelet, Assaf and Avital (also known as "AAA Robotics") worked hard on setting up a demo of the capabilities of the robotic facility. The last two days, I recruited Tommy (who is still waiting for his J1 visa renewal) to help make a movie of this demo. Tommy turned out to to be a capable photographer and has the option of alternative career in the movie business. 

Yesterday afternoon, Naomi and I went to buy cheese, cherry tomatos and strawberries for the event. As usual, the selection of cheeses at our favorite fromagerie was tough, but we managed to negotiate it. This morning, Ayelet bought fresh bread from our favorite baker. We set up tables in the corridor leading to our lab, with sparkling wine, bread, cheese, and red tomatos and strawberries.

Since all the rooms are already in use, we had the event in the small meeting room/kitchen next to our lab. This meant very select company (we had space for 24 chairs). It was very emotional as it was a chance to thank so many people at once.

Moments before the 9:00am, we did a quick test of the demo, and Ayelet decided we needed another plate with YPD (media), so I rushed to do the job.

During the event I gave a short talk about the science we do, and then had a movie about the robot. 

We then moved to the corridor and had a toast. Sadly, the University President had to rush out before the toast. 

We then had real-life tours of the facility while other used the opportunity to chit-chat and catch up. Sometime even serious scientific discussions.

Photography at the event was courtesy of Roy.

Visitors

This week the winter decided to give us a sneak visit. It has been a mostly sunny winter so far, but for a few days we had actual winter (rain and wind).

In the midst of this (mild) winter weather Tommy, an ex-student of mine who is now a postdoc at the Eisen lab at UC Berkeley, showed up for an interview. It was fun to spend time with Tommy again. He was involved with the early steps of thinking about the grant, and so it was nice to show off how much things have progressed.

We enjoyed a lull in the rain to sit outside among the fallen leafs and enjoy a simple lunch.

As part of his visit Tommy had to renew his visa, and seems that courtesy of the US embassy, we will have him visiting for a bit :-(

Here is a picture of wintery sunrise:

Ilan

Ilan Wapinski, a long time collaborator, is visiting Israel for Naomi's wedding. Today we spent several hours together. First we had technical chat with Naomi.

Then we went for lunch at one of the nicest places in town for food - MachneYuda restaurant. This was a combination of cool discussion and tasty food. We sat on the "chef bar" and so also had the whole kitchen staff as entertainment.

Visitor in the Lab

Today was the annual Israeli Bioinformatics Symposium, held by the Israeli Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology of which I happen to be the President. Our keynote speaker this year was Trey Ideker, and I hosted him on Monday for a sightseeing tour.

My student Moran joined us a a tour guide of the Old City of Jerusalem, which she knews quite well, and left me to document the visit. Few pictures to get your appetite for a visit here.

The Holy Sepulchre Church Jerusalem

Tasting some authentic humus  at Lina

Searching for gifts

From there Trey and I continued to the city of Caeseria, an old port city that was built (and destroyed and rebuilt) from the Roman time until the 14th century and now is an archaeological park.