Another farewell party

It seems that we are facing a mass exodus. Today we had a small scale party to say goodbye to Michal who is returning to MIT/Broad to finish her PHD.

You might remember that Michal is long-term visitor in the lab who works with us the last few years. Next week she is flying back to Boston, and apparently next time she visit Israel will be after she will finish her PHD. In addition to that exciting event, she will also be a mom next time we meet her...

We had a small party. Due to experiments running on (more on that later), we switch the plan from going out to ordering food in. And since the options were limited, we had a Pizza Party! to remind Michal what she is about to enjoy a lot of in different meetings in the States :-)

Michal treated us to a very impressive (and tasty!) cake.

And also a surprise present of a ball. It turned out that the ball was a puzzle that required some effort.

Although we will continue collaborating with Michal, we will miss her presence at the lab.

Evolution of Transcription Factors Binding paper is accepted!

Yay!

Just got email that a paper by Naomi, Ilan Wapinski, Aviv Regev, Hanah Margalit and me was accepted to Molecular Systems Biology. This paper represents almost two years of work by Naomi and Ilan, and undergone several dramatic ups & down during this time. So it is great to hear that it is officially accepted.

It made just in time for Naomi to print her dissertation listing this paper as "accepted for publication" instead of "in review".

We celebrated by an impromptu toast in the lab.

More details once the paper appears....

This is also a good chance to add a picture of Naomi & Ilan from a trip to CSHL at the time we started talking about this project.

Bubbles away - Moran's sendoff party

As you might recall, Moran is trying to finish her PHD soon. In fact, she already got plane tickets to Boston. This week she had two causes for celebration. First, she handed in her dissertation. Yay!

Second, we had a sendoff party. Its a bit early, but since it was the only time when all the relevant people are in Israel,  she had it today.

Moran, being Moran, organized a party with all the lab alumni that overlapped with her and are still in Israel. She and Liron (her husband) organized activities to match the festivities.

And so we found ourselves on the lawn of the university, on the late afternoon of a relatively hot day blowing huge bubbles. Everyone had tons of fun, and we attracted a lot of attention from the passing students.

It was impressive to see the large number of people that were related to the lab at some point in the last few years. 

Ofer

Avital

Merav & Avital

Michal C. & Alon

Jenia

Assaf

Michal R.

Inbar (hiding beyond her camera)

Ruty

Ido

It was even more impressive to see the large number of children at various ages.

Oren & Liron (Moran's family)

Daniela & Ariel (Naomi's)

Oren, back in the action

Naomi, Ariel & Daniela

Marek & daughter

Tal showing off the latest acquisition

Cecile

Michal (Matan's) checking the food

Matan, preparing Michal for the circus

Tal, Amit, and Shachr (Inbar's)

Maya (Matan's)

Each of us brought something to eat and drink, and so we had a nice selection. 

Moran, who is known for her cooking/baking passion, outdid everyone with a fancy desert.

Thankfully, the official speech ceremony was short [I think I was ok ;-)]

Moran, ready for battle!
Ayelet in the background

Before breaking up the party, we managed to get a group picture together.

Party: One Farewell + Two Welcome

Recently it seems that we have many farewell party. Another one today, to celebrate Noa's graduation and to say farewell on her departure to the Weizmann Institute. At the same time we also welcomed two new additions to the extended lab family: Oren and Daniela who born recently.

We had a nice picnic in a park near Jerusalem, and enjoyed the presence of current and recent lab members and the many young children of the next generation. As noted by few participants, the lab has been extremely productive on that front...

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.