Next week I will attend the 18th International C. elegans meeting at UCLA. This is the big “worm meeting” that takes place every other year. Despite what many of you might think, this is serious science that is also a lot of fun. Worms (aka nematodes) are wonderful creatures, and they are teaching us a lot of great biology and biomedicine. There have been 3 recent Nobel Prizes given for research in C. elegans!
In addition to the serious stuff, people at the worm meeting do have a sense of humor, and they also have an annual Worm Art Show. My entry this year will be “WormPad”. (wish me luck!) It is an iPad 2 case with a scene of Panagrellus redivivus (another worm) taken from a microscope in my lab. These creatures are about 1-mm long and live on petri dishes with bacteria. Below I have a picture of the microscope image and my WormPad.
Panagrellus redivivus worms in a microscope.
Art's Musings, etc. 