Farncombe
Phage

It’s IIDR Trainee Day time! This year, we had three poster presenters (click through), but plenty of particpation, as three of the organizing committee were the Hynes Lab’s own. The event went off without a hitch, well done, guys!

This year’s festivities marked the continuation of a trend; we’re the only team that places on the podium in both the costume AND pumpkin carving contests. A first place for our Deadpool & Wolverine (w/Dogpool) - click through, setting us up as repeat champions. We slipped a place in the costume contest to third, despite our oh-so-clever trick to mimick the Li Lab’s winning costumes from the last 10 years. Honestly, we think it has to do with the new judges, Lisa would definitely have given us the win :P.

In a Farncombe Research Day she helped organize, in the middle of preparing for a committee meeting, and just weeks after her RIP, Gayatri delivers a talk that earns her a 1st place presentation award. How’s that for grace under pressure! We also had fantastic posters by Rabia, Jordan, and Ayesha… a great lab showcase.

Long overdue for a lab photo, living in a place that has truly beautiful falls... we scheduled a lab hike. Then I had to start using crutches... but aside from my palms chafing a bit, I think we managed pretty well! Look, Rabia's eyes are open, my eyes are open, and so are little L's!

In a delightful surprise, we had an unexpected visitor (and his mother) stay for all of lab meeting (!). For about half the meeting, he paid rapt attention. Clearly objected to the lactose depletion slide - so he was paying attention too. Had some trouble articulating his questions, though...

What do you do when the monitor doesnt work, the podium mic fails, the wireless hand-mic is going to die in 5 minutes, and you have a talk to give? You give the best talk you’ve given, apparently. I know the coordinators are supposed to show the new students how it’s done… but Gayatri took that to a whole new level.

In today’s RIP “wrap up” for last year, I performed passably at recognizing people’s fun facts, and I was delighted to see Jordan awarded a prize for his fantastic talk last year. I had to leave before the cake was served… but there was cake!

Instead of an after-the-fact picture, a picture of the cleanup crew in action (click through for those of us gathered for lunch). A long-time tradition inherited from the Moineau lab - starting every semester with a full-lab shutdown, full “on-hands-and-knees” scrubbing, sorting, etc. Always pays off!

Yes, the place’s name is already alliterative, but that felt like cheating. Summer is winding down, Félix is homeward bound in two senses; back to La Belle Province, but also to home ownership… so we thought we’d gather for some games. I look particularly sinister in this shot, I think. Oh, and the kids aren’t our undergrads… just my two oldest in tow.

The summer is almost over, I’m told (though I refuse to believe it), although it is hitting home a little as this week I have been updating the team page to include some of the incoming September cohort of students - Michael Hamilton (from Guelph. This won’t get confusing) joining us for an MSc, and Sayna Salehzadeh - a thesis student from the ISci program. Check out the Team page! More to introduce later this week.

It’s a very promising cohort - but it also reinforced the fact that this year, three PhD students have left the lab - it’s a major changing of the guard! Exciting, Daunting… all of the above.