Last week I traveled back across the sea and down the coast to the beautiful (but very rainy) Cornwall to celebrate the successful PhD viva (aka defense) of my first PhD student, Sean Meaden. A big thanks to external examiner Prof Martha Clokie for insightful comments and for hanging around to celebrate (despite my bailing early due to severe jet lag – and I can’t even blame the baby). The visit was bittersweet, as the joy of celebrating Sean’s success was coupled with the sadness of no longer having Sean in the lab. Sean impressed me every single day that he was part of the lab; whether it was learning how to develop bioinformatic pipelines to analyze microbiome datasets, sequencing and annotating phage genomes, running experiments in the greenhouse, or volunteering in Sierra Leone during the ebola outbreak, Sean’s work ethic, integrity, and love of science made him an absolute pleasure to work with. Oh yeah, and he happens to be one of the nicest, sincere, and well-balanced people I know. I have no doubt that Sean’s future scientific endeavors will be hugely successful and I look forward to following his continued growth as a scientist, as well as to our continued collaborations. Congratulations Sean!
P.s. Thanks to Sarah Paul for baking and designing the amazing phage and tomato cakes!
Koskella Lab at UC Berkeley 