Chichén Itzá

During the conference we had a day off, I went on an organised tour to Chichén Itzá, the oldest Mayan city. This was fantastic, most of these buildings are 1000 years old. This day it reached 40 degrees C, and 95% humidity. I saw two ambulances speeding around.

This pyramid (Temple of Kukulcan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as "El Castillo" (the castle) is unbelievably steep, at about a 45 degree angle. Thats why there is a rope to help people walk up the steps. I found out the next day that 20 people are killed each year falling off it!. The view from the top was worth the climb though.

The Hotel

I stayed in the HyattRegency Cancun, a five star hotel, but at a discounted price of
US$110 per night. These are some pictures of in and around the hotel.




The first two photos are of sunrises, I was up at about 3am every day
thaks to jetlag, so I saw a few sunrises.

Mexico Photos

A few weeks ago I came back from Cancun, Mexico. I was there for the 10th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME). Over the next few posts I will publish a few photos with a bit of a story about them.

2004 ISME Conference

In eleven days I leave New Zealand for Cancun, Mexico. I will attend the 10th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology. Here I am presenting a poster [PDF file], and a short talk on my research.

Publication in AEM

My manuscript covering the first part of my research has been accepted by the journal: "Applied and Environmental Microbiology" This will be published in the October 2004 issue (volume 70, issue 10).

Awarded a Royal Society Travel Grant

I have been awarded a travel grant of $1000 from the Royal Society of New Zealand to go to the 14th International Congress on Nitrogen fixation in Beijing, China from the 28th October to the 1st November 2004. Here I will present some of my work on New Zealand rhizobia.

Website in Environmental Microbiology Journal

My rhizobia taxonomy page was recommended in the "Web Alert" section of the January 2004 issue of Environmental Microbiology. The author writes "This webpage offers a recent compilation of the taxonomic designations for rhizobial strains. This information is useful for navigating in a field where genus and species names have changed frequently."

Reference:

Wackett, Lawrence P. (2004). Rhizobia. Environmental Microbiology.
doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00564.x

MicroNZ 2003 Conference over

On Thursday MicroNZ 2003 finished.
It was a good conference, I personally learnt that quorum sensing is much more complicated than I had first thought - the host can intercept bacterial signals, and bacteria can interpret host cytokine signaling. I also learnt about integrons - 59bp transposable genetic elements.

This photo is of some of the delegates standing around the trade stalls.

2003 NZMS / AMS Conference

In about one months time from the 28th September to the 2nd October, will be the MicroNZ 2003 Conference.
This is a joint meeting of the Australian and New Zealand microbiology societies. I will be presenting a poster of my work to date there.