NOTE – This entry was meant for posting in May. Please forgive the late entry.

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Happy Spring! When the flowers bloom… and so do the phytoplankton. :) 

I am in the rhythm of chemostat building and am proud to announce the creation of a necessary portion of my chemostat system: the Conditioning Electronically-Operated Relay Grouping (GEORG – “Sound of Music,” anyone?), affectionately known as “George.”

George was built over the course of two 16-hour days and boasts six independently-controlled solid-state relays. These relays will act as switches that will control the solenoid valves on the pneumatic manifold. In short, George will allow me to control the amount of CO2 gas that will be bubbled into the system to control the pH of the chemostat system.

A feature of George that I am particularly pleased with came from a suggestion that a family member made to “idiot-proof” the system. Thus, I customized George’s DB15 ports and Molex connectors so that they cannot be mixed up or connected to the wrong connector (which would render the system temporarily useless), or ports (which would short circuit poor George and cause a major setback – and possible a small fire).

But before I get too excited – George must be thoroughly tested and connected to both the pneumatic manifold and the Labview program – which is still in the de-bugging phase.

This has been an intense month as I build George and finish up the preliminary pH experiments on Alexandrium catenella. I have also been going through the process to select an undergraduate intern to help me this summer. I am excited, as this will be my first experience mentoring. I have narrowed the field to four possible interns, and will make my final decision this week.