Visiting Harvard

Last week I visited Harvard University and gave a talk on my research into the consortia of bacteria associated with lichens. I was invited by Anne Pringle and was really excited to see some of the great research going on in her lab. One highlight of the visit was a tour of the Farlow Herbarium with Don Pfister. It was interesting to discuss how the herbarium would implement procedures for the NSF-funded TCN North American Lichens and Bryophytes project, for which I am the coodinator at the New York Botanical Garden (NSF Awards - NYBG: EF-1115086; Harvard: EF-1114957). Soon we will be putting online YouTube videos detailing procedures and workflows for this project, which will hopefully help other institutions such as the Farlow Herbarium to get the project up and running quickly once they are ready to begin. I hope that this visit will represent the first step in establishing lasting collaborations with some of the biologists at Harvard!

- Brendan