Pottering Around Vermont
I spent the past week amidst the bucolic charms of Vermont debating the merits of mountains, molecules and membrane transport proteins (scientific program here: http://goo.gl/S6zHpC). The keynote talk was given by Ed Boyden (MIT; http://goo.gl/Lrgz9m) on the topic of optogenetics: light activated ion channels are cloned from corals, bacteria and fungi, delivered into neurons in a living animal, to precisely control and study behavior. We watched how activation of dopamine neurons by a blue light led pleasure seeking mice to return to the light spot again and again!
Each summer, for the past 80 years, scientists having been making the pilgrimage to the Gordon Research Conferences that cover hundreds of topics in physics, chemistry and biology. Discussions are intense, “off the record” and feature unpublished work. Isolated from the metropolitan hubbub, sites are typically in rural New England, Tuscany or the Swiss Alps (see my pix from Les Diablerets here: http://goo.gl/8qKpil). Afternoons are free, and we ventured into a charming old town where we explored a long-forgotten graveyard and discovered hand thrown pottery with colorful, crystalline glazes. They inspired me to make a pesto pasta with summer vegetables as soon as I returned home! I hope you enjoy these pictures in place of my usual #ScienceSunday post.
York Hill Pottery: http://yorkhillpottery.com/index.php?page=home
Flambeaux Art Pottery: http://www.campbellpottery.com/
madame scientist's not-so-mad musings 
Awesome and the pesto pasta, Priceless !!!
Beautiful photos
Thanks! 🙂
Oh. U re lucky Rajini
The imaging version of Gordon conferences is Imaging2020. Looks like you had a great time, Rajini Rao.
Chad Haney I’m sure it is as excellent as all the others. I did have a great time, thanks. I’m also chairing the next one in 2016, so lots of fund raising fun ahead (gulp!).
What a great job Ed Boyden has; Media Arts and Sciences! Good luck with the fund raising.
Sweet
Really nice Rajini … 🙂
Really, nice place for working and thinking.
Vermont. Come for the charm, stay for the biotech.
Smart of them to invest in biotech, Tom Nathe . Otherwise, it’s all tourism and farming.
Kevin Clift , Boyden is a wunderkind. His mentor is Karl Diesseroth, worth checking out (http://web.stanford.edu/group/dlab/). I wouldn’t be surprised if the field of optogenetics is heading for a Nobel.
Fascinating, I’ve been following Karl Diesseroth and his optogenetics developments in part thanks to Mark Bruce.
I made the same Nobel observation here: http://goo.gl/2ojzUL
Wow! The photos are very beautiful and nice. The pottery is very beautiful as well.
The Clarity technique was a technical breakthrough, I agree Kevin Clift !
I know that spot!! I went to school in Bennington. Vermont will always have a big spot in my heart.
Jim Philips it’s a ski resort! Vermont must be lovely in winter. We took the chair lifts up the mountain and walked our way down greatly accelerated by gravity.
Rajini Rao: which ski resort? I’ve been through that area, but cannot remember which ski resorts are there?
Beautiful!
I miss going to conferences with such good sessions, and exploring!
Doug Essinger-Hileman this is Mount Snow, in West Dover, VT. I believe it is the largest in the area? It makes sense that they rent the cabins out for conferences in the summer. Have you been there?
mary Zeman , it’s a special time, right? I’m both exhausted and motivated when I get back ..all those late nights 😉
Rajini Rao
exactly! so motivating, and inspiring!
I can understand the “intensity of the discussions”, given topics like this: “On the Origin of Promiscuity in the PTR Family of Proton Coupled Peptide Transporters”
Haha, John Condliffe . That was from Simon Newstead of Oxford. The promiscuity comes from the ability of various small peptide fragments (from digesting proteins in our intestine) to be taken up by the cells. We can exploit this promiscuity by tagging drugs to these small peptides and tricking the transporters so they are absorbed into the body. A number of new anti-HIV drugs are being targeted for absorption this way.
Such a beautiful, tranquil setting Rajini Rao ~ I’m glad you had a great time! The pesto look delicious, especially served in your lovely new pottery :-).
Thanks, Mara Rose . You know how it is good to bring back mementos of our travels, especially ones we can use. Hope you have happy travels too 🙂
Rajini Rao, yes, I have been to Mt. Snow. In the summer, but never to ski.
Thanks Rajini Rao, I’m pretty excited! I try to bring something back. Sometimes, It’s a stone, or a seashell, or a piece of driftwood– a talisman from my journey.
The 1st pic is the most beautiful one.
Nice!
LOve it Raijini !!!
Fun that your memento’s will hold memories for you, and also carry a time capsule of the state of the earth’s magnetic field of when they were cooled.
I really thank you for the pics..enjoyed’em 🙂
Wishing to be overthere ::great time u had
Rajini Rao I noticed your colleague at JHU, Jeff Bulte, is attending Imaging2020 this year.
http://www.imagingin2020.com/agenda-2014-tentative-program/
The theme is the immune system, so I won’t attend this year.
Good morning, Chad Haney . I can see that a cancer focus would be better for your research interests. It’s great that they have a different focus each year..allows for depth in discussions.
BTW, that’s not a GRC, though. Here is one on image science, possibly of interest? : http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2014&program=imagesci
Here’s another just on MRI: http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2014&program=invivo
The list of conferences is here: https://www.grc.org/meetings.aspx
I really can’t recommend a Gordon Conference enough..they are special.
Good morning Rajini Rao. Oh, I know it’s not a GRC, but it’s modeled after them. I seem to miss the GRC on MRI everytime.
Sorry, Rajini Rao I just noticed my comment was misleading. Yes, indeed it is not part of the Gordon conference series.
Chad Haney I wasn’t misled at all – at least by that specific comment…can’t give you blanket pass on your other incorrigible shenanigans 😉
That pesto is a showstopper!
GRCs are excellent because of their small size and relative isolation.
Tau-Mu Yi exactly, and the quality is superb.
Nice pic
Great time to go to Vermont. 🙂
Beautiful
Looking so good
Yes very much beautiful
Hai
Rajini Rao Hi
verry nice
Sweet 1
Nice pic
Good pick
Very nice
Hi
Yi
milbia calle
Nice
Sunma
Reaally nice rajani
Yery nice
Nice one
Very nice
o
It is very good
Chad Haney
Wonderful images
Goodnight
Flower photos beatiful
very nice
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cool and natural image
nice
Bountiful
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