Squeezing algae into microdroplets… and squeezing apples into cider!

John Howard

The science part

I’ve just got back from visiting Prof Nina Lin’s lab at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I have no idea what time it is or indeed what year it is, and I’m now straight off to do an image analysis course at The Crick whilst very far down the jetlag rabbit hole. But it was all worth it.

The Lin Lab specialise in applying microfluidics to microbiology, so I went to absorb as much information as possible so we can hopefully set up these techniques into the Pandhal Lab back in Sheffield. I learnt how to make single emulsion water-in-oil droplets containing algae or bacteria using moulded PDMS devices, and then how to sort these using the On-Chip droplet selector. This is essentially a benchtop FACS machine that sorts fluorescent objects out of an oil based carrier fluid using microfluidics, rather than the aqueous carrier fluid needed in FACS. FACS can also be used, but then you need double emulsion water-in oil-in water droplets, which I also learnt about while there. We’re hoping to use these techniques to intensify our ability to screen lots of microbial consortia for their ability to degrade pollutant chemicals.

Particular thanks to Jess and Jonathan for looking after me in the lab. I’m very excited to get back to Sheffield and start setting up some of the techniques I saw in Michigan. After I sleep. So much sleep.

The part I’m claiming is science because it has microbiology and botany in it, but isn’t really

“I presume you just read books or watched TV in your spare time then John?” Ha. Not quite. Well where to start?

I played my first open mic night since before the pandemic and saw a lot of live music at the North Star Lounge. I managed to play the piano in a straight line, even though it was an automatic and on the wrong side of the road. Thankfully the peddles are the same though.

This led to being invited to the open mic host’s annual apple pressing, which I think is about the best example of how friendly Ann Arbor is that I could come up with (thanks Forrest!). This obviously involved the grinding and pressing of apples with some fairly antique equipment (Jags did have to check that I hadn’t travelled to the US by DeLorean by accident) but came with a side of songs round a bonfire, bonfire baked potatoes, and my first ever pawpaw.

“What is a pawpaw?” I’m glad you asked, time for a brief botany deviation. This is a strange “tropical” fruit that actually grows in temperate areas of the US, particularly Michigan. I can only describe it as a custardy mango wearing the skin of a pear. They don’t ripen once you take them off the tree, and when ripe they are about as structurally stable as the custard they taste like, so they don’t travel well. And they’re one of those genetically finnicky plants that don’t produce fruit unless pollinated by another sufficiently genetically distant tree, so they’d be a bit of a pain to propagate and farm anyway. You’re therefore very unlikely to ever see one in a shop, so if you’re ever passing through Michigan and want to try one, ask enough locals until they whisper and subtly point you towards a nearby tree.

I also drank a lot of cider (that’s code for apple juice in the US), as well as trying last year’s hard cider (that’s the proper stuff that you’re picturing being drunk to a soundtrack of the Wurzels), made with just the natural yeast found on the apples. Which I think means this section counts as still being about microbiology. How sneaky of me.

The part in which I go to lots of museums

Right, brace for the museums section of the essay. I went to the art museum, which has all sorts of great work, but where I saw a joint Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith exhibit, which I think finally made me get modern art. The secret is you have to be in the room with it, not looking at a picture of it, and ideally see a range of works by the same artist(s) in close succession. Trust me, I’m a doctor. I also highly recommend the archaeology museum, if you’re into lots of intact Roman glass objects (how has it not smashed??), cat mummies, and amphorae covered in barnacle shells almost as old as they are.

The natural history museum is also a gem, and returning to science for a moment (heaven forfend), the level of both actual dead things on display (as opposed to a sea of information boards and replicas) and the amount of plant and microbe content is arguably better than the NHM in London. Which I should know as that’s what I did with my day in London before my flight. They also have a conservation lab with public glass windows to watch conservators at work, although don’t knock on the glass. We scientists startle easily. Also if my some chance anyone from the NHM ever reads this, I have a great idea for an algae exhibit you could have, and a fun way to make your lichen display more exciting, hit me up!

The part made of all the leftover parts that didn’t fit into the other parts

Penultimate sidebar: in a bar I also ran into a friend from literally the next school over from mine back home, who was also visiting the uni for research work, to play with the giant laser they have. Because you apparently can’t take me anywhere and I am turning into my father, whose capacity to run into people he knows from the 70s and 80s from British Rail or pubs whilst halfway round the world is legendary.

Other montage moments of the trip include: black squirrels; deer with excellent road-crossing etiquette; an indoor airport monorail; an invasion of cowboy boots-n-hats the weekend Zack Bryant and John Mayer were playing in town; a cat with thumbs; reading three and a half books to completion (which for this distractable chaos gremlin is good going); watching Aardman’s Pirates and Scientists claymation film in a German bar, as you do; listening to Lady Gaga’s John Wayne 20,000 times on the bus to work because apparently that’s the song my brain picked this month; top quality wildflower meadows; a 20 foot high plastic skeleton; and discovering that you should never order a McGriddle in the US instead of a McMuffin, it’s a trap. No further questions at this time.

For further elaboration, come to the pub. I’ve missed proper sized chips and full-sized pints.

A huge thanks again to Nina, the whole of the Lin lab, and the neighbouring labs for making me very welcome.  Excited to get going on microfluidics back in Sheffield. After I’ve slept. I don’t know if I mentioned, but I’m very jetlagged.