Martin Mwangi

My name is Martin Mwangi and I have been spending my 2011 summer at the amazing University of Pittsburgh as a part of the HHMI EXROP program. I’ve been enjoying working in the Hatfull lab studying mycobacteriophages under the supervision of Dr. Bekah Dedrick. My project involves analyzing the expression of a putative DNA methylase in several mycobacteriophages(which also putatively encodes an endonuclease in a different frame) in both Mycobacterium smegmatis and E. Coli. I have already learned a couple of news techniques such as cloning.

The lab I am working is considerably larger than at my home institution which has been great as there are plenty of people to ask questions. In lab meeting, where I presented this past week, their questions and feedback was very helpful in thinking about how to best approach my project. All the people are very friendly and I had the opportunity of enjoying a potluck at the lab coordinators house this past weekend.

Getting to see the city of Pittsburgh has been pretty amazing. I had the opportunity to see all the amazing fireworks shows across the city of Pittsburgh on the 4th of July. This weekend I hope to go Kayaking. Overall my stay so far has been great and I look forward to what the next 5 weeks have to offer.