The Resurrection

As you know, this blog has a regular feature-- the flashback post (example).  Given the 2+ year hiatus since my last post, flashing (back) is going to be a very common activity, as Schaackmobile (the blog) celebrates Lent by starting its slow ascent from the ashes....

Let's start with today though:
I am writing from my office in Nairobi, Kenya.  I am so profoundly enjoying my sabbatical here, it's hard to capture the experience in words, but photos help.  I arrived in October, and almost immediately lucked into an apartment affectionately referred to as the Tangerine Dream Penthouse (the TDP for short, aptly named given the color scheme, I think; ours is the apartment, literally, at the end of the rainbow).

The TDP has a great view and is right across the street from where I do most of my work (you know I hate commuting by car!) in a neighborhood called Uthiru, which I love.  As you can see (below), Uthiru is bustling with life and is full of rainbows (even double rainbows), although no one really freaks out about them here.

My sabbatical gig involves doing a series of bioinformatics and genomics workshops (we have just finished 4, of 5) and a bunch of different research projects.  I have a couple of students from the US working and living with me and they are awesome-- talented, fun, energetic, and excited.  I also work with Kenyan students and researchers who are out of this world-- I am inspired and impressed everyday that I am here.  Here is our workshop group photo (power posing, of course) after we wrapped up at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Arusha last month.  Who has that much fun doing bioinformatics?  We do, that's who.

Our latest project is ambitious-- we are sequencing the whole genome and transcriptome of a lepidopteran crop pest, Busseola fusca, that is responsible for the destruction of up to 1/3 of the maize in East Africa every year.  Given that this is the staple food in the region, understanding the biology of the organism (and therefore how it might be controlled) is critical.  This has been the focus of a great deal of research for over a century, but the genome has yet to be sequenced.  Many collaborators, and the graduates of our workshop series, will be working together over the coming months on this major effort.  Here is a pic of the larvae (left), and Gladys Bichanga, a collaborator on the project, and a link to a recent write-up about parts of my role, specifically, in the project in the Oregonian (although there are 50+ people involved who were not mentioned in the piece).  It is a serious honor and major thrill to be here-- doing this project, working with these folks, learning all these new things.  As usual, come visit!