User:Rachel - Revision history

Rachel at 06:02, 2 May 2024

2024-05-02T06:02:04Z

Rachel at 06:00, 2 May 2024

2024-05-02T06:00:17Z

Rachel: /* Who I am */

2023-02-12T12:01:42Z

Who I am

Rachel: /* Who I am */

2022-03-17T11:54:42Z

Who I am

Rachel: /* Who I am */

2022-03-17T11:46:32Z

Who I am

Rachel: /* What I have been working on at Hackuarium */

2022-01-22T15:03:57Z

What I have been working on at Hackuarium

Rachel at 14:59, 22 January 2022

2022-01-22T14:59:06Z

Rachel: /* Declaration of further interests */

2021-11-29T10:02:19Z

Declaration of further interests

Rachel: /* What I have been working on at Hackuarium */

2021-03-03T08:05:28Z

What I have been working on at Hackuarium

Rachel: /* What I have been working on at Hackuarium */

2021-02-15T14:06:24Z

What I have been working on at Hackuarium

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 In about 2006, I became aware how the so many environmental factors and even things *we* choose to do can impact genomic integrity.  While repair of damage does happen in cells, sometimes the end result is new mutations, that can also affect future generations.  Therefore, awareness and prevention are of great interest for health. To these ends I founded the non-profit group [https://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR!] Action for Genomic integrity through Research! to provide information and promote research into these issues.  I am also very interested in measuring amounts and effects of environmental pollutants and have worked with biosensors for arsenic and BTEX/PAH compounds in the UNIL fundamental microbiology (DMF UNIL) department. In fact, the latter experience is the reason Hackuarium came to my attention, an open public community lab, in which I have become more & more implicated over the last years...
-In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication]. All this ultimately led to two more summers of sampling (with sponsorship by the Jazz), and 2023 as our cleanest to date.  A win!? (more details)
+In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication]. All this ultimately led to two more summers of sampling (with sponsorship by the Jazz), and 2023 as our cleanest to date.  A win!? ([[Montreux 2023|more details]])
 Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we had a 'control' year, with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood, sowed in the winter with an interesting pink coating... For the 2024 season, we will try a new inoculant...)<br>
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == What I have been working on at Hackuarium==
-The genomic integrity experiments, especially the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity/cometassaydev cheek cell chip attempts for AGiR!] are my personal projects, with the sustainability of our association a big goal since joining the board.<br>I got into all this biohacking world through chance, however, with a biosensor course organised with founding members of Hackuarium, my big intro to open science (thanks to Jan, Sachiko and Robin).<br>The #mycelia4bees project and #qualitycontrol4genes project are my current big efforts, in addition to a general P1 biosafety/biosecurity focus and other lab space organisation as one of the 'lab coordinators' in our community lab.<br>
+The genomic integrity experiments, especially the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity/cometassaydev cheek cell chip attempts for AGiR!] are my personal projects, with the sustainability of our association a big goal since joining the board.<br>I got into all this biohacking world through chance, however, with a biosensor course organised with founding members of Hackuarium, my big intro to open science (thanks to Jan, Sachiko and Robin).<br>The #mycelia4bees project and #qualitycontrol4genes project are my current big efforts, in addition to a general P1 biosafety/biosecurity focus and other lab space organisation as one of the 'lab coordinators' of our community lab.<br>
-Helping others to fulfil their projects at Hackuarium is very rewarding, while working to make this all sustainable is still a great challenge.<br>
+Helping others to fulfill their projects at Hackuarium is very rewarding, while working to make this all sustainable is still a great challenge.<br>
 I welcome your help!

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 In about 2006, I became aware how the so many environmental factors and even things *we* choose to do can impact genomic integrity.  While repair of damage does happen in cells, sometimes the end result is new mutations, that can also affect future generations.  Therefore, awareness and prevention are of great interest for health. To these ends I founded the non-profit group [https://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR!] Action for Genomic integrity through Research! to provide information and promote research into these issues.  I am also very interested in measuring amounts and effects of environmental pollutants and have worked with biosensors for arsenic and BTEX/PAH compounds in the UNIL fundamental microbiology (DMF UNIL) department. In fact, the latter experience is the reason Hackuarium came to my attention, an open public community lab, in which I have become more & more implicated over the last years...
-In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication].
+In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication]. All this ultimately led to two more summers of sampling (with sponsorship by the Jazz), and 2023 as our cleanest to date.  A win!? (more details)
-Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we had a 'control' year, with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood, sowed in the winter with an interesting pink coating... For the 2023 seaso, we are still deciding, as we need some more people to join in to help run this project...)<br>
+Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we had a 'control' year, with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood, sowed in the winter with an interesting pink coating... For the 2024 season, we will try a new inoculant...)<br>
 Since 2018, I was 'naturalised' as a Swiss citizen, but am still working on using more French!  (désolées, ami/es francophones... ça peut arriver, avec ton aide?! :)<br>
 More information about my career path can be found in [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelaronoff/ LinkedIn].
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == What I have been working on at Hackuarium==
-The genomic integrity experiments, especially the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity/cometassaydev cheek cell chip attempts for AGiR!] are my personal projects, with the sustainability of our association my big goal as president.<br> I got into all this biohacking world through chance, however, with a [https://biodesign.cc/2016/02/02/winter-school-kicked-off/ biosensor course] organised with founding members of Hackuarium, my big intro to open science (thanks to Jan, Sachiko and Robin).<br> At the end of a 6-month sabbatical after finishing a project management position at a private company, I had six weeks to travel in Australia, and met with both Sydney and Melbourne biohackers early in 2017.  Since then, I have done workshops from London (with [https://www.meetup.com/Science-has-no-Borders/ Science has no Borders]), to Shenzhen (at [http://openhardware.science/gatherings/gosh-2018-2/ GOSH2018]), Bilbao ([https://bbkopenscience.com/ BBK Open Science Festival]), and of course at [https://vimeo.com/337737746?fbclid=IwAR19i5odOCatUAAZ-GBMsCt49vsNZt_nGbjqEc_Nt396qvZQgJ9aTZ8RU6o our new coop site in Ecublens], learning all the time!
+The genomic integrity experiments, especially the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity/cometassaydev cheek cell chip attempts for AGiR!] are my personal projects, with the sustainability of our association a big goal since joining the board.<br>I got into all this biohacking world through chance, however, with a biosensor course organised with founding members of Hackuarium, my big intro to open science (thanks to Jan, Sachiko and Robin).<br>The #mycelia4bees project and #qualitycontrol4genes project are my current big efforts, in addition to a general P1 biosafety/biosecurity focus and other lab space organisation as one of the 'lab coordinators' in our community lab.<br>
 Helping others to fulfil their projects at Hackuarium is very rewarding, while working to make this all sustainable is still a great challenge.<br>
 I welcome your help!

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication].
-Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we are still deciding, esp with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood...)<br>
+Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we had a 'control' year, with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood, sowed in the winter with an interesting pink coating... For the 2023 seaso, we are still deciding, as we need some more people to join in to help run this project...)<br>
 Since 2018, I was 'naturalised' as a Swiss citizen, but am still working on using more French!  (désolées, ami/es francophones... ça peut arriver, avec ton aide?! :)<br>
 More information about my career path can be found in [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelaronoff/ LinkedIn].

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 From worms to mice, for molecular micro- and neuro- biology studies over the course of my academic career, I, for instance, cloned an RNA-level quality control factor of cells (smg-4/Upf3) defining a new motif central for this conserved cellular quality control system, and also worked at the EPFL, helping define and modify mammalian neural circuits for sensory perception.
-In about 2006, I became aware how the so many environmental factors and even things *we* choose to do can impact genomic integrity.  While repair of damage does happen in cells, sometimes the end result is new mutations, that can also affect future generations.  Therefore, awareness and prevention are of great interest for health. To these ends I founded the non-profit group [https://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR!] Action for Genomic integrity through Research! to provide information and promote research into these issues.  ''I am also very interested in measuring amounts and effects of environmental pollutants and have worked with biosensors for arsenic and BTEX/PAH compounds in the UNIL fundamental microbiology (DMF UNIL) department. In fact the latter experience is the reason Hackuarium came to my attention, an open public lab, in which I have become more & more implicated over the last years...''
+In about 2006, I became aware how the so many environmental factors and even things *we* choose to do can impact genomic integrity.  While repair of damage does happen in cells, sometimes the end result is new mutations, that can also affect future generations.  Therefore, awareness and prevention are of great interest for health. To these ends I founded the non-profit group [https://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR!] Action for Genomic integrity through Research! to provide information and promote research into these issues.  I am also very interested in measuring amounts and effects of environmental pollutants and have worked with biosensors for arsenic and BTEX/PAH compounds in the UNIL fundamental microbiology (DMF UNIL) department. In fact, the latter experience is the reason Hackuarium came to my attention, an open public community lab, in which I have become more & more implicated over the last years...
-In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (the NoJazz control!) in 2020 allowed us to publish it, too.
+In addition to AGiR! projects at Hackuarium, I would like to improve science communication and facilitate participatory research projects especially, and helped Hammerdirt in the Montreux Clean Beach Project with microbiological monitoring over eight weeks during two consecutive summers, with a round of sampling (without the Jazz !) in 2020 providing further statistical basis for a [https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 peer-reviewed publication].
-An urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year now (2022, and we will see if someone else can pick up the reins).<br>
+Our urban garden project with pea plants and symbiotic bacteria also ran for its fourth year during the pandemic. (In 2022, we are still deciding, esp with a big field of peas to follow closely in the neighborhood...)<br>
 Since 2018, I was 'naturalised' as a Swiss citizen, but am still working on using more French!  (désolées, ami/es francophones... ça peut arriver, avec ton aide?! :)<br>
 More information about my career path can be found in [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelaronoff/ LinkedIn].
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 == Declaration of further interests ==
-Founder and CSO of [http://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR! Action for Genomic integrity through Research!], a non-profit association for public health, meant to provide information and promote research on the dynamic processes happening in all of our cells.  Genomic integrity is about much more than just fixed DNA sequences. It is dynamic includes epigenetics and all sorts of RNAs, and many things we do regularly can affect it, potentially in a negative fashion, also impacting the environment and future generations.
+Founder and CSO of [http://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR! Action for Genomic integrity through Research!], a non-profit association for public health, meant to provide information and promote research on the dynamic processes happening in all of our cells.  Genomic integrity is about much more than just fixed DNA sequences. It is dynamic, includes epigenetics and all sorts of RNAs, and many things we do regularly can affect it, potentially in a negative fashion, also impacting the environment and future generations.
 Sometime consultant for [http://www.swissdecode.com/ SwissDeCode], which aims at fast detection of food contamination and is not quite a 'spin-off' of the old Hackuarium project, [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/BeerDeCoded BeerDeCoded].
 Mother of two grown daughters, book, art and music lover, and keen amateur volleyball player (Echandens women's team)!

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 An experienced molecular biologist with keen interest in genomic integrity, a big picture concept for public health that basically includes all the molecular genetic details in cells, I was born in New York, but grew up on the West Coast of the United States, going north with each move, from CA to OR to WA. Completing my doctorate in microbiology on retroviral RNA packaging in Seattle, I have had the opportunity to live in many wonderful places, and work on many interesting things.<br>
-From worms to mice, for molecular micro- and neuro- biology studies over the course of my academic career, I, for instance, cloned an RNA-level quality control factor of cells (smg-4/Upf3) defining a new motif central for this conserved cellular function, and also worked at the EPFL, helping define and modify mammalian circuits for sensory perception.
+From worms to mice, for molecular micro- and neuro- biology studies over the course of my academic career, I, for instance, cloned an RNA-level quality control factor of cells (smg-4/Upf3) defining a new motif central for this conserved cellular quality control system, and also worked at the EPFL, helping define and modify mammalian neural circuits for sensory perception.
 In about 2006, I became aware how the so many environmental factors and even things *we* choose to do can impact genomic integrity.  While repair of damage does happen in cells, sometimes the end result is new mutations, that can also affect future generations.  Therefore, awareness and prevention are of great interest for health. To these ends I founded the non-profit group [https://www.genomicintegrity.org AGiR!] Action for Genomic integrity through Research! to provide information and promote research into these issues.  ''I am also very interested in measuring amounts and effects of environmental pollutants and have worked with biosensors for arsenic and BTEX/PAH compounds in the UNIL fundamental microbiology (DMF UNIL) department. In fact the latter experience is the reason Hackuarium came to my attention, an open public lab, in which I have become more & more implicated over the last years...''

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 The genomic integrity experiments, especially the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity/cometassaydev cheek cell chip attempts for AGiR!] are my personal projects, with the sustainability of our association my big goal as president.<br> I got into all this biohacking world through chance, however, with a [https://biodesign.cc/2016/02/02/winter-school-kicked-off/ biosensor course] organised with founding members of Hackuarium, my big intro to open science (thanks to Jan, Sachiko and Robin).<br> At the end of a 6-month sabbatical after finishing a project management position at a private company, I had six weeks to travel in Australia, and met with both Sydney and Melbourne biohackers early in 2017.  Since then, I have done workshops from London (with [https://www.meetup.com/Science-has-no-Borders/ Science has no Borders]), to Shenzhen (at [http://openhardware.science/gatherings/gosh-2018-2/ GOSH2018]), Bilbao ([https://bbkopenscience.com/ BBK Open Science Festival]), and of course at [https://vimeo.com/337737746?fbclid=IwAR19i5odOCatUAAZ-GBMsCt49vsNZt_nGbjqEc_Nt396qvZQgJ9aTZ8RU6o our new coop site in Ecublens], learning all the time!
 I hope the [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jaPHOkH_42YmlhUThkNy1aN0U/view?usp=sharing two AGiR! projects] at Hackuarium, the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/AGiR!_for_genomic_integrity cheek cell assays for DNA damage], and the [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Moss_Menageries_with_AGiR! moss fauna studies], will be beta-tested all over the world for big data possibilities about environmental risks to genomic integrity and biodiversity on our planet!<br>
-The push for citizen science with partners Hammerdirt for summertime [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Micro_to_Macro_Water_Pollution microbial analyses of lake water around Montreux] has been publicly available throughout those studies, and the latest news is a draft of our manuscript on these studies under review at an academic journal. (ahh chance) Our urban garden tests, required more channeling of our inner Gregor Mendel, however, with weather a great problem in the second season attempted, and only finally some significant results in the 3rd year (garden plant peas per plant were increased with the symbiotic bacteria, in contrast to the mock inoculated plants).  However, whether average increases seen (about 25 vs 16 peas per plant on average) will be sufficient to tempt a 4th go will depend on our community and others' interest. <br>(hint, gardening members, Now is a good time to start planning for spring.)<br>
+The push for citizen science with partners Hammerdirt for summertime [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/Micro_to_Macro_Water_Pollution microbial analyses of lake water around Montreux] has been publicly available throughout those studies, and as mentioned above, [https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2688-8319.12094 this came out in an academic] journal. Our urban garden tests, required more channeling of our inner Gregor Mendel, however, with weather a great problem also in the fourth season (second season bad too), and only so far convincingly significant results in the 3rd year (garden plant peas per plant were increased with the symbiotic bacteria, in contrast to the mock inoculated plants).  However, whether average increases seen (about 25 vs 16 peas per plant on average), that year, after 2021's mixed bag (record number of peas per pod!  in pots, better with bugs, but no sig), will be sufficient to tempt us to try a 5th go will depend on our community and others' interest. <br>(hint, gardening members, Now is the time to start planning for spring, and whether to do a 5th round.)<br>
 Other work around [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/OpenInsulin insulin is another possible project] I have been gradually pulling together.<br>
 I have been preoccupied by the pandemic, Corona Detective, and local and world politics too, but fully hope to return to cutting-edge molecular studies in our nice lab space, and ideally aim to do a high-resolution imaging project of sub-nuclear architecture in human cells.

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:02, 29 November 2021
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	Sometime consultant for [http://www.swissdecode.com/ SwissDeCode], which aims at fast detection of food contamination and is not quite a 'spin-off' of the old Hackuarium project, [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/BeerDeCoded BeerDeCoded].		Sometime consultant for [http://www.swissdecode.com/ SwissDeCode], which aims at fast detection of food contamination and is not quite a 'spin-off' of the old Hackuarium project, [http://wiki.hackuarium.ch/w/BeerDeCoded BeerDeCoded].

−	Mother of two grown daughters, book, art and music lover, and keen amateur volleyball player (Echandens team)!	+	Mother of two grown daughters, book, art and music lover, and keen amateur volleyball player (Echandens women's team)!