Bioluminescent Microbiological Holiday Wishes to ALL

I am Mark Martin, an associate professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. I work hard each year to promote "Microbial Pride" (well, "Microbial Supremacy" is more what I have in mind). And I love the mixture of microbiology and art I see these days. Here is my addition.

For the holidays, I streaked out (well, "drew on") some Petri dishes with Photobacterium leiognathi KNH1 (a strain isolated by Ned Ruby and Eric Stabb from Kaneohe Bay in O'ahu, Hawai'i). It is very brightly bioluminescent. My wife Jenny then attached strings to each plate (and glued the plates shut).

So for our tree this year, we have bioluminescent ornaments, some GiantMicrobes (http://www.giantmicrobes.com), and some microbiologically themed ornaments from the skilled and humorous Michele Banks (http://www.etsy.com/shop/artologica). It's a Microbiological Holiday season---and best wishes for a luminous New Year!

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