Let the good times roll....

OK I think I’ve finally got the 8 hours (behind) time difference down, I no longer wake at 4am thinking it’s time for lunch, although I was awakened at 5am this morning by an over zealous woodpecker outside my window!

So my first full week at the USFWS forensics laboratory brought a fantastic mix of activities and a great insight into the next two months. 

On Monday morning I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the thirty or so scientists and I began to find my way around the facility, which is no easy feat as it’s rather large and very impressive. 

I was then fortunate to accompany Dyan Straughan, a forensic geneticist on a wildlife forensics out reach trip to a children’s summer camp in the  Siskiyou National Forest. We drove up into the mountains by lakes with beautiful views and there was even still snow on the ground in places.  We took along many items including a polar bear head, cougar and bobcat hides, skulls, ivory and corals.  The aim was for the kids to deduce what they were and why they thought so based on morphological characteristics.  I went around the tables and talked with them to help but most were just giggling at my accent....AND they all asked about the recent royal wedding :-)

Scenery across a lake in the mountains with a view of Mount Ashland

On Tuesday of last week I met William Woody, the new chief of the Office for Law Enforcement in the USFWS who was on his first official visit to the laboratory from Washington DC.  A very kind and approachable man with a real sense of ‘can do’.  He was also kind enough to arrange a VIP behind the scenes congressional tour of Washington DC for when I get to the East coast later on during this trip.  Following a conversation about my additional aims to understand more about how wildlife law enforcement activities take place here in the US he also introduced me to the federal special agent in charge of operations along the West Coast,  They both suggested I get out in the field on operations with them.  Hopefully this can be arranged in the next few weeks but I’ll keep you updated.

The latter part of the week was spent in the genetics labs extracting and quantifying DNA from North American black bears, cougars and bob cats.  This piece of research is focused on looking at polymorphisms on the Y chromosome.  This is a very exciting project and as it progresses I will go into more detail.

An organic extracted sample of DNA (The white blob in the tube is DNA strands clumped together!)

And as if that wasn’t enough I’m also arranging my schedule at the USFWS forensic laboratory to spend some time with pathology, digital forensics, morphology, chemistry and criminalistics (ballistics, fingerprints, tool marks, documents, fibres, glass, paint)….I can’t wait!

For now I bid you a fond farewell but PLEASE do feel free to comment on these posts and add any thoughts you may have…. Thanks!