Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Retreat in the barn

I was first up this morning with a talk on the novel gene cluster project Daniel is working on; how it started, how it evolved, and what I am proposing in the Marsden grant. Feedback confirmed the need to make all objectives clear for the non-specialist audience. The talks by Gabriel, Xiaowei & Shigeyuki generated lots of discussion indicative of good engagement. I did not realise how some of the key steps in SA biosynthesis in plants and receptors are still not resolved.  After lunch we had a 3 hour guided tour of the Island. While there are only 30,000 permanent residents on the Island around 7 million visitors come to the Island each year. So at peak season the beach area is to be avoided. The grand houses built in the 3 towns of Ahlbech, Heringsdorf and Bansin at the turn of the century were an impressive sight. Resolving ownership for some of the buildings is ongoing. I liked the 13 century church in Benz, especially the decorative wooden panels on the roof. The day ended with a fantastic 4 course meal prepared by some of the post docs and PhD students, led with Italian flare by Marino.


Kahmann lab retreat venue - attic of barn

Explanation of natural history of Usedom Island
Barley fields on Usedom

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