Return to flip book view

CHESAPEAKE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY | SOLOMONS, MDNOVEMBER 2022ISSUE 75Lab Lines1IN THIS ISSUE:DIRECTOR’S VIEW2Thanksgiving is now behind us, and it will be Christmas before we know it. This December, as I have done for the last two years, I will be making random draws for gift cards from local businesses to people from the CBL community. It will begin on Thursday. There is nothing you have to do to enter - if you work here, you are entered. I will announce a winner each day from Dec 1 - Dec 15. Why only to the 15th? Because that night I y to London to spend Christmas with my family for the rst time since 2019. I like you all a lot, but I am going to unplug for a week or so and enjoy the sights and sounds of London during the holidays, meeting family members for the rst time, and hugging those I haven't seen for three years. I hope you get to do the same thing with your families over the holidays. But I ask that you spare a thought for those who will not be with their families - or at least will have empty seats at the table on Christmas Day. There are several CBLers who will not be able to be with their families because of the distance that separate them, and several more that have lost loved ones over the last few years, both through COVID and through other causes. Take time also to thank those who will take time during the holidays to ensure our buildings are safe, animals are fed and samples remain preserved. We may be closed, but essential activities will continue to be maintained. So when you are gathered with your family, please take a moment to be grateful for all we have. We have a lot to be thankful for. Take time for yourselves, recharge yourselves, and be ready for the new year and new challenges. 2023 will be a year of change for us all.OUTREACHIN CASE YOU MISSED IT43AROUND CAMPUS

In Case You Missed ItIn October Faculty Research Assistants Kirsten Silva, Jamie Testa and Michael O'Brien represented UMCES at the Ropeless and North Atlantic right whale consortium meetings. These meetings bring together people from the sheries and science communities to share new research, development of technologies and conservation eorts in hopes of bringing the critically endangered North Atlantic Right whale out of the current unusual mortality event.Carys Mitchelmore chaired three sessions at SETAC (Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) North America 43rd Annual Meeting November 14-17th in Pittsburgh, one on coral toxicology, the other two pertain-ing to the environmental risk of UV lters. She gave a talk titled, "Toxicity of organic UV lters in aquatic eco-systems," and a was part of the panel discussion for the session on the recently published National Academy of Science and Engineering report on the Environmental Impact of Sunscreens. She also gave three posters, jointly with Andrew Heyes, Michael Gonsior and colleagues on determining UV lter concentrations in the Florida Keys and the toxicity of octocrylene to corals. Poster 1: Carys Mitchelmore, Michael Gonsior and Andrew Heyes ‘ Spatial and temporal investigation of concentrations of organic UV lters in seawater from the Florida Keys, USA'Poster 2: Carys Mitchelmore, Michael Gonsior and Andrew Heyes ‘ Toxicity of the UV lter octocrylene to the sceractinian coral Acropo-ra cervicornis'Poster 3: Carys Mitchelmore and colleagues at Nova Southeastern ‘Developing standard toxicity assays in the Scleratinian coral Acrop-ora cervicornis'

Around CampusWelcomeCBL is happy to welcome Verónica Figueroa-Negrón, who is the newest member of the NASL Crew. She will be working primarily with Kim Blodnikar, Jaclyn Mantell, and Erica Hobbs providing analytical support on the nutrient side of the shop. Verónica is a graduate of The University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (BS/MS), and brings a wealth of analytical experience from her tenure with St. Mary’s METCOM, as well as numerous research projects over her academic career. She is familiar with many of the methods we employ in NASL, as well as others applicable to the monitoring of wastewater and drinking water. In her free time she enjoys bowling and table tennis, as well as karaoke and game nights with her family.When you start to work in a laboratory (or even at home) you need to make sure you have a good working knowledge of the chemical(s) you will be using for your research or work. This information is made available to you in the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) which are kept in binders in every laboratory.The SDS is helpful to let you know what type of chemical (ammable, toxic, corrosive, etc.) you have, how to handle it before starting a procedure, storage, disposal and the associated hazards. The SDS will list the type of protective gear you should wear and it also has the rst aid information you will need if you should have an accident. You should determine beforehand what would be the worst case accident scenario for a chemical so you would know what immediate action to take rather than having to deal with nding the information after an accident has occurred. If you are a supervisor, please be sure to instruct new hires on how to handle the chemicals in your lab before starting any experiments or procedures. It must not be assumed that they will know what to do in terms of safety and handling. Most undergraduate laboratories use a xed program of experiments year in and year out and the safety training that students received are particular to those procedures and will not always translate to an academic research laboratory.Safety Corner: Know Your Chemicals

Visitor Center Hours & T-Shirt SaleStarting on November 18th, the CBL Visitor Center will oer reduced prices on all of adult shirts: • Adult short sleeve shirt prices are reduced from $15 to $12• Adult long sleeve shirt prices are reduced from $20 to $15• Note: All adult shirts have the UMCES-CBL logo on the front left chest and the CBL Relief on the back (see pictures)Merchandise may be purchased from the Visitor Center:• Fridays from 1:00pm – 4:00pm• Saturdays from 10:00am – 4:00pm• Sundays from 10:00am – 4:00pmThe CBL Visitor Center will close for the winter season after Sunday, December 4th. Please plan holiday purchases accordingly. Outreachwww.umces.edu/cbl | 410-326-4281P.O. Box 38 | 146 Williams Street | Solomons, MD 20688-0038