The day started with Americans waking everyone up by singing National Anthem at the top of their lungs.
We had pancakes with real maple syrup (thanks, Hugh!) and bacon for breakfast. After breakfast Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann did a presentation about molecular biology and enzymes. After giving us a short break we took a small hike to the "salt" lake where we took samples of the water to test for microscopic bacteria. We have set up tests for both sugar and protein to see if any bacteria would react to it. Since this takes a few days, results are still waiting.
When it comes to the fungi and bacteria previously collected, the results are in. It seems that the one by the window has the most evidence of mold and bacteria growing on the Petri dishes. We collected data (counts) and documented the growth (microscope images, etc.).
We spent the rest of the day doing various tasks and trying to complete our goals on the board (go Nanoq!)
As we finish our little blog it´s time to celebrate! As it happens it’s the 4th of July and therefore the Americans have made a feast of a meal including more than 3 kg of bacon, and so much meat (bacon is a vegetable, :) ) that your drool would hit the floor. Today´s blog entry might be a bit scatterbrained because we really want to go eat!
Happy 4th of July from Nanoq and the peeps in Kangerlussusaq!
Today, we met Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann. She is a Ph.D. student in bioinformatics at Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (the Technical University of Denmark). Aviaja is half Greenlandic and half Danish, and she can speak Greenlandic, Danish and English.
In Greenland she is looking for enzymes, that could be used for make clothes washing possible at low temperature. She cares about Greenland and she is proud of the culture and the relation that Greenlanders have to the nature. And by doing biotechnology she can find ways to move forward for Greenland in a sustainable way. For example she wants to make a company that teaches biotechnology to Greenlandic students.