Reliance Electronics Shoot

This past Monday I went to my first film shoot! We travelled with Dr. Zsuzsa Marka to Reliance Electronics, Inc. in Totowa, New Jersey where we got a tour of the factory! While I'm not much of an engineer, everything was definitely cool looking and it was interesting to see the inside parts of all the electronics we use every day. Afterwards I got to see the Marka Team's lab at Columbia University for the first time- very cool. Here are some pics from the shoot- enjoy!

Dr. Marka and her intern, Dominique, getting a tour of the factory

The blueprint for a tiny microchip

A half-finished soundboard!

Genetically altered Mosquitoes

Had a really fun & interesting shoot in DC with Bijal Trivedi. Here's her interview on NPR.
MOSQUITOES ENGINEERED TO KILL THEIR OWN KIND

More on Genetically Modified Male Mosquitoes from Oxitec

"The first company in the world offering GM insects for pest control"

Oxitec Fact Sheet

Video Produced by Oxitec

Better You Than Me: Scientists Sicken Mosquitoes To Stop Dengue

Listen to the story!

"Scientists in Australia are using a bacterium to try to stop a deadly virus in its tracks.
The dengue virus causes a potentially fatal flu-like illness. The World Health Organization says the number of cases of dengue around the world is skyrocketing, and the disease is endemic in more than 100 countries. It has even shown up in Florida recently. There's no vaccine against the virus yet, so control efforts have focused on the mosquito that transmits the disease...."

More at NPR

The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years

Just read the Harper's review of Sonia Shah's newest book. Lots of great info. Interested in reaching out to her about the film project...

http://soniashah.com/

“Human history marches to the beat of what? A big brass band? A choir singing hymns? The lub-dub of the human heart? Sonia Shah’s tour-de-force history of malaria will convince you that the real soundtrack to our collective fate is none of these: it is the syncopated whine-slap, whine-slap of man and mosquito duking it out over the eons.”
-- The New York Times

Imre examines the inner workings of large laser cutter on a recent trip.

THE MARKA GROUP included in Gates Foundation Grant!

Foundation Expands Investments in Innovative Global Health Science

Grand Challenges Explorations projects winning new grants include using gold to combat drug resistance and barriers of light to prevent malaria.

SEATTLE--The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced the next stage of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative that encourages bold and unconventional ideas for global health. Nine outstanding Grand Challenges Explorations grantees have received new funding of up to $1 million each to support continued research on their innovative work. Grants include projects that aim to create new cellular profiling techniques to improve vaccine effectiveness, use gold nanocrystals to combat drug resistance, and confuse mosquitoes with infrared light to reduce malaria transmission....

MORE HERE