THE RECRUITS: Davidson lab members (from left to right) Riley Evans, Brittany Sell, John Allen, Kathy Malik, Michelle Baird, and Paula Cranfill -DAVID BARFIELD
In the hours before they get hitched, some grooms eat, some pace, and some watch TV. Chris Murphy was in the lab.
While his bride, Brooke—a hairstylist he met while managing a pizza parlor next door to the boutique where she worked—prepared for the big day, Murphy prepared for his next experiment, plating and transfecting HeLa cells for subsequent photobleaching.
Cell culture is one of those tasks that is tough to entrust to others, Murphy explains, “as an infection can be costly.” But there were other upsides: “It was the only time I was alone the entire day,” he recalls. “It was kind of nice.”
Murphy’s wedding day was, in fact, his 300th consecutive day in the lab. Such dedication would be remarkable in a ...
