Meghan Zadow
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malariameg.bsky.social
Meghan Zadow
@malariameg.bsky.social
490 followers 640 following 110 posts
PhD candidate @UniofAdelaide | Blood stage Malaria | Excited about proteins, parasites, and birds #actuallyautistic #ADHD Opinions my own.

https://linktr.ee/meghan.zadow
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malariameg.bsky.social
Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to present some of my PhD work yesterday at #AUSoMicS2025

My supervisor thinks I’m obsessed with Alba proteins and to be honest, he’s probably not wrong. It was a joy to talk about them uninterrupted for 15-minutes 😂

#ausomics #Science #parasitology #malaria
Me standing at a lectern on a black stage with title presentation slide behind.
May 20, 2025 at 3:33 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Okay, but this mass spec Lego I got from Thermo today 🥰

#AUSoMicS #ausomics2025 #science #proteomics #massspectrometry
A box containing a mass spec Lego set.
May 20, 2025 at 3:24 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
It is quite funny to observe 😂 but I suppose it serves its purpose, because the ones in nest two have grown into beautiful pigeons and both fledged this past week 😊
Two light coloured pigeons sitting in a flower box hanging on a balcony railing. Two light coloured pigeons sitting on top of an outside air conditioning unit.
April 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Highly recommend asking ChatGPT to generate an image of you as a doll. I am not disappointed.
#science #parasites #malaria #parasitology
Barbie-like doll on pink background. Doll has brown wavy hair, glasses, green dress and white lab coat. Doll is holding a microscope and Petri dish. Accessories pictured are a pink handbag, pink sunglasses, book on blood stage malaria, and binoculars.
April 5, 2025 at 6:25 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Balcony pigeon nest #2 now has two eggs so parents have started incubating and we'll have more baby pigeons in ~18 days.
Two small white pigeon eggs in the middle of a best made of small twigs and leaves. Nest is inside a planter box.
February 16, 2025 at 12:21 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
For Valentines Day, my partner bought me a little camera for one of the pigeon nests on our balcony (yes, there are now 2 nests).
February 16, 2025 at 12:12 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Very excited to announce that I shall once again be the proud landlord of 2 baby pigeons!

I had calculated that they would hatchbon Wed/Thurs but they've started pipping a couple days early, perhaps due to the ungodly hot weather?

#BirdSky
A mostly greyish coloured pigeon sitting atop a nest of twigs. A mostly greyish coloured pigeon sitting atop a nest of twigs. Two small white eggs in a twig nest. Black circles indicate small cracks in the eggs.
February 10, 2025 at 7:24 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Me, everytime I see two parasites sharing an erythrocyte: Awww, look, they're cuddling!

#Plasmodium #malaria #SciSky #Science
Two oval shaped pink and purple malaria parasites cosily sharing a red blood cell. Several uninfected red blood cells off to the side.
February 8, 2025 at 11:11 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
There we were peacefully swimming when the shark helicopter comes down next to us and starts playing its shark siren. I was very excited. Then sad when I didn't even get to see the shark.

Last weekend I got my feet bitten by crabs, this week there was a shark, I wonder what next weekend will bring?
Sandy beach with people and bright blue sky with sun high up.
January 18, 2025 at 7:15 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
I didn't have 'Sheep Wrangler' on my PhD bingo card but oh boy, did I live my best life today 🐑🐑🐑
Person wearing a red baseball cap and blue coveralls in a sheep pen holding a sheep still. Dirt road with fencing either side. There is a flock of sheep making their way down it.
January 6, 2025 at 6:58 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
And then they came back again.
January 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
I really wanted to photograph the tiny ducklings but they kept coming too close. Solid start to 2025 so far 🦆
January 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
Came across a very strange-looking Bin Chicken this morning. Turns out it was a Straw-necked Ibis.
Black and white ibis bird mid stride along some green grass. Int he background is a metal fence, a river, and some brown coloured ducks.
December 17, 2024 at 6:18 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
My friend this morning at Uni.
Black and white bird perched on a dark blue vertical sign post. There is a red brick building and green leafy trees in the background.
December 13, 2024 at 10:18 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Last pigeon update: when I got home this evening the pigeons were gone. Maybe a cat, though I don't know how on earth it got up there. We also have a resident nankeen kestral in the area (the magpies have it) so maybe the kestral took them 🤷‍♀️
Empty pigeon nest of light brown twigs atop some dry soil. There are several fluffy feathers and some pigeon poop on the nest.
November 20, 2024 at 11:20 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Something that I really love is opening up new sequencing results first thing in the morning and just seeing the most perfect sequences with stunning peaks. Like, just look at this, it's beautiful 😍

Sometimes miracles do happen 🧪🙌
A series of neat, separated peaks in the colours red, green, gold, and blue representing DNA nucleotides.
November 18, 2024 at 10:37 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
Pigeon update: there are now TWO tiny pigeons! We've named them Meghan Jr and Daniel Jr (after my partner and I) because we're very creative like that.
November 18, 2024 at 7:14 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Update on my resident pigeon: a tiny pigeon has appeared! I think the second one may also have hatched now, but I don't want to risk disturbing them.
Tiny pigeon less than one day old with yellow feathers curled up next to small white egg. Baby pigeon and egg are sitting atop some soil in a nest made of light brown twigs.
November 17, 2024 at 8:00 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Went out to give my pigeon a dish of water while she was away from her nest (very hot today, 35C) and noticed that the eggs are starting to hatch! And right on time too, it's been 17 days.
Two small white pigeon eggs sitting on top of some soil and surrounded by light brown twigs. Two small white pigeon eggs sitting on top of some soil and surrounded by light brown twigs. Black circles and arrows indicating the tiny cracks (pipping) of the eggs.
November 16, 2024 at 4:57 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Periwinkle the pigeon has been diligently sitting on her eggs for 9-10 days now. The internet tells me that pigeon eggs incubate for 17-19 days. So we're halfway there!
November 9, 2024 at 1:40 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
It's flying fox baby season in Adelaide!
November 7, 2024 at 11:17 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
After accidentally startling her, the bird came back.
October 30, 2024 at 8:25 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Over the weekend, I noticed a pigeon shuffling around in a hanging pot on my balcony, and I joked to my partner how great it would be if it used it as a nest.

Anyway, I went to bring my dry washing in tonight, and lo and behold.....a nest. And an egg.
October 30, 2024 at 8:05 AM
malariameg.bsky.social
Magpie rap battle.
October 24, 2024 at 8:28 PM
malariameg.bsky.social
I've been trying to detect this dumb band for the better part of the year and today, on my last lab day of the year it FINALLY shows itself.

Christmas miracles do happen, you just gotta believe (or get a new antibody) 🙌
December 22, 2023 at 1:56 AM