Welcome!

Welcome to Cupcakes and Science. Although these topics don’t really have much in common, they are two things that I really like so I thought I’d combine discussions on both of them to create a blog. Some days I will be posting about new recipes or decorating tips from my adventures in baking, and other days it will be posts about cool science news.

A bit about me . . .

I like to think of myself as a scientist, but truthfully I am just a PhD student in Microbiology and Immunology. I love learning about infectious pathogens (viruses and bacteria) and how they infect and interact with humans. I am currently trying to use genetically modified bacteria to prevent HIV (and HSV) infection in hopes of developing a gel women can use to prevent HIV (and HSV) infection. It’s really interesting and, if successful, could have huge impacts, particularly in developing countries. I am proud of my academic achievements, so I will add that I received an MSc in Immunology, where I did research on cancer immunobiology, and a BHSc (Hons). I’ve been in school non-stop for 22 years now, and have 3-5 more years to go before I finally graduate. As a PhD student most of my time is dedicated to lab work and research, with no actual class time after my first year.

 

I’ve always liked baking goodies, and I liked cupcakes before they were cool :p I mean, what’s not to love? They are basically individual cakes and there are so many possibilities with them – toppings, decorations, flavours. I have delicious recipes for the basics - homemade chocolate or vanilla cupcakes - and have been trying to become artistic to decorate them. I got a page-a-day cupcake calendar for Christmas, which provides me with 6 new cupcake recipes each week. With all these possibilities, I’m about to go cupcake crazy, and you get to tag-along!

C