Brandeis Magazine

In December, the life-sciences labs took up a challenge: Create a flag that represents your research. These were the two winners. Michael Rosbash’s lab, which studies the genetics of circadian rhythms, designed a cheeky banner (left) showing the illustrious scholar riding a fruit fly while trying to lasso time with a double-helix rope. The flag created by Avi Rodal’s lab, which researches neuronal signaling, has the lab mascot — a chicken — triumphantly wielding a scepter topped by a genetically modified fly cell; facing the fowl, a honey badger clutches a nerve cell and its dendrites (the pseudo-Latin epigraph is an attempt at “Honey badger don’t care,” referencing a viral YouTube video about the plucky mammal). The winning designers took home lab-beaker coffee mugs, plush figures of giant E. coli microbes and lots of candy.