Hey all!
I am home with the family this weekend. So great to see everyone and pet my puppy! When I am here, it is hard to imagine how I get along without them all. Keith is doing a great job as the single parent and everything seems to be going just fine.
Back at work, I had some frustrating days. Ben Rodriguez showed us a program called Oligo 6 that searches for primers - little bits of a DNA sequence that doesn't have a lot of CG combos, or repeats, and that occur on either side of an "interesting" area of DNA we would like to study. Of course, there are more things, like length, and what is the middle and all kinds of temp readings and stuff that you have to take into account. So - we are supposed to find some possible good primers, and they will order them and we will see if we can use them to duplicate the DNA. One problem - we don't have access to this program in the lab. We can try to find a pirated version to install on our own laptops (Phoenix is very good at finding those on Chinese websites), but even when I gave in to that, can't get the program to work right on my machine. When I can find primers, can't get the info to copy - so I will have a good possibility staring right at me on my screen, the program will freeze up, and I will have to shut it down and lose all my info. Same thing with problems with the open source R programming language - everyone else (Phoenix) is breezing along - my computer keeps telling me it can't open this package, or read this file - even with Phoenix sitting there typing on the keyboard to try to fake it out into not knowing that it is me that needs the information! This is not only on my laptop, but also on a school computer, whereas it works fine for Phoenix on both. So the computers are still allergic to my fingers on the keyboards, and I went home feeling pretty miserable.
BUT, the next day we worked back in the lab, and that is a much happier place for me. We took primers that have all ready been proven to work, and did PCR with COBRA testing- PCR is a long and exact method of combine a bunch of stuff into tiny test tubes, and then using a machine to heat them and cool them several times to get DNA to grow between the primers. And that was really neat. We use centrifuges and vortexers (spinners and shakers) and lots and lots of pipetting. Then we made a gel, and injected our resulting PCR material mixed with dye into small wells in the gel, and put it into a machine that pulls the dye one way and the DNA the other. Then off to a fancy UV photography machine that captures the information of how well the DNA performed at the different temperatures we set for the PCR. That is supposed to give us an answer about the best temperature to use for that particular primer. We will use this test again on new primers that they ordered to figure out what will work best. Then we move on and do other things with the primers - to be told to us next week. I am not sure if I like the lab work better because I really love it, or if it is because it is new to me, and I haven't had a history of getting frustrated on it like I have computers.
The fellow that is training us in the lab is named Joseph Lui. He is a very nice fellow - one of the few people I have worked with that is older than me! Of course, he is Asian, like 90% of the rest of the lab folks - he is from Taiwan.
Jacob came for a visit last week and it was great to have him with me. When you have a bunch of boys, you can have the problem of treating them as a group. It is when you get time with them one at a time that you really appreciate their individuality and personality. I enjoyed showing him around, but he thinks my job looks really boring, so I don't think I inspired a budding scientist. Of course, I was down in the computer lab the day he came in - not my favorite part of the job either. He says Ohio has better pizza than NC (specifically Donatos pizza), and I showed him the "Wonder Kroger" that has all kinds of departments inside, and several different kinds of orange soda he has never tried (orange soda is Jacob's favorite), and Easton Mall, which was really neat. We saw "A-Team" at the theater there and it was really good. Made some good memories - wish I had thought to take some pictures!!
Well, better get a move on my day. Keith had to go down to the church and play piano for the July 4th pancake breakfast this morning - I slept in to recover from my 4 am rising yesterday to go to the airport. I will be returning to Ohio Monday night to start up again on Tues.
Have a happy and safe 4th!
Leslie
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Wed June 23rd
Yesterday we worked really hard in the lab. So far, we have cultured cells, watched them, and divided them. Monday we took the cells and dissolved them to get the DNA released, and then put them in test tubes. The ultimate goal is to make RNA out of the DNA, and then cDNA (complementary) out of that. We can use that to make lots of copies of the areas we are interested in, and use that to generate data to examine and measure. Yesterday we got a lot closer to our goal - we took the DNA and made RNA from it, and measured it for purity and amount of RNA. Then we treated it and incubated it to start making the RNA - almost there!
Then the leader of the program came over and told us that she has a different project she wants us to work on, so we will not even be doing anything with Michael anymore. Sigh - SO, new project, details to follow, I guess.
The classes with esoteric and mysterious titles have started. Statistical Phylogenetics ended up being a lot like genealogy, only with genes and viruses. You try to find a common ancestor in the terms of the arrangement of your A C G T on the strand, and identify where something mutates and forms a node - or the line branches off. Looking at different lines, you try to determine which are most similar, or made with the fewest changes in the original strand. You want to see how long it took to change, to hopefully predict when it will change in the future. Of course, this is done with lots and lots of lines of A C G T's that are all compared, one by one, by the computer. The project they are going to do to examine this, is to compare the genome of a bunch of different kinds of flightless birds - ostriches, kiwi, etc, that all live on different continents and see if they can figure out from the genome if that was one mutation that caused flightlessness, or if it happened several times in different places. I thought that sounded really interesting.
Yesterday we looked at Bioinformatics - which is basically analyzing biological data with a computer. He showed us different data bases that are available to go out and look at, that have genes and things mapped out.
Today's lecture is on Chemogenomics - and it is about to start.
Have a good day!
Leslie
Then the leader of the program came over and told us that she has a different project she wants us to work on, so we will not even be doing anything with Michael anymore. Sigh - SO, new project, details to follow, I guess.
The classes with esoteric and mysterious titles have started. Statistical Phylogenetics ended up being a lot like genealogy, only with genes and viruses. You try to find a common ancestor in the terms of the arrangement of your A C G T on the strand, and identify where something mutates and forms a node - or the line branches off. Looking at different lines, you try to determine which are most similar, or made with the fewest changes in the original strand. You want to see how long it took to change, to hopefully predict when it will change in the future. Of course, this is done with lots and lots of lines of A C G T's that are all compared, one by one, by the computer. The project they are going to do to examine this, is to compare the genome of a bunch of different kinds of flightless birds - ostriches, kiwi, etc, that all live on different continents and see if they can figure out from the genome if that was one mutation that caused flightlessness, or if it happened several times in different places. I thought that sounded really interesting.
Yesterday we looked at Bioinformatics - which is basically analyzing biological data with a computer. He showed us different data bases that are available to go out and look at, that have genes and things mapped out.
Today's lecture is on Chemogenomics - and it is about to start.
Have a good day!
Leslie
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Week 2 finished-
Wow- busy day on Friday! We started out down in the computer lab, working on MatLab, and I was also working on my graphs with Excel- which is a little different on my Mac. Trying to get the data I want to show up where I want was pretty frustrating - and I didn't get it done, so I will have to try to work on it this weekend some. I know there HAS to be a way to get all the pieces of info in there - I can draw it on a piece of paper - why can't I make it happen on the computer?
In MatLab we are trying to normalize the data we have, so three different files have pieces of information we need - the sequence depth is the total numbers of sequences on the entire chromosome 17 ( over 212000), and that is on one file. The region is the spot where transcription starts for one gene, and then you go out 5000 base pairs on each side, and we have a region for each gene (on chr 17 that is 1905 genes), and that is on another file. And the length of the gene is measured from the spot on the chromosome where the gene starts to where it ends - on another file. We put all those together to calculate a "normal" number for the gene expression compared to all the other gene expressions. So, in this program I have to figure out how to pull out the info that we need, and get it to all work together to give the results we need and save them. Then, I supposed we are going to do the same thing with the other cell line and compare them to see if there are any big differences.
Then we went upstairs to the wet lab where Micheal was extracting RNA from cells. We watched as he put in acid to break down the cells and did the process to get the RNA out. After that, he showed us how to split the cells that we were growing - a long process with many chemicals and a centrifuge, before we put the new cell samples back into the dishes and incubate. Never having done anything like this before I came here, I really need to get the basic idea of a clean zone about my sample down. I am never supposed to have my hand wave in the air above my sample, and beware of anything touching anything else. Someday Steven Spielberg or George Lucas can design a holographic sleeve you can assign around what you are supposed to keep clear of to remind you - that would help! We also were shown "The Cold Room", which is where you work with samples that need to stay at low temps. It is 4 degrees Celsius in there - which would feel pretty great at times, like after walking out to the parking lot to my car in the heat!
Keith came in last night for a visit - yay! So I am planning on some relaxation and fun, and brain down-time! Next week we will be taking classes in the morning, and going to the lab in the afternoon. Michael seems determined to get max productivity out of us - and I am learning a whole bunch from him. Of course, when you start with no knowledge at all like I am, you have no where to go but up!!
See you next week-
Leslie
In MatLab we are trying to normalize the data we have, so three different files have pieces of information we need - the sequence depth is the total numbers of sequences on the entire chromosome 17 ( over 212000), and that is on one file. The region is the spot where transcription starts for one gene, and then you go out 5000 base pairs on each side, and we have a region for each gene (on chr 17 that is 1905 genes), and that is on another file. And the length of the gene is measured from the spot on the chromosome where the gene starts to where it ends - on another file. We put all those together to calculate a "normal" number for the gene expression compared to all the other gene expressions. So, in this program I have to figure out how to pull out the info that we need, and get it to all work together to give the results we need and save them. Then, I supposed we are going to do the same thing with the other cell line and compare them to see if there are any big differences.
Then we went upstairs to the wet lab where Micheal was extracting RNA from cells. We watched as he put in acid to break down the cells and did the process to get the RNA out. After that, he showed us how to split the cells that we were growing - a long process with many chemicals and a centrifuge, before we put the new cell samples back into the dishes and incubate. Never having done anything like this before I came here, I really need to get the basic idea of a clean zone about my sample down. I am never supposed to have my hand wave in the air above my sample, and beware of anything touching anything else. Someday Steven Spielberg or George Lucas can design a holographic sleeve you can assign around what you are supposed to keep clear of to remind you - that would help! We also were shown "The Cold Room", which is where you work with samples that need to stay at low temps. It is 4 degrees Celsius in there - which would feel pretty great at times, like after walking out to the parking lot to my car in the heat!
Keith came in last night for a visit - yay! So I am planning on some relaxation and fun, and brain down-time! Next week we will be taking classes in the morning, and going to the lab in the afternoon. Michael seems determined to get max productivity out of us - and I am learning a whole bunch from him. Of course, when you start with no knowledge at all like I am, you have no where to go but up!!
See you next week-
Leslie
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Thur June 17th
Today I spent my morning up in the lab - lots of fun! We worked in the culture area, with shields and airflow control, and I used the new skills I learned to make a batch of media to grow cultures in. Very precise measurements of several different ingredients, all combined to make stuff to keep cancer cells happy and thriving. My mentor upstairs, Michael, is very knowledgeable and is teaching me a lot. He is going to assign us some genes to investigate to help further his research. If we end up lucky enough to find some that turn out interesting, we will get credit on the paper he publishes! We observed as he treated two different cell lines with different chemicals to see how they change.
After that, we went downstairs to the computer area and I did more tutorials on MatLab, and then Cenny took us over and explained the files we are going to use and what she wants us to do with them. By the time she was done, my brain was about to explode! So, I took lots of notes, and I hope things will sink in overnight. Trying to visualize how all the graphs relate to one another is conceptually hard enough, and then I have to figure out how to program with MatLab to get the parts of the different files together and interacting with each other. Phoenix seems to do better than I in that - but I guess she said she has had experience in similar projects in school, and I have never done anything like this - at least that is what I keep reassuring my aging, and aching brain!
Today I also I have some homework to do. I never learned metric measurements in school - back then, that was for those silly folks overseas. So now I have catch up to do in that area. And a quiz tomorrow to prove that I studied it! Plus I still have to learn Excel and how to graph my pipette measurements - I think I like taking measurements better than graphing them. But both are very important in research, and I know that learning these things now will really pay off later.
For now tho - time to rest the gray matter!
Bye for now-
Leslie
After that, we went downstairs to the computer area and I did more tutorials on MatLab, and then Cenny took us over and explained the files we are going to use and what she wants us to do with them. By the time she was done, my brain was about to explode! So, I took lots of notes, and I hope things will sink in overnight. Trying to visualize how all the graphs relate to one another is conceptually hard enough, and then I have to figure out how to program with MatLab to get the parts of the different files together and interacting with each other. Phoenix seems to do better than I in that - but I guess she said she has had experience in similar projects in school, and I have never done anything like this - at least that is what I keep reassuring my aging, and aching brain!
Today I also I have some homework to do. I never learned metric measurements in school - back then, that was for those silly folks overseas. So now I have catch up to do in that area. And a quiz tomorrow to prove that I studied it! Plus I still have to learn Excel and how to graph my pipette measurements - I think I like taking measurements better than graphing them. But both are very important in research, and I know that learning these things now will really pay off later.
For now tho - time to rest the gray matter!
Bye for now-
Leslie
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wed June 16th
Hi ho, all!
Yay, I finally got up into the lab! Today I learned how to run the autoclave - that is a sterilizer that is kind of like a huge computerized pressure cooker... wonder if it would do a good job on roast and potatoes? Then I learned pipetting and measured tiny bits of water into a little dish on a very sensitive scale and recorded the weights. Next I get to make a graph of all the results and measure the deviations of the weights - hopefully getting the results clustered as close together as possible. "Get to" is optimistic positive talk for "have to".
Also, today I was given my own petri dish of breast cancer cells - I have to change the media they grow in every 2-3 days, and divide the cells when they grow too crowded. Kind of like caring for a malignant chia-pet. I looked at them through a digital microscope - it was crazy. They are all different sizes, and shapes. Regular body cells would all be uniform - you can look at one and pretty much predict what the rest are going to look like. Not so with the cancer cells- they were all over the board. Time went a lot faster up there too -
Happy days to you!
Leslie
Yay, I finally got up into the lab! Today I learned how to run the autoclave - that is a sterilizer that is kind of like a huge computerized pressure cooker... wonder if it would do a good job on roast and potatoes? Then I learned pipetting and measured tiny bits of water into a little dish on a very sensitive scale and recorded the weights. Next I get to make a graph of all the results and measure the deviations of the weights - hopefully getting the results clustered as close together as possible. "Get to" is optimistic positive talk for "have to".
Also, today I was given my own petri dish of breast cancer cells - I have to change the media they grow in every 2-3 days, and divide the cells when they grow too crowded. Kind of like caring for a malignant chia-pet. I looked at them through a digital microscope - it was crazy. They are all different sizes, and shapes. Regular body cells would all be uniform - you can look at one and pretty much predict what the rest are going to look like. Not so with the cancer cells- they were all over the board. Time went a lot faster up there too -
Happy days to you!
Leslie
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tues June 15
Well, I made a mistake in yesterday's post. It was histone levels, not methylation levels that I was tracing. ( I know that you all were laughing up your sleeves at my oops. ) The methylation is actually going to come in when I am in the wet lab. Not sure exactly the difference yet - but the black spiky lines apparently are what they were looking for, and what was recorded on the graph. In any case, I found and graphed the oncogenes - 8 of them! Apparently genes only happen once on a chromosome, so - 8 graphs, and a quick writeup listing of all the genes I looked for.
Today I got my first taste of MatLab, and I did OK! My normal reaction of freaking out when a new computer program and language is staring me in the face did not last a whole long time- luckily I found a very helpful tutorial website to help me walk through it. I was able to actually achieve my goal of isolating chromosome 17 data today - which really surprised my mentor. She thought it would take me a lot longer, seeings how this was my first experience with it, and I was feeling my way around on my own. I was rejoicing! Pretty quietly, but rejoicing none-the-less.
Tomorrow I get to do autoclave and pipette training upstairs in the lab - and we are having a online meeting with all the other students and mentors, as well as the very nice people who are funding this adventure.
Hope you all are having a fun and relaxing summer!
Leslie
Today I got my first taste of MatLab, and I did OK! My normal reaction of freaking out when a new computer program and language is staring me in the face did not last a whole long time- luckily I found a very helpful tutorial website to help me walk through it. I was able to actually achieve my goal of isolating chromosome 17 data today - which really surprised my mentor. She thought it would take me a lot longer, seeings how this was my first experience with it, and I was feeling my way around on my own. I was rejoicing! Pretty quietly, but rejoicing none-the-less.
Tomorrow I get to do autoclave and pipette training upstairs in the lab - and we are having a online meeting with all the other students and mentors, as well as the very nice people who are funding this adventure.
Hope you all are having a fun and relaxing summer!
Leslie
Monday, June 14, 2010
Monday June 14th-
Today I got to get started on work! I feel like I actually accomplished something today. I am looking for specific genes that can cause regular cells to start mutating into cancer cells - called oncogenes - and finding them on the map of the two DNA lines. One cell line is a "regular" breast cancer cell, and the other one has a resistance to tamoxifen - a drug to treat it. Then I look for spikes in the methylation levels around the location of the gene, and compare the two. The theory is, if the cell lines have different levels in the methylation, perhaps that gene is part of the reason there is a resistance. So, I research for the kinds of genes, search for them on the genome finder, and take screen shots of the graphs that apply. Not sure what happens after that, but at least I am moving forward!
Didn't get up to the lab today- maybe tomorrow. And we have a meeting to nail down what our projects are before the web meeting on Wed. Did laundry today- I am supposed to go out and run errands, but don't feel like it. In my summer of self indulgence, think I am not gonna!
Bonsoir-
Didn't get up to the lab today- maybe tomorrow. And we have a meeting to nail down what our projects are before the web meeting on Wed. Did laundry today- I am supposed to go out and run errands, but don't feel like it. In my summer of self indulgence, think I am not gonna!
Bonsoir-
Saturday, June 12, 2010
So, those of you who know me best, will be delighted and surprised to fine that I made it all the way from work to my hotel Friday without the GPS! Yes, I am taking a bow -
Today, the zoo was fantastic! I only did part of the zoo today - spending a lot of time in each section. I got a year long pass, even tho I will only be here for nine weeks - I want to go back a lot! I went to the fabric store and got supplies I needed to work on some projects too, so I will have plenty to do here in my off time. I also got my delivery of Girl Scout cookies that I ordered from a friend - so I am pretty set! Tomorrow I will be going to church for the first time here, and then back to office on Monday morning.
Have a great weekend!
Leslie
Today, the zoo was fantastic! I only did part of the zoo today - spending a lot of time in each section. I got a year long pass, even tho I will only be here for nine weeks - I want to go back a lot! I went to the fabric store and got supplies I needed to work on some projects too, so I will have plenty to do here in my off time. I also got my delivery of Girl Scout cookies that I ordered from a friend - so I am pretty set! Tomorrow I will be going to church for the first time here, and then back to office on Monday morning.
Have a great weekend!
Leslie
Friday, June 11, 2010
First week done!
Hello all-
Well, the first week is over - and I have learned a bunch about genetics, like how human beings have 99% identical DNA, and 98% the same as mice. Just because an organism is advanced, doesn't mean that there are more complicated genes and chromosomes - one kind of amoeba (a one celled organism) is a lot more genetically complex than a human, and we still haven't figured out the genome of the grasshopper. Plus, bunches about gene expression, how DNA replicates, etc. SO, here it is Friday night, and my brain is tired! But I am able to follow conversations at work for the most part, and I am looking forward to learning how to work in the lab starting on Monday, instead of just doing book-larnin'. Apparently I am going to learn how to "pipette" - measuring out tiny exact amounts of water into test tube - just water before I get to use any expensive chemicals or jeopardize any experiments. Pearlly says that it is a skill that requires lot of practice.
Well, I am so tired - heading to bed.
Leslie
Well, the first week is over - and I have learned a bunch about genetics, like how human beings have 99% identical DNA, and 98% the same as mice. Just because an organism is advanced, doesn't mean that there are more complicated genes and chromosomes - one kind of amoeba (a one celled organism) is a lot more genetically complex than a human, and we still haven't figured out the genome of the grasshopper. Plus, bunches about gene expression, how DNA replicates, etc. SO, here it is Friday night, and my brain is tired! But I am able to follow conversations at work for the most part, and I am looking forward to learning how to work in the lab starting on Monday, instead of just doing book-larnin'. Apparently I am going to learn how to "pipette" - measuring out tiny exact amounts of water into test tube - just water before I get to use any expensive chemicals or jeopardize any experiments. Pearlly says that it is a skill that requires lot of practice.
Well, I am so tired - heading to bed.
Leslie
Thursday June 10th
First day in the office - I have a computer in a cubicle next to a window. We had a meeting about verifying data, and the push to publish a paper about the work they were doing FAST. This field moves and develops so quickly, you want to get your stuff out there before someone else does. Then I went to the computer and tried to learn semesters of genetics in a few hours by following slides and looking online at all the info on wikipedia. I also bought some books the night before and was trying to read them to catch up.
Pearlly is talking about training me in wet lab procedures, as well as the dry lab analysis I was planning on doing. And Cenny (pronounce Chenny) asked which programs I have been exposed to, and will be using in my classes at school. I told her I have used Minitab, and I think MATLAB is in my future, so she said we could work with MATLAB this summer. With all the experience I am getting here, I am really hoping that a lot of it applies to my biology and math classes next semester to make them easier.
After my brain was stuffed full - I seriously couldn't comprehend anything else on the screen - time to go grocery shopping! Keith and I found a fabulous Krogers, so I headed over there to stock up for the weekend and buy lunch supplies. I loaded a bunch of bags on my arms and walked through the lobby of the hotel, where they were serving dinner. Halfway across the lobby, a bag split and boysenberry syrup leaped from the bag in a successful suicide attempt. Splattered all over the white floor - I was so embarrassed. They were very nice about it - but this is the second trip from Krogers that has resulted in bags breaking. I guess that is their subtle message to go green and buy sturdy bags! The rest of the evening was spent hiding in my room, and cooking and prepping lunch stuff. I have some really yummy looking fruit salad to munch on now! One of my problems is that I have a hard time shopping for one - the portion size on watermelon that would be just fine for just me is nearly as much as a whole melon. How can I not get the big one? I should be eating good for a while.
Well, almost time to head back out for my first Friday- and then my first solo weekend! I hope the weather is nice so I can go see the zoo.
Ciao!
Leslie
Pearlly is talking about training me in wet lab procedures, as well as the dry lab analysis I was planning on doing. And Cenny (pronounce Chenny) asked which programs I have been exposed to, and will be using in my classes at school. I told her I have used Minitab, and I think MATLAB is in my future, so she said we could work with MATLAB this summer. With all the experience I am getting here, I am really hoping that a lot of it applies to my biology and math classes next semester to make them easier.
After my brain was stuffed full - I seriously couldn't comprehend anything else on the screen - time to go grocery shopping! Keith and I found a fabulous Krogers, so I headed over there to stock up for the weekend and buy lunch supplies. I loaded a bunch of bags on my arms and walked through the lobby of the hotel, where they were serving dinner. Halfway across the lobby, a bag split and boysenberry syrup leaped from the bag in a successful suicide attempt. Splattered all over the white floor - I was so embarrassed. They were very nice about it - but this is the second trip from Krogers that has resulted in bags breaking. I guess that is their subtle message to go green and buy sturdy bags! The rest of the evening was spent hiding in my room, and cooking and prepping lunch stuff. I have some really yummy looking fruit salad to munch on now! One of my problems is that I have a hard time shopping for one - the portion size on watermelon that would be just fine for just me is nearly as much as a whole melon. How can I not get the big one? I should be eating good for a while.
Well, almost time to head back out for my first Friday- and then my first solo weekend! I hope the weather is nice so I can go see the zoo.
Ciao!
Leslie
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Guess what I am going to learn?
Just got an email from the lead on our project - she is sending us to some training. Each day for one week they lecture for a total of two hours, one day per topic, and then we do a computer lab in the afternoon. Here are the topics - gonna have to google most of them!
Wish me luck and extra brain cells!
Leslie
- Statistical Phylogenetics
- Bioinformatics
- Chemogenomics
- Environmental Statistics
- Mathematical Epidemiology
Wish me luck and extra brain cells!
Leslie
Wed June 9th
Hey all-
Early day today - I picked up my ID badge, so now I am official! Then we had the third day of conferences. The talks were mostly sales pitches for different products, so I was not disappointed to end a little early. Lunch there, and then the fun began. Trying to find my car.... I kind of hate college parking! 40 minutes wandering in the drizzle - I almost started praying for manna to fall from the skies, because I was pretty sure I was never going to be able to leave the parking lot!
In talking to the other two students here, I can really see and appreciate differences between their colleges and Meredith. They tell how they seldom see the professor - just grad students. To try to talk to a teacher, you have to make an appt with the grad student that handles his appts, and Phoenix's entry level bio class had 300 students! You had a clicker with your student number that you clicked to mark yourself "present", and she says that some students had 10 clickers at their desks and marked a bunch of people present, and no one knew the difference. What a difference from where I am from! Small classes, and the professors know you and care about you, and you learn from them every day. AND, you can find your car in the parking lot, because there aren't a thousand other cars sitting there! I have to buy a big garish ribbon or something for my antenna-
Anyway- I was going to try to go to the zoo today, but the weather discouraged me. Then I was going to go to the bookstore and the ATM, but I was so frazzled after getting to the car, that I came home to clean up and change out of my wet shoes. So, maybe I will give the bookstore a look on the way to my first ceramics class. Right now, I think I am going to lay down!
More later-
Leslie
Early day today - I picked up my ID badge, so now I am official! Then we had the third day of conferences. The talks were mostly sales pitches for different products, so I was not disappointed to end a little early. Lunch there, and then the fun began. Trying to find my car.... I kind of hate college parking! 40 minutes wandering in the drizzle - I almost started praying for manna to fall from the skies, because I was pretty sure I was never going to be able to leave the parking lot!
In talking to the other two students here, I can really see and appreciate differences between their colleges and Meredith. They tell how they seldom see the professor - just grad students. To try to talk to a teacher, you have to make an appt with the grad student that handles his appts, and Phoenix's entry level bio class had 300 students! You had a clicker with your student number that you clicked to mark yourself "present", and she says that some students had 10 clickers at their desks and marked a bunch of people present, and no one knew the difference. What a difference from where I am from! Small classes, and the professors know you and care about you, and you learn from them every day. AND, you can find your car in the parking lot, because there aren't a thousand other cars sitting there! I have to buy a big garish ribbon or something for my antenna-
Anyway- I was going to try to go to the zoo today, but the weather discouraged me. Then I was going to go to the bookstore and the ATM, but I was so frazzled after getting to the car, that I came home to clean up and change out of my wet shoes. So, maybe I will give the bookstore a look on the way to my first ceramics class. Right now, I think I am going to lay down!
More later-
Leslie
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday June 7th
Hello all!
I am home from my first day - and, man I am tired! I guess this is the first full day that I have attempted non-stop since my surgery. So, team that up with a bunch of 45 minutes long technical talks that I didn't understand a whole lot about in a room that was darkened so we could see the powerpoint slides, and I'll admit, I was hiding some yawns. After the conference, Cenny took me upstairs so I can see where I will be working. I get a window! I enjoyed a lot of the conference - what I grasped of it, and came home with a list of terms to run through wikipedia to try to understand better.
Tomorrow I will be running about in the morning to get the ID badge process started, and go see about my parking permit, then the Illumia conference on gene sequencing tomorrow afternoon, and Wed morning. I had planned on going to the grocery store after work today, but instead I am all ready in my pj's, and it is only 6 pm. I may get really ambitious tonight and make popcorn and watch tv.
Have a good one - I am going to chill out now.
Leslie
I am home from my first day - and, man I am tired! I guess this is the first full day that I have attempted non-stop since my surgery. So, team that up with a bunch of 45 minutes long technical talks that I didn't understand a whole lot about in a room that was darkened so we could see the powerpoint slides, and I'll admit, I was hiding some yawns. After the conference, Cenny took me upstairs so I can see where I will be working. I get a window! I enjoyed a lot of the conference - what I grasped of it, and came home with a list of terms to run through wikipedia to try to understand better.
Tomorrow I will be running about in the morning to get the ID badge process started, and go see about my parking permit, then the Illumia conference on gene sequencing tomorrow afternoon, and Wed morning. I had planned on going to the grocery store after work today, but instead I am all ready in my pj's, and it is only 6 pm. I may get really ambitious tonight and make popcorn and watch tv.
Have a good one - I am going to chill out now.
Leslie
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday June 6th
Hey again!
Keith flew home today and I went to a picnic and met the group I will be working with. Dr Huang says I will be on the 2nd floor of the Biomedical Tower, and my professor ("mentor") is Cenny Taslim. Everyone was very friendly and nice... and Asian! There were all kinds of languages flying back and forth, and I am the token Caucasian! It felt a little like being back in Korea. We had a small group from the Indiana campus here to participate in the conferences Monday - Wed.
I am very impressed with Columbus so far - I feel a little like the country mouse that is visiting the city. Keith and I went to a movie at the Easton Mall - it was really cool. The snack bar is more like a self-serve convenience store, and the parking lot had a lit up counter that listed how many spaces were available by monitoring traffic in and out of the structure. We tried two different pizza places, and found a promising looking Mexican food restaurant for future visits. The city isn't all crowded, and the river is pretty - our picnic tonight was right on the water, and the weather was perfect. Ohio State campus is huge! There are 50,000 students there, compared with Meredith's 2,000. So far, with Keith's guidance while he was here, and my trusty GPS, I am getting around just fine tho. Traffic has been mild, over the weekend at least, and my hotel is not far from campus.
Tomorrow's conference is the annual workshop for the Center of Cancer Systems Biology where
"The OSU-IU Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB, formerly designated as OSU-IU ICBP) has assembled a team of 25 computational and bench scientists to study epigenetic control of critical signaling networks in prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers. Based on our recent progress and preliminary findings, we will test the hypothesis that epigenetic deregulation of androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor a (ERa), or TGF-ß/SMAD4 signaling-mediated transcriptional networks underlies the transition of a hormone-/chemo-sensitive phenotype to a hormone-/chemo-insensitive phenotype in cancer. We anticipate that the study will yield significant insight into the role of permissive and non-permissive chromatin in cancer and drug-resistant disease."
Got all that? I actually find all this very interesting - the way that parts of genes are activated that keep cancer medications from affecting cancer cells. If that part of the DNA isn't activated, the medication works just fine. I am not sure yet what my part will be in working with the group - since I am a math major, I will probably be crunching data and using some computer programs to compare some cell analysis with others. Guess I will know more later this week.
In the meantime, I think the house is still standing. The kids seem to be doing fine, and assure me that they are feeding the dog. I am very excited to be here and am making plans for a lot of touristy things to do. The hotel takes care of breakfast for me every morning, and even supplies dinner four nights a week, if I am here at the right times. Next week I will check out my new ward here and get to know more people.
Later!
Leslie
Keith flew home today and I went to a picnic and met the group I will be working with. Dr Huang says I will be on the 2nd floor of the Biomedical Tower, and my professor ("mentor") is Cenny Taslim. Everyone was very friendly and nice... and Asian! There were all kinds of languages flying back and forth, and I am the token Caucasian! It felt a little like being back in Korea. We had a small group from the Indiana campus here to participate in the conferences Monday - Wed.
I am very impressed with Columbus so far - I feel a little like the country mouse that is visiting the city. Keith and I went to a movie at the Easton Mall - it was really cool. The snack bar is more like a self-serve convenience store, and the parking lot had a lit up counter that listed how many spaces were available by monitoring traffic in and out of the structure. We tried two different pizza places, and found a promising looking Mexican food restaurant for future visits. The city isn't all crowded, and the river is pretty - our picnic tonight was right on the water, and the weather was perfect. Ohio State campus is huge! There are 50,000 students there, compared with Meredith's 2,000. So far, with Keith's guidance while he was here, and my trusty GPS, I am getting around just fine tho. Traffic has been mild, over the weekend at least, and my hotel is not far from campus.
Tomorrow's conference is the annual workshop for the Center of Cancer Systems Biology where
"The OSU-IU Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB, formerly designated as OSU-IU ICBP) has assembled a team of 25 computational and bench scientists to study epigenetic control of critical signaling networks in prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers. Based on our recent progress and preliminary findings, we will test the hypothesis that epigenetic deregulation of androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor a (ERa), or TGF-ß/SMAD4 signaling-mediated transcriptional networks underlies the transition of a hormone-/chemo-sensitive phenotype to a hormone-/chemo-insensitive phenotype in cancer. We anticipate that the study will yield significant insight into the role of permissive and non-permissive chromatin in cancer and drug-resistant disease."
Got all that? I actually find all this very interesting - the way that parts of genes are activated that keep cancer medications from affecting cancer cells. If that part of the DNA isn't activated, the medication works just fine. I am not sure yet what my part will be in working with the group - since I am a math major, I will probably be crunching data and using some computer programs to compare some cell analysis with others. Guess I will know more later this week.
In the meantime, I think the house is still standing. The kids seem to be doing fine, and assure me that they are feeding the dog. I am very excited to be here and am making plans for a lot of touristy things to do. The hotel takes care of breakfast for me every morning, and even supplies dinner four nights a week, if I am here at the right times. Next week I will check out my new ward here and get to know more people.
Later!
Leslie
Saturday, June 5, 2010
First day in Ohio
Hello from Ohio!
We had a very nice drive up. Thunderstorms and rain in NC recently made me worry about our journey, but it stayed clear and dry the whole way. There are raindrops on the hotel window this morning, so it must have caught up with us overnight. The room is great! This being the first time I have really lived alone, without needing to worry about motherly duties, I packed all kinds of hobbies to keep me busy for the 9 weeks I will be here, so we had a lot of things to haul in from the car. Got the room all set up, and went shopping for groceries. I have a full fridge, a stove top and microwave here. The hotel supplies a hot breakfast every morning, and dinner four nights a week, with a salad bar. Boy, am I going to be spoiled! I told Keith last night that I could almost start singing "I think I'm going to like it here!" like Little Orphan Annie in the musical.
Last night we tried out Graeters Ice Cream - man, it is worth the 8 hour drive just for that! They have very smooth ice cream with giant chips formed by pouring liquid chocolate into the ice cream as it is finishing. I had black raspberry with chocolate chips, and Keith had coconut with chocolate chips - both flavors worth exploring at home! Besides waffle cones, and sugar cones, they have pretzel cones - plain and dipped in chocolate. I think a really sweet flavor would be so good with a salty cone like that. On my list to try out!
Today we are going to finish the settling in process, buy me a good map so I can start learning my position in the world when I am running around and we are going to see a movie. Keith flies home tomorrow - but I refuse to think about that yet.
Ciao!
Leslie
We had a very nice drive up. Thunderstorms and rain in NC recently made me worry about our journey, but it stayed clear and dry the whole way. There are raindrops on the hotel window this morning, so it must have caught up with us overnight. The room is great! This being the first time I have really lived alone, without needing to worry about motherly duties, I packed all kinds of hobbies to keep me busy for the 9 weeks I will be here, so we had a lot of things to haul in from the car. Got the room all set up, and went shopping for groceries. I have a full fridge, a stove top and microwave here. The hotel supplies a hot breakfast every morning, and dinner four nights a week, with a salad bar. Boy, am I going to be spoiled! I told Keith last night that I could almost start singing "I think I'm going to like it here!" like Little Orphan Annie in the musical.
Last night we tried out Graeters Ice Cream - man, it is worth the 8 hour drive just for that! They have very smooth ice cream with giant chips formed by pouring liquid chocolate into the ice cream as it is finishing. I had black raspberry with chocolate chips, and Keith had coconut with chocolate chips - both flavors worth exploring at home! Besides waffle cones, and sugar cones, they have pretzel cones - plain and dipped in chocolate. I think a really sweet flavor would be so good with a salty cone like that. On my list to try out!
Today we are going to finish the settling in process, buy me a good map so I can start learning my position in the world when I am running around and we are going to see a movie. Keith flies home tomorrow - but I refuse to think about that yet.
Ciao!
Leslie
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Getting ready-
Well, the plan to get a bunch of things done around the house kind of crashed and burned when I developed some medical problems and ended up needing surgery. However, I should still be good to leave on June 4th. I have a hotel reservation for my stay near the airport - still need to get parking arranged for on campus.
I will be taking a ceramics class every Wed night to try and keep the right and left sides of the brain balanced. I am also going to get a zoo pass while I am there and practice shooting wildlife with my camera. Columbus is reputed to have a wonderful zoo and aquarium, and I am excited to check those out.
I have been going over the papers sent to me about the study, and using wikipedia to define terms I do not know - way too many of them, I am afraid! But I feel a lot more confident about understanding what we are measuring and studying now than I did upon first read. I have talked to some professors at Meredith and asked for their insight on what they thought, and that was very helpful.
The first three days in Ohio we will spend in conferences in the Biomedical Research Tower - where I will normally be spending my days. The first day will be the Cancer Systems Biology Annual Workshop with many speakers talking about things far over my head, probably. Epigenetics and studies used to examine RNA and figure out why some parts of genes activate, and some stay dormant, as far as I can tell from the limited study I have done. The next two days will be at the illumina Sequencing Users Meeting where I learn about how they are doing the studies and collecting the data we will be using, and new technologies that they have coming up. I love learning about new things, so this should be exciting, if not overwhelming. I hope I can keep up decently.
In the meantime, this next week will be filled with packing, recuperating, and laundry. I am taking hobbies that have gone neglected due to lack of time and focus - sewing some quilts to donate, the ceramics class, and lessons on the new laptop to keep me busy in off hours, along with photography of the area, and learning photo editing. Columbus has an LDS temple I would like to get to visit, and I have a good friend in Indiana that I hope to see during my stay. My new semester at Meredith will begin not long after the study ends, so I also need to try to prepare for that.
This should be a great experience, and really help me nail down what I want to focus on in my studies and career.
Leslie
I will be taking a ceramics class every Wed night to try and keep the right and left sides of the brain balanced. I am also going to get a zoo pass while I am there and practice shooting wildlife with my camera. Columbus is reputed to have a wonderful zoo and aquarium, and I am excited to check those out.
I have been going over the papers sent to me about the study, and using wikipedia to define terms I do not know - way too many of them, I am afraid! But I feel a lot more confident about understanding what we are measuring and studying now than I did upon first read. I have talked to some professors at Meredith and asked for their insight on what they thought, and that was very helpful.
The first three days in Ohio we will spend in conferences in the Biomedical Research Tower - where I will normally be spending my days. The first day will be the Cancer Systems Biology Annual Workshop with many speakers talking about things far over my head, probably. Epigenetics and studies used to examine RNA and figure out why some parts of genes activate, and some stay dormant, as far as I can tell from the limited study I have done. The next two days will be at the illumina Sequencing Users Meeting where I learn about how they are doing the studies and collecting the data we will be using, and new technologies that they have coming up. I love learning about new things, so this should be exciting, if not overwhelming. I hope I can keep up decently.
In the meantime, this next week will be filled with packing, recuperating, and laundry. I am taking hobbies that have gone neglected due to lack of time and focus - sewing some quilts to donate, the ceramics class, and lessons on the new laptop to keep me busy in off hours, along with photography of the area, and learning photo editing. Columbus has an LDS temple I would like to get to visit, and I have a good friend in Indiana that I hope to see during my stay. My new semester at Meredith will begin not long after the study ends, so I also need to try to prepare for that.
This should be a great experience, and really help me nail down what I want to focus on in my studies and career.
Leslie
First Entry- exciting title, eh?
Hello -
This blog will cover my adventures on my own in Ohio, as I experience an undergraduate research project on breast cancer, and see what I can learn. I will be in Ohio from early June to mid August 2010.
Please stay tuned and share this experience with me!
Leslie
This blog will cover my adventures on my own in Ohio, as I experience an undergraduate research project on breast cancer, and see what I can learn. I will be in Ohio from early June to mid August 2010.
Please stay tuned and share this experience with me!
Leslie
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)