First Rotation: CHECK!

For the past three months, I've been working in Dr. Zayzafoon's Lab investigating S100A4 protein and it's effect on the prostate cancer cell line C4-2B. It was a great ride, with of all the scientific drama you should expect from a budding scientist in the room with a bunch of expensive equipment. I screwed up many western blots (a technique we use to look at protein levels), learned a lot about the scientific process, made some excellent new friends, and maybe did one or two successful western blots. :)

I have a lot of people to thank for making my rotation a success.

• Dr. Majd Zayzafoon for taking me into his lab and being an enlightening, caring mentor

• Min-Kyung for letting me use her reagents, data, and other information and giving cell lines on multiple occasions and also for adding sunshine to the lab!

• Jennifer for being a fun and entertaining benchmate, and for answering more question than I can shake a stick at.

• Kayiu for being full of humor, and lending us all the benefit of his experience because we were constantly asking him things.

• Niroop, who became one of my best friends in Birmingham, for being a all around great help the lab and friend in and outside the lab.

• Laurel, also a good friend, for teaching techniques without me even asking her and answering all kinds a questions while also encouraging me in the dark ages of western blotting.

• Vishnu, who wasn't even in my lab, but was almost like a second mentor. I owe him a lot for the information he was willing to give me and all the advice as well.

Now that I've completed my first rotation, I'm very glad to be starting my next one January 7th with Dr. Joanne Murphy-Ullrich. I'll be working on extracellular matrix proteins and cell death due to a lack of adhesion. Does the sound of that make you as excited as it makes me?

Entering the Scientific Life

Soon, it will be the end of my third week of graduate school, and something that I've been looking forward to for a long time is about to happen. I'm going to be entering my first lab rotation!

This Monday, I start doing real rubber-gloved scientific work in an honest-to-god laboratory doing actual straight up science--not just technician work, but my own mini-project. And, as if that weren't incredible enough, if my data is usable strong and I learn the entire project and write my own article on what I found, my professor will name me as a co-author on the actual paper for the whole project! As in: A real scientific journal, suckas! Unbelievable!

I was incredibly lucky to find a rotation like this, and for those who don't know, a lab rotation is like dating a laboratory for three months to gain experience to see how you like the work. If you're on track, you do three of these before you start on your thesis, at which point you choose a lab to stay in for good. So this is going to be my first foray into real scientific work. It's all about to start, so find your helmets and review your evac plans!

The Drive to Alabama

There's been a pretty long radio silence since I last posted, but that's only because I was getting ready for and moving to Birmingham. Since then, I've had some incredible adventures and visited some pretty awesome things, all of which I hope to address later on, but for right now, I just want to share the experience of my long, long drive. This drive comes to you in seven parts. That's right, seven parts. Ride with me as I travel the entire distance between North Carolina and Birmingham.

Make sure to watch them on youtube, too, with video annotations!

Shaw Rowe Greenville Goodbye Adventure

Shaw is an awesome character that I wish I had gotten to hang out with more than I did over the last couple years. This weekend, though, I got to visit him in Greenvile, NC and see what he's been up to. Right now that includes putting together an RC plane, which I was privilaged enough to see in the works.

We had amazing pizza and the best sausage dip I think I've had in my whole life at a place called Basil's. To my knowledge there's only one, so you'll have to pilgramage to try it if you're not nearby. When we got back we watched a Bunch of movies that included

• 21,
• Into the Wild,
• Hot Fuzz,
• and Batman Begins;

and on top of all that, we had a mountain of a delicious, mouthwatering cake called Tres Leches. It was so good, we ate almost an entire cake by ourselves. Shaw gave me the recipe, and I might post a recipie for it here if it all goes well. It's very easy to make, but you have to be sure to add the right amount of love.

It was great getting to see Shaw again. Soon, he'll be moving too, so I'm really glad we got to hang out.