Kelley Bromley

The exam is OVER!! OVERRRR!!!! I have no more courses EVER AGAIN!!! And the best thing is, it actually went WELL!

After the exam about 2/3 of the class met up at Koerners for a chat. While it’s great that classes are over, it means everyone goes off to their labs and we really don’t socialize anymore. Blair, Kasandra, Shannon, Alina and I exchanged numbers and talked about getting together for a game of pool sometime, so hopefully that works out. They’re great conversationalists :)

I’ve got Blair hooked on the Wheel of Time now - mwah ha ha! She’s on book two already!

(This post added Apr 18, 2006)

Well, my CIHR assignment started out to be about the effects of methylphenidate (ritalin) on memory, but then it turned into a new treatment for ADHD! I must say it came out really cool… I’m pleased with the amount of supporting evidence I found for my idea, but I’m not used to writing about human experiments, so I don’t feel as strong in my approach, but I think the logic is solid. I’m just glad it’s over :)

(This post added Apr 18, 2006)

Wooo! I got the Michael Smith Scholarship! It’s $40,000 stipend over two years, with a $5000 equipment and travel fund! Now I can finally get a laptop! YIPPIE! If I wanted to do any sort of research work on files at home I had to go home to do it because remote desktop doesn’t work on the secure wireless network. The problem is it looks bad when you’re not in the lab, so now I can take everything with me! I can’t wait to get it!

(This post added April 26, 2006)

Today went very well :) I had some time to kill while my PCR reaction was brewing, so while I filled some tip boxes I had a great conversation with Ke and Guiqong about cooking, then Weihui and I looked at possible laptop options if I decide to get one. I always feel better when I can chat a bit while at work :)

Well, this was my first full week in the Song lab and it was ok. I had my midterm on Monday which was a big stress relief! I ran several PCR gels… hmmm… I have 4 primers and ran test runs on those, 2 worked so I went ahead and amplified a lot of that DNA, but only one of them worked! I didn’t know you had to use the same PCR machine (there are two in the lab) but even trying the one that didn’t work with the EXACT SAME SETTINGS on the original PCR machine still nothing amplified… weird. The two which didn’t work originally I ran another test PCR and got one of them working, so I’m leaving the two which don’t work for awhile and will go back to them later.

For the original one which worked I amplified a bunch and even isolated the DNA! Cool stuff. I just kind of followed a recipe and asked everyone questions along the way because Fang wasn’t in on Friday. I was going to clone the fragment into the vector then, but we were out of the restriction enzyme I needed and the place where you buy it was closed. Weihui showed me where all the cloning stuff was and how to pick a buffer, and he was extremely patient and a good teacher (fang can sometimes go too quickly on things, heh) I told him I’ll need his help next week with cloning and he said he would.

You can see a picture of the gel from my first PCR reaction on the left! Cool huh?!

Well, thankfully Fang said the primers will take awhile to come in, and the experiment is 4 days long, so we’re going to wait until Monday. This week was reading week, which means no classes so you can study for midterms, but I was in the lab from 9 to 5 everyday and by the time I got home and the house and supper was taken care of there wasn’t much time left for studying. Anyway, since the primers are going to take awhile Fang gave me Thursday and Friday off to study - yay! Unfortunately I got a nasty headache yesterday and had to have a gravol and ibuprofen and go to bed at 7pm *sigh* but today will be a day of studyage. On the up side, we had a lovely supper yesterday of nutty chicken - delicious! I’ll be posting it in the recipe section.

Well, I had my first day in the Song lab today. I finally got the names right! I got a tour of the lab - they have reallllly nice equipment and a huge lab! Hong is leaving and I’m taking over his lab area - he has about 1/5 of the lab at the end of the lab in a nice corner space near the millipore system at the end of the lab, I like it because it’s sheltered from the bustle of the rest of the lab. I also think my desk is going to be in this area when people move around a bit. We had a lab meeting and Dr. Song talked about how the lab research is a team effort, and one person is the main researcher and others help so we can all get some publications. I’m going to start some research which he says will lead to publication in 4 to 6 months - yay! I’m so excited… I’m finally in a real AD lab, and everyone is so focused and knowledgeable. I’m a bit worried because I have to dive in right away into the project - I already have to pick our primers tomorrow! Gah! I don’t even know how this research works, heh. That’s the one thing about university - it’s the only thing you get paid for when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, LOL. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to getting back into some hard core biochemistry again.

I worked on the Notch paper in the morning, but the rest of the day was the lab meeting and reading up on stuff for my project. I think most of the day will be lab work this week, and I’ll have to study for my midterm in the evenings, so the Notch paper will have to be put on hold for awhile. I was sooo tired at the end of the day though - don’t know how I’m gonna study at the end of the day, not used to that anymore, heh. I’m sure it’ll all work out, I still have lots of time before the midterm. I’m relaxing tonight and will go to bed early so I’m ready for research :)

Dr. Song invited me to dinner at the Golden Szechuan restaurant with his lab to celebrate Chinese new year / the holidays a little late. I was really nervous, but everyone was quite nice. Almost everyone is Chinese and it was a bit hard getting the names correctly, but I’m sure I’ll get them eventually :) There was a LOT of food, and it was very delicious. They served Frontera wine, a mix of Cabernet and Merlot, and I didn’t even pull a face! Yay! This wine torture I’ve been putting myself through has finally paid off in a social situation, LOL.

Ok, so on Monday night I learned my Afrikaans, on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I did my NRSC501 assignment, but on Wednesday, despite getting off early, I never got any work done on the notch paper because I had a god awful headache and had to sleep it off *sigh* SO today it’s full steam ahead! Hopefully I’ll get my rat done early and I can work work work!

I’ve been working on a Notch paper recently… it is very slow going. It takes forever to write a paragraph, and each sentence has at least 3 references, so it takes forever to write a sentence too, heh. I like how it’s going though - I write slowly, but it usually doesn’t need too much revision when I’m done. I said I’d try and have a first draft by Tuesday, but I don’t know if that will be possible. I’ll probably just have the receptor/ligand processing part done… it’s so much work! I have 57 references so far and I only have 3 double spaced pages written, heh. Such is the case with a review I suppose - this will be the most references I’ve ever had in a paper, even more than my thesis! I surpassed the number of references in my thesis in the CIHR grant assignment last semester, and I will pass that with this paper. Although it’s a lot of work, it’s really cool to see the story unfold, and I’m learning a lot. It was overwhelming at first because I knew hardly nothing about the subject and I had to write like I was an expert in it, but now that I’m focusing on one little bit at a time it’s more manageable. So, if I don’t post, it’s only because I am constantly having my nose to the grindstone… very tiring! I imagine I’ll rack up my sleep debt this week…