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A cool thing about academic science is thay you are expected to continually learn. In addition to your experiments, you must keep up on any publications relating to your project or anything that could be connected to your project. It is also necessary to keep up on your field as a whole (in my case metastasis, breast cancer, and cancer in general).
I’ll admit, sometimes I get super lazy and don’t particularly want to read a paper titled, “Histone Acetyltransferase hALP and Nuclear Membran Protein hsSUN2 Function in De-condensation of Mitotic Chromosomes” a paper directly related to my project. Conversely, I may be drawn to a paper titled “Localized and reversible TGFß signaling switches breast cancer cells from cohesive to single cell motility” – a bigger picture paper.
Either way, the NIH (as well as my labs at the UA and Germany) have a way to make you read – Journal Club. As you may guess, I often find my mind drifting, and here are a few things I noticed this week:
- Socks & sandals. WHY do older researchers (see: PIs* AKA the bosses) insist on wearing socks with their sandals?
- Having to be the person who has to translate biochem/genetics/etc. into sign language must be rough.
- I count 2 people asleep and 10 people playing the nodding off game. Glad I brought my coffee!
- Older Female Principle Investigators put me on edge – they are intense x 10^9. And Lalage Wakefield has that + fierce x 10^9.
- Love how PIs use their Blackberry’s during Journal Club. If anyone else tried that shit they would be called on it, taken outside and then shot.
PI = Principle Investigator
800 base pair band of DNA isolated after PCR amplification in UV light.
Before I came to Germany, I joked that by coming here I would get to have my winter during summer. Well, it ends up that I was right. The last week it has been chilly and rainy (but not the summer rain we were getting before), and today it was different. When I woke up, it was cloudy, but not rainy; 11 degrees (~50 F) with an expected high of 15 (~64); and no real jacket since mine ripped in Amsterdam. So, I did something I really didn’t want to do…
I wore my big ol’ UA hoodie. Mike had made fun of it, and joked how I wore it to the carnival. Christoph & Christian told me that this is what they think of as stereotypical, US college clothing – and it definitely is… you know, especially when that hoodie is red, white and blue. LOL.
But it was great today, because it was chilly out, but not raining – perfect weather for a walk. So I strolled to the lab and worked. All day. It was great. I plated more single seeds. I prepared a ton of slides from my Alternaria assays with different staining, which was difficult, because I am totally not used to preparing full size leaves. So great! And in little ten minute gaps between two hour marathon slide sessions I got to blog!
And then there was a BBQ potluck, where we all brought our own meat, but Jorge paid for the two crates of beer (about 24 bottles each), and one crate of bionade (fruit juice and alcohol in a bottle). Tasty
Oh, and I was dinked on a bike . I know, it sounds bad, huh? But just a few days after I learned in Amsterdam that ‘dinking’ is riding double on the back of a bike where the rear rack is, I caught a ride this way back from the ZMDP with Anna. So instead of walking for 30 minutes, or waiting for the bus to take me back way, she offered me a ride on the back. It was terrifying, and fun, with us laughing and giggling half the way as we talked. And fast!
Dinking!
Random German Fact of the Day:
Clothing with university logos on them is super uncommon here. Not only are hoodies like ours not worn, but if they are found, the emblem is much smaller. AKA, I stuck out big time today – but at least I was warm.
It started a couple weeks ago… a quick discussion between Sara, Sandra & I as we all walked to MENSA. I mentioned how my mom had taught both my brother and I to cook, and how recently it had become a real passion of mine. Mixing flavors, trying things out, etc. And both of them thought it was so cool that my mom had taught us. In their homes, their moms had cooked amazing meals, but never really taught them, and they wished they had learned when they were younger.
Then a few weeks ago, Mexican food came up… and I said, ‘oh, yeah, I definitely know how to make good Mexican food’. Sara literally jumped for joy and begged to know if I knew how to make tortillas (she also made a comment about Taco Bell at some point, but I forgave her). And I told her that I was still learning, but I would be happy to teach the members of the lab to make tortillas.
Later that week, we decided to not only make tortillas, but to have a full on Mexican dinner for our research group.
So, the week before I left, after a little shopping the weekend before, and making beans the night before, it was time for Mexican night at my flat. But first a note on shopping for ingredients in another country for ingredients that have a section dedicated to them in most groceries in the states. It’s tough. No cheddar, no mozzarella, and as I had actually expected, no queso seco. But I was also shocked to find no hot chiles of any kind. And I also discovered that the variety of avocadoes they sell here (although they claimed to be the ones we use) are actually the type you use green (mind you, I didn’t discover this until we tried actually making the Guacamole = ew). Luckily, we found pinto beans. It was a challenge, but a fun one, improvising this ingredient for that to make a given flavour was really enjoyable.
After work, we met at the flat, and started cooking. Sara, Sandra, Anne, Christina, Mike & I started, and everyone was soo great about helping. Dicing tomatoes, potatoes, onion and garlic for the picadillo and the salsa; opening the avocadoes (once again, ew) for guacamole; warming up the frijoles; making a quick marinade for the meat; Mike preparing Spanish rice. And outside, Sandra and Christina took care of the grill. I just gave tips, shared how my mom had taught me to taste and adjust, the basic ingredients, etc. and then did the actual cooking of the picadillo (with part split off to have tofu added instead of meat for Sara – it was actually really good), and finished it up. Outside, they took care of the carne asada and then I cut it up and did a couple of things.
They brought the drinks and set up the tables outside, and we kept the food warm by rotating them on the grill, and off to the porch. We served, I showed them how to make burritos. We had chips, and beans, and chipotle looking burritos on purchased tortillas heated on the grill. Passing pans and bowls, getting up to serve themselves, it felt like a Mexican family in Germany, at a guest house.
But overall, I think the best part was the dessert tortilla making that we ended the night with. It started off with Sara and me mainly making the dough and then actual tortillas, with Christina, Anne and Birgit as spectators. Laughter, experimenting (wait, that’s not right, let’s add more oil because of this), and the use of spectators hands to add those things ensued. So more people came to watch from outside, where the firelog Stefan had brought was burning. And Andrea even joined in. So tortillas were made – by rolling pin, I admit – and hand flipped. Nutella, butter, sugar, honey, peanut butter, and/or bananas were piled on to make dessert tostadas. Perfect.
The tortillas ended up being an immensely enjoyable competition between the Italians (1/2 Italian for Sara). She was the only one making the tortillas with me at first, starting from the dough. But when Andrea came in, I kind of showed him, and everyone that watched gave the advice they had seen from Sara. And then it became the two man battle of the circles (shape of tortillas) and bubbles (from the puffiness of air pockets). When Andrea made the first tortilla to bubble, Sara’s response was, ‘Bubbles. Who needs bubbles? They’re just air!’ FYI – her opinion changed when she got her first.
It was really amazing, I felt so united with all these people, and they loved the food, which was great. I was able to share with them my culture the way they have with me. And they were so appreciative of my effort, of running around the kitchen (even though I couldn’t have done it without them), that is just made me want to cook more.
*My random memorable moment:
When we were talking about guns and that type of gang stuff in Tucson and Mike said in a really nonchalant manner, ‘Well, I’ve only been shot at once’. I was in the middle of drinking my beer. And to avoid spraying it all over the food, I turned away from the table. But quick enough. I pretty much sprayed a mouthful of beer over Birgit, my PI here. Classic. Embarrassing. Funny.
Confessions:
It’s only 30° here, but there is no AC, no swamp cooler, limited air flow and sun on our office. I went and hid in the 4° cold room for a minute. Sooo nice.
Also, it was Roland’s birthday today, so we had ice cream, strawberries, and sparkling white wine. And even though it is completely fine here, and it was provided, I found myself hiding my wine glass from Birgit.
Because I mostly did nothing. And I was at work for 9 hours. So in Ashley & Lindsay inspired list, I’m going to share how it went down.
- Got to work just before 9 for lab meeting, and just before it started pouring
- Waited for over 30 minutes for the PIs so we could have it
- Had lab meeting, and received some great information on what the other members of the lab are doing on prog and ran my planned experiments by everyone (accepted!) + troubleshooted an experiment that didn’t work for me.
- It was almost 11:30 by the time we were done (not typical), so kind of sat around waiting.
- Essen! Kaffee!
- Stared at my research calendar and made sure everything was in order. Then added some stuff in. And then took it out because Mike was already doing it.
- Rewrote some protocols
- Figured out what to plate and plant before I leave.
- Looked at the calendar some more
- Scrubulous! Then Facebooked some, which I rarely do.
- Read blogs. Then blogged.
- Scheduled my trip to Berlin with Kelly! …and we were able to because there is little to do.
- Scanned some German/travel info for my mom and nina and sent it to them
- Read the news
- Protocol-ed*
Luckily, once I left work I had training, which is mostly boxing training. It’s fun, because other than the tae-bo/martial arts stuff we done in Jazzercise, I’ve never done this kind of workout. Since it is so different, its really tough – not just on my body, but mentally. Yay! I missed working out – and I’m loving running too! After that Sara & I went and bought supplies for the Mexican dinner I’m throwing at my place tomorrow, and I went home and made beans.
* FYI, I’m making protocol-ing a verb now. Because between that and scheduling, that#s the majority of what I do. I wish the plants I was going to work on initially hadn’t been contaminated.
With Mike visiting, I am really noticing how my approach to research has changed. Even though part of it is that we’re working on slightly different things, in the short time I have been here, I have taken charge of my research. I ask him what lines he thinks would be best to work on, based on the overall project and what we’re looking to find/publish. But after, I know what assays I want to do, and how to do them – and if I don’t, I ask one of the lab members here.
In fact, by asking Anna & Patricia how they ran analysis on two different pathogen assays, I completely rearrange my samples so that I would have enough of each line to get a good amount of data, have enough plants to take samples on and run 2 different assays. On one group of lines and then a division of two other groups of lines for another set of assays. And then I did it, just did it – didn’t have someone checkover my work. Taking control of my research like that felt great.
Google Calendar has also saved my life – and focused it. I’m definitely going to do this on my own work in the lab, because it forces me to do more, and really plan stuff out so that it not only occurs when it has to, but occurs more efficiently, and you know, actually occurs. :-)
It’s funny, but I have yet to feel homesick, and I’ve been here a month – a third of my stay in Europe- which is weird to think about. Life is not quite what it is at home – in large part even though I live in a guest house and share a bathroom, it’s like living on my own. It’s nice, but at the same time, I’ll be happy to have my roommates come fall.
The weather is also a great (in magnitude and attitude) from Tucson. The temperatures have ranged from a UA winter in the high 50s, lows 70s (17-22) and a warm high 70s, low 80s (low 30s). And rain! Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night. Sometimes with clouds all day, and sometimes out of nowhere. Pouring, drizzling. Hours, minutes. But I will still miss the monsoons, and the smell that we have when it rains there…. hopefully there will be some of the monsoon left for me when I get back.
Everything going so well here is in great part due to the people I work with, and the regulars in the Guest house where I live in are great. So far I’ve had an amazing time partying, bar hopping, watching the EuroCup, eating, talking about serious things and cartoons we used to watch, etc. With the Eurocup I’ve pretty much been going out every other night. It has also helped that Germans are a more friendly people than I imagined – and even heard from other Germans. They’re very helpful and kind, not to mention incredibly fun and funny.
Seminar was very similar to seminar back home. Somewhat interesting, which gradually erodes into boring if you don’t care about the article. Except people really aren’t obligated to go. And they don’t say what the paper is before. So good grad students go – and then often get stuck listening to something they don’t give a shit about. At lunch, on the walk back we discussed this, and the other members of the lab really liked the format of ours – mainly that you had access to the paper before, so if you were interested, you can get more out of it, because there is at least the opportunity to read it before.
Random Fact of the Day:
Bleach does not exist in Germany. Sodium Hypochloride does, but it is not commercially available. So, it’s really only used as a chemical by scientists. And therefore it is disposed of properly – not just down the drain.
