A lot of my unhappiness stems from the fact that I am losing the passion and drive in my life. I am stagnating and feel like I am in a rut. I am no longer passionate about science. I loath doing experiments that fail, data analysis, writing grants, reading papers, etc. I just don't enjoy it like I used to. I have been trying to figure out what it is and why I have lost my interest in it. I can't fully place my finger on it and I wish that I could so that I can fix it. Here are some of my thoughts and ideas as to why I just don't care about science anymore.
I feel like a slave and that I am never doing enough. When I was at BYU doing undergraduate research, I loved going into lab. It was always fun and I enjoyed reading papers and coming up with new ideas. I never felt like I was tied down in the lab and I could work as little or as much as I pleased. At the NIH, I didn't like my research experience very much, but I attributed that to the fact that I didn't particularly enjoy my project, my boss, and my co-workers--I could never jive and connect with them and I felt like an outsider. But as I experience graduate school more and struggle through my PhD, I am coming to realize that I didn't like my time at the NIH and research here at school because I feel like I am a slave. I am supposed to be doing experiments constantly and performing the necessary data analysis. If I am not busy, there is always this pressure to do experiments and start new ones. Then when I get the chance to read journal articles, I am too burned out to even look at science. The intellectual aspect is gone and no longer a part of research for me. I don't feel like a student and I don't feel like I can take the time to spend learning that I want to. I need to be working and producing results. Basically, I feel like I can never doing enough work and that I should always be doing more.
In that same stream of thought, I think another reason why I am unhappy is because there are no markers for success in graduate school. I have been working hard on a project for over a year, but I feel like I have nothing to show. I gave a presentation a couple months ago about my work and people were impressed, but then brought up a lot of other experiments that I need to do in order to make it even better and publishable. While this great, it makes me feel like I am not achieving anything--there is always something more to be done. Throughout my whole life, there have been markers (i.e. tests, end of semesters, grades, etc.) that have given me markers of success. Now, I have none. There is nothing to show for my work. Every day I work hard and seem to never achieve much. It's exhausting and it's causing me to burn out. I struggle to know if what I am doing is going to be worth it and if I am succeeding at it. Sigh... graduate school is just tiring me out because of the lack of success.
The last big bit of my unhappiness with my current situation lies in the fact that my passion is currently in medicine. I see my classmates that I entered with going on interviews and getting ready to start their careers while I am stuck at school. Additionally, I no longer see myself doing research on a specific disease. My passion is in primary care. I want to get involved in holistic and preventative medicine. I don't want to get caught up in sub-specialities and prescriptions. I want to stop disease before it starts, instead of treating disease once it has already been established. Disease research is at the pinnacle of sub-specialization and it is very focused on one disease and problem. I don't see a future being hyper-focused. I seem myself interacting and helping a lot of people at the bottom of the pyramid. Medicine needs to change from the bottom up and I hope to be a part of that change. Because my passion lies in medicine and there is currently not much that I can do in medicine, it is hard to come to work every day when I know that I would rather be somewhere else.
I need to figure out ways to gain passion in science again because I still have 4.5 years left in my program. I am working on being happier, but if all of this doesn't work out. I'll probably just quit, travel the world, and open a bakery.
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
It's Not Summer Anymore
It’s weird to think that it is no longer summer. I feel like I should be in school soon, but I’m not. I keep thinking it’s August, but it’s not. I want to be preparing for the next swim season, but it’s not my job anymore.
Every morning I’m surprised to see the leaves starting to change color and feel the chilly air. It’s no longer summer. It’s October, and I can scarcely believe it. Summer is over, and I am no longer a student. I tell myself, “welcome to real life” and “this is life with a career.” I’ll eventually get used to a life without school.
It just feels weird not going to school. I want to be buying textbooks and new clothes, running into friends on campus, coaching the swim team, working in Dr. Burton's research laboratory, and so much more. I miss the excitement of taking new courses, having new professors, making new friends, and seeing old friends. It makes me want to be back in school, even though I love my job. I will only be out of school for a year or two, and then I’ll be right back in school for basically the rest of my life, so I guess it’s not so bad.
In other news, I received another rejection from a medical school. I now have had 25% of the schools I applied to reject me. Oh well… There is nothing I can do about that now. Despite another rejection, I received an interview! YAY! It's at Boston University. It's a good school, but it's not MSTP so it's not as prestigious. It is also one of my back-up schools. I'm glad to know at least one of my back-up schools like me. I have an interview there Oct. 28-29 (Mollie, I expect to see you while I'm there). :)
Every morning I’m surprised to see the leaves starting to change color and feel the chilly air. It’s no longer summer. It’s October, and I can scarcely believe it. Summer is over, and I am no longer a student. I tell myself, “welcome to real life” and “this is life with a career.” I’ll eventually get used to a life without school.
It just feels weird not going to school. I want to be buying textbooks and new clothes, running into friends on campus, coaching the swim team, working in Dr. Burton's research laboratory, and so much more. I miss the excitement of taking new courses, having new professors, making new friends, and seeing old friends. It makes me want to be back in school, even though I love my job. I will only be out of school for a year or two, and then I’ll be right back in school for basically the rest of my life, so I guess it’s not so bad.
In other news, I received another rejection from a medical school. I now have had 25% of the schools I applied to reject me. Oh well… There is nothing I can do about that now. Despite another rejection, I received an interview! YAY! It's at Boston University. It's a good school, but it's not MSTP so it's not as prestigious. It is also one of my back-up schools. I'm glad to know at least one of my back-up schools like me. I have an interview there Oct. 28-29 (Mollie, I expect to see you while I'm there). :)
My Life As of Late
Lately I've been up to a lot of hustling and bustling. It's been fun, tiring, and busy. Here is what I've been up to and what I plan to do this weekend.
A couple of weekends ago, I went to a beach on the Chesapeake Bay with some friends. It was a lot of fun! We attempted to fly my kite, but was unsuccessful because there wasn't enough wind. The sad part is that I still haven't been able to fly it even though I've almost had it for a year. Why can't there ever be enough wind to fly it? Ugh! Besides the lack of flying of the kite, it was still a good time. We ended up getting into a sand fight. We were chasing each other all over the beach and the water throwing sand at each other. It ended up hurting a lot, but it was a blast. Soon afterward, we were playing in the water. Then we decided to build sand castles. We ended up building a volcano, a pyramid, and a spiral jetty (like the one in the Great Salt Lake). I also built a wall to prevent the waves from destroying our masterpieces and a pretty awesome bay that caught the water. It even included a light house. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any pictures our work.
Then last week, I headed down to Virginia to a Glee party and met some great people there. One of the guys I met there was going to be in the Frederick area on Friday night so he stopped by. We went out to dinner and I showed him downtown Frederick. It was a lot of fun, and I discovered a new part of Frederick. There is a canal that runs through the downtown. It has a lot of artwork painted along the walls and bridges. Some of the art is painted as architecture, so the bridges looks like they are made from stone bricks and that there are porticoes with statues along the canal. I really enjoyed my time with my new friend David in Frederick.
On Saturday, I met up with a friend of a friend in DC whose name is also David. We pretty much had a lot of fun. We first went to the zoo and much hilarity ensued! Seriously! I've never had so much fun at the zoo. We were discovering all sorts of random facts about animals and the people were priceless. At the komodo dragon exhibit, there was a little girl that wouldn't stop talking. David eventually told her that komodo dragons breath fire. They got in a fight about it, and it was hilarious! This girl was so adamant about komodo dragons not breathing fire and then David was just as adamant that they in fact breathed fire. I think she eventually became frustrated and stopped talking to David. After which, we left the zoo.
We then walked to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was a great experience and completely delicious! Everything there was traditional Ethiopian. We sat in low-to-the-ground chairs, ate out of a basket, and other aspects that were uniquely Ethiopian. I guess in Ethiopia, they do not use utensils; they use their hands. They had these tortillas/bread that we tore into pieces to pick up the food. I had a lamb dish and David had a beef dish. I tried both. I definitely plan on going back there. I loved the environment and the food! Such a great cultural experience.
After gorging ourselves with food, we started our walk to the sight-seeing areas. We walked through Adams Morgan (a typical bar crawl area), Dupont Circle, Farragut, and then the Mall. The White House was great to see at night, but it was sad because there wasn't good people watching there. I guess all of the crazies and tourists don't stop by at night. We then headed towards the Jefferson Memorial because it was the only major memorial I haven't seen yet. We walked through the cherry blossom trees, minus the cherry blossoms and eventually ended up at the Jefferson Memorial. Here there was better people watching, but not as much during the day. David had me lie down on my back and look at Washington Monument/DC upside down. It was really cool. We then started a trend because everyone else was doing it too. It was funny. We also had tourists take pictures of us... I'm not entirely sure why. Haha! After the Jefferson, we headed home on the red line. We ended up walking 9 miles in total that day! It was such a good day and a fun time!
Then on Monday I was in Bethesda most of the day for meetings at the main campus. I met up with my friend April. We went out to dinner to catch up and plan our trip to Amish country in October for the harvest. While at dinner, I happened to spill my whole water glass on myself... Yeah, I'm cool and awesome like that! Haha! I was soaked for all of dinner and the whole way home. It was a good time though. I really enjoyed talking to April and catching up. Also, I cannot wait for our trip to Amish country! Can you say apples, squash, pumpkins, and everything delicious about Fall? I hope that they have spiced pumpkin cider there because I love it so!
David from Saturday also invited me to a musical called Chess. I went with him on Tuesday. The main reasons I went are because I wanted to hang out with him again and because they have my favorite 80's song in the musical, "One Night In Bangkok." The musical was ok. The performers were great and the lead female had an amazing voice, but we both agreed that we wouldn't have paid money to see this musical. It was interesting, but yeah... I don't know what to say about it.
Yesterday, I was finally able to start my HIV/AIDS project in full! We finally received approval from EHS. I spent most of the day yesterday deactivating the virus in monkey sera. I will start working on that project full-time coming very soon. I still have a few projects to finish up on before I can work full-time on the HIV/AIDS microarray. I'm excited to actually be working on the project I signed on to do! YAY!!! :D Yesterday, I also was pulled over by the Fort Detrick police officer. Ugh! :( The only problem was that one of my head lights was burned out. I have a fix-it citation and need to get it fixed ASAP; otherwise, I have to pay a $100 fee and possibly lose the registration to my car. I think that is a little much, but it is Maryland law. Oh well... I fixed it this evening and now I need to take it to the police department to show them it is fixed so that they can sign a stupid paper and then I'll be free from the citation.
Tomorrow, I'm going to a musical called Falsetto, and then on Saturday I'm going to the DC Rollergirls opening bout. It should be a good weekend of culture, roller derby, and friends! Life has been good as of late and I love how I'm making a lot of new friends!
A couple of weekends ago, I went to a beach on the Chesapeake Bay with some friends. It was a lot of fun! We attempted to fly my kite, but was unsuccessful because there wasn't enough wind. The sad part is that I still haven't been able to fly it even though I've almost had it for a year. Why can't there ever be enough wind to fly it? Ugh! Besides the lack of flying of the kite, it was still a good time. We ended up getting into a sand fight. We were chasing each other all over the beach and the water throwing sand at each other. It ended up hurting a lot, but it was a blast. Soon afterward, we were playing in the water. Then we decided to build sand castles. We ended up building a volcano, a pyramid, and a spiral jetty (like the one in the Great Salt Lake). I also built a wall to prevent the waves from destroying our masterpieces and a pretty awesome bay that caught the water. It even included a light house. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any pictures our work.
Then last week, I headed down to Virginia to a Glee party and met some great people there. One of the guys I met there was going to be in the Frederick area on Friday night so he stopped by. We went out to dinner and I showed him downtown Frederick. It was a lot of fun, and I discovered a new part of Frederick. There is a canal that runs through the downtown. It has a lot of artwork painted along the walls and bridges. Some of the art is painted as architecture, so the bridges looks like they are made from stone bricks and that there are porticoes with statues along the canal. I really enjoyed my time with my new friend David in Frederick.
On Saturday, I met up with a friend of a friend in DC whose name is also David. We pretty much had a lot of fun. We first went to the zoo and much hilarity ensued! Seriously! I've never had so much fun at the zoo. We were discovering all sorts of random facts about animals and the people were priceless. At the komodo dragon exhibit, there was a little girl that wouldn't stop talking. David eventually told her that komodo dragons breath fire. They got in a fight about it, and it was hilarious! This girl was so adamant about komodo dragons not breathing fire and then David was just as adamant that they in fact breathed fire. I think she eventually became frustrated and stopped talking to David. After which, we left the zoo.
We then walked to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was a great experience and completely delicious! Everything there was traditional Ethiopian. We sat in low-to-the-ground chairs, ate out of a basket, and other aspects that were uniquely Ethiopian. I guess in Ethiopia, they do not use utensils; they use their hands. They had these tortillas/bread that we tore into pieces to pick up the food. I had a lamb dish and David had a beef dish. I tried both. I definitely plan on going back there. I loved the environment and the food! Such a great cultural experience.
After gorging ourselves with food, we started our walk to the sight-seeing areas. We walked through Adams Morgan (a typical bar crawl area), Dupont Circle, Farragut, and then the Mall. The White House was great to see at night, but it was sad because there wasn't good people watching there. I guess all of the crazies and tourists don't stop by at night. We then headed towards the Jefferson Memorial because it was the only major memorial I haven't seen yet. We walked through the cherry blossom trees, minus the cherry blossoms and eventually ended up at the Jefferson Memorial. Here there was better people watching, but not as much during the day. David had me lie down on my back and look at Washington Monument/DC upside down. It was really cool. We then started a trend because everyone else was doing it too. It was funny. We also had tourists take pictures of us... I'm not entirely sure why. Haha! After the Jefferson, we headed home on the red line. We ended up walking 9 miles in total that day! It was such a good day and a fun time!
Then on Monday I was in Bethesda most of the day for meetings at the main campus. I met up with my friend April. We went out to dinner to catch up and plan our trip to Amish country in October for the harvest. While at dinner, I happened to spill my whole water glass on myself... Yeah, I'm cool and awesome like that! Haha! I was soaked for all of dinner and the whole way home. It was a good time though. I really enjoyed talking to April and catching up. Also, I cannot wait for our trip to Amish country! Can you say apples, squash, pumpkins, and everything delicious about Fall? I hope that they have spiced pumpkin cider there because I love it so!
David from Saturday also invited me to a musical called Chess. I went with him on Tuesday. The main reasons I went are because I wanted to hang out with him again and because they have my favorite 80's song in the musical, "One Night In Bangkok." The musical was ok. The performers were great and the lead female had an amazing voice, but we both agreed that we wouldn't have paid money to see this musical. It was interesting, but yeah... I don't know what to say about it.
Yesterday, I was finally able to start my HIV/AIDS project in full! We finally received approval from EHS. I spent most of the day yesterday deactivating the virus in monkey sera. I will start working on that project full-time coming very soon. I still have a few projects to finish up on before I can work full-time on the HIV/AIDS microarray. I'm excited to actually be working on the project I signed on to do! YAY!!! :D Yesterday, I also was pulled over by the Fort Detrick police officer. Ugh! :( The only problem was that one of my head lights was burned out. I have a fix-it citation and need to get it fixed ASAP; otherwise, I have to pay a $100 fee and possibly lose the registration to my car. I think that is a little much, but it is Maryland law. Oh well... I fixed it this evening and now I need to take it to the police department to show them it is fixed so that they can sign a stupid paper and then I'll be free from the citation.
Tomorrow, I'm going to a musical called Falsetto, and then on Saturday I'm going to the DC Rollergirls opening bout. It should be a good weekend of culture, roller derby, and friends! Life has been good as of late and I love how I'm making a lot of new friends!
Lectins Untangled?
I have formed a passionate hate for lectins. I am currently working with them in lab and the results I receive have been sub par. BUT I think that I have untangled the mess that are known as lectins. I recently discovered a problem in the experimental protocol that my mentor developed. Lectins have a dissociation constant below the molarity of the solution, meaning that the lectins will not bind to the glycans and prefer to be in the solution. I am doing a trial tomorrow at higher concentrations without Jeff's permission, and I hope that everything works out. If so, something very good can come from this.
I'm also working on 3 other projects right now that will result in publications. The work is pretty insane, but it will be good and fun. If all of these results work out, I will be on all of these papers, which I am stoked about.
I'm also working on 3 other projects right now that will result in publications. The work is pretty insane, but it will be good and fun. If all of these results work out, I will be on all of these papers, which I am stoked about.
The First Two Days of Being a Big Boy
I've been a big boy for two days now! I can't believe it. I have a real job, a real apartment, and a real desk! It weird and nice at the same time. I miss school, but I'm learning a lot right now, so it feels like I'm still in school. Anyways, here is a run down of my first two days.
Day 1
I arrived at 9 o'clock. I had to go through security in order to enter Fort Detrick. They took my driver's license and had me open all of my car doors. I forgot to open my trunk and I had a army man yell at me. He made me feel stupid, and subsequently, I now hate him. He told me off and seemed annoyed that a "civilian" was entering his home and domain. Ugh! I hate the military there already. After security, I arrive to building 376 about 9:30. I am greeted by Melinda, the chemical biology building secretary. She is really nice and got me started on my paperwork. Then Dr. Gildersleeve (below is a picture of him) came in the office I was working in and talked to me for a bit about the project I am working on. Then we headed off to meet everyone in lab. There are five of us total in the lab, and I'm the only post-bacc. The rest are post-docs or research associates. It's weird to be the youngest one in the lab by a lot of years. After meeting everyone, I headed off to finish my paperwork. I finished my paperwork and then went to the clinic to set-up a physical that is required for everyone. Then I went to get me official government ID for NCI (see the picture above). I will be receiving an NIH badge soon.
To become fully official, I have to have my car registered and decaled as a government car. This allows me access to NIH parking lots and Fort Detrick (I don't have to go through security). I went to the military guy and he got up in my face. Yet another military man in my face... awesome! He went off about how I can't register my car as government because it isn't in my name and that I was essentially stupid for trying. Ugh! I really started hating the military after that. After that, I went into the lab and went to lunch with Olaf and Chris. Then we started some of my training. I have read many papers so far and have done homework, maybe that's why I feel like I'm not completely missing school. I left work about 6:30 and then stayed up until midnight working on my homework for today.
Day 2
I arrived to Fort Detrick at 8:30. I had a doctor appointment at 9. The same security guards were there, and the man still treated me like a stupid "civilian," even though I did everything right this time. I get the feeling that they like having power over the civilians and can do any checks they want if I want to get on the base. Ugh! I can't wait for the letter from my parents to come in the mail that will allow me to make my car a government car. It again took me about 30 minutes to get on base. I ran over to my appointment and had a general physical. I have 20/15 vision, great hearing, great reflexes, great heart rate, and great blood pressure. I'll get my blood work back next week, and hopefully all is ok there too! I then headed to the ID/Fingerprinting Center to get fingerprinted in order to receive my NIH ID. Once I finished that, I headed to lab. I went over my homework from last night with the post-doc, Chris, training me. I did almost everything right, but I had a few mistakes. They were easily changed though and I passed the assignment. After that, he gave me a beast of an assignment today. I had to analyze the results of four sets of data that had over 7000 points. Let's just say that it took me forever. I started going and then kept getting the wrong answers for 3 hours. It is all done in excel with complicated equations. I'm not good with excel, so I did not excel on this assignment. I finally took a lunch break, but the cafeteria was closed. So I bought a water and poptarts... what a great lunch! After lunch, I headed back into lab and worked on the assignment some more. I was still not getting things to work, which made me want to leave and go home. Finally, things started to work, and I finished everything about 6:30. I then learned that everything I did today was essentially pointless because there is a macro excel program that does all of that for us, but my post-doc wanted me to understand what the macro was doing. So about 8 hours later, I finished what a macro could do in 10 minutes or less... awesome! Then I headed home and did some shopping.
It's been fun, hard, frustrating, and challenging so far. I hope the frustration goes away, but the rest stays!
Oh, I also have a monster friend on base. I have yet to talk to it, but it lives in this, hence the danger sign. I walk past it everyday and it makes hissing and gurgling noises at me. I hope it's a friendly monster to "civilians" and eats military folk, especially the jerk at the check in gate.
Day 1
I arrived at 9 o'clock. I had to go through security in order to enter Fort Detrick. They took my driver's license and had me open all of my car doors. I forgot to open my trunk and I had a army man yell at me. He made me feel stupid, and subsequently, I now hate him. He told me off and seemed annoyed that a "civilian" was entering his home and domain. Ugh! I hate the military there already. After security, I arrive to building 376 about 9:30. I am greeted by Melinda, the chemical biology building secretary. She is really nice and got me started on my paperwork. Then Dr. Gildersleeve (below is a picture of him) came in the office I was working in and talked to me for a bit about the project I am working on. Then we headed off to meet everyone in lab. There are five of us total in the lab, and I'm the only post-bacc. The rest are post-docs or research associates. It's weird to be the youngest one in the lab by a lot of years. After meeting everyone, I headed off to finish my paperwork. I finished my paperwork and then went to the clinic to set-up a physical that is required for everyone. Then I went to get me official government ID for NCI (see the picture above). I will be receiving an NIH badge soon.
To become fully official, I have to have my car registered and decaled as a government car. This allows me access to NIH parking lots and Fort Detrick (I don't have to go through security). I went to the military guy and he got up in my face. Yet another military man in my face... awesome! He went off about how I can't register my car as government because it isn't in my name and that I was essentially stupid for trying. Ugh! I really started hating the military after that. After that, I went into the lab and went to lunch with Olaf and Chris. Then we started some of my training. I have read many papers so far and have done homework, maybe that's why I feel like I'm not completely missing school. I left work about 6:30 and then stayed up until midnight working on my homework for today.Day 2
I arrived to Fort Detrick at 8:30. I had a doctor appointment at 9. The same security guards were there, and the man still treated me like a stupid "civilian," even though I did everything right this time. I get the feeling that they like having power over the civilians and can do any checks they want if I want to get on the base. Ugh! I can't wait for the letter from my parents to come in the mail that will allow me to make my car a government car. It again took me about 30 minutes to get on base. I ran over to my appointment and had a general physical. I have 20/15 vision, great hearing, great reflexes, great heart rate, and great blood pressure. I'll get my blood work back next week, and hopefully all is ok there too! I then headed to the ID/Fingerprinting Center to get fingerprinted in order to receive my NIH ID. Once I finished that, I headed to lab. I went over my homework from last night with the post-doc, Chris, training me. I did almost everything right, but I had a few mistakes. They were easily changed though and I passed the assignment. After that, he gave me a beast of an assignment today. I had to analyze the results of four sets of data that had over 7000 points. Let's just say that it took me forever. I started going and then kept getting the wrong answers for 3 hours. It is all done in excel with complicated equations. I'm not good with excel, so I did not excel on this assignment. I finally took a lunch break, but the cafeteria was closed. So I bought a water and poptarts... what a great lunch! After lunch, I headed back into lab and worked on the assignment some more. I was still not getting things to work, which made me want to leave and go home. Finally, things started to work, and I finished everything about 6:30. I then learned that everything I did today was essentially pointless because there is a macro excel program that does all of that for us, but my post-doc wanted me to understand what the macro was doing. So about 8 hours later, I finished what a macro could do in 10 minutes or less... awesome! Then I headed home and did some shopping.
It's been fun, hard, frustrating, and challenging so far. I hope the frustration goes away, but the rest stays!
Oh, I also have a monster friend on base. I have yet to talk to it, but it lives in this, hence the danger sign. I walk past it everyday and it makes hissing and gurgling noises at me. I hope it's a friendly monster to "civilians" and eats military folk, especially the jerk at the check in gate.
New Project
I have never talked about my new research project in the lab and my new, new research project that I came up with on my own. Right now is a very exciting time in our HIV lab. We have a lot of new projects going on that are going to provide some answers to the mysteries behind HIV. My project consists of looking at CD21 and CD32 receptors on FDCs (follicular dendritic cells) and how they promote HIV infectivity. This can led to possible treatments of an HIV infection with these receptors. This project will also get a paper out of it that I will be a co-author on. It is a very fun project and I have already been learning a lot from it. I also get to cut up tonsils to harvest cells and work directly with HIV. Here's to the hope that I don't actually contaminate myself with it... knock on wood.
Because I have learned so much already from my project and immunology class, I started asking questions about some different things to Dr. Burton. I learned a lot from my discussion with him and I came up with a project idea with a little help from him. As I was asking questions about CD4+ T cell infectivity in the germinal centers (where FDCs are present), he told me about a type of CD4+ T cell that gets infected, but does not create more virus. We then had a discussion as to why it doesn't happen. This led to him asking me what I would do to test this situation. I told him my ideas and he agreed with me. If we figure how these CD4+ cells get infected, but do not create more virus, we could possibly come up with a treatment that would turn off infected cells. By turning off the cells the virus would not proliferate and then it would eventually die within the body. This could be another possible treatment! The best part is that it is my own ideas that pushed this project forward and I would be the primary author of the paper! We'll see if this happens and I get any results or not.
Because I have learned so much already from my project and immunology class, I started asking questions about some different things to Dr. Burton. I learned a lot from my discussion with him and I came up with a project idea with a little help from him. As I was asking questions about CD4+ T cell infectivity in the germinal centers (where FDCs are present), he told me about a type of CD4+ T cell that gets infected, but does not create more virus. We then had a discussion as to why it doesn't happen. This led to him asking me what I would do to test this situation. I told him my ideas and he agreed with me. If we figure how these CD4+ cells get infected, but do not create more virus, we could possibly come up with a treatment that would turn off infected cells. By turning off the cells the virus would not proliferate and then it would eventually die within the body. This could be another possible treatment! The best part is that it is my own ideas that pushed this project forward and I would be the primary author of the paper! We'll see if this happens and I get any results or not.
Possible Cancer Cure?
The naked mole rat is immune to cancer. At last, scientists have figured out why
Naked mole rats are unique in many ways. For one, they're the only mammals with a hive mind, obeying their queen as if they were ants. Also, they feel no pain, an adaptation still not fully understood. But most importantly for us, they are the only animals that don't get cancer.
And now, a new study by scientists at the University of Rochester, New York, explains at last why these horrific animals, of all of the world's creatures, are immune to cancer.
According to the scientists, the mole rat's cells express a gene that tells cells to stop dividing. The gene, called p16, forms a second ring of defense against cancer. Most mammals, including humans, only have one gene, p27, protecting cells from cancer. And while most cancers know a way around p27, p16 stops them cold.
In the experiment, researchers gave cancer to a mole rat cell. However, unlike similarly altered mouse cells, the cancerous mole rat cell didn't engage in the non-stop proliferation associated with cancer.
Naked mole rats were already known for their extreme longevity, living much longer than other similarly sized rodents. This was thought to result from their ability to massively slow down their metabolism during times of privation, but this immunity to cancer almost certainly also contributes to their long lifespans.
Some other mole rat facts: their lips are behind their front teeth, they breathe mostly through their skin, and acid doesn't really burn them. I don't know what planet these things are from, but if they're helping cure cancer, I'm glad they're here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
