Interview #1

I got invited for an interview at The Ohio State! I'm so excited! It's on March 17. It's not one of my first choices, but it is school that I could definitely attend without regrets. They have a great program and great facilities... I will see what happens and if they like me during my interview. Now it's time to prepare for the interview that is a couple of months away.

I'm hoping for more interviews coming up soon, since I have my first one.

I feel like I can breath a little now...

Plans...

I've set a course out for future plans if medical school doesn't work out this year. These are my plans after I graduate in April:

1. Move to California
2. Get a biomedical/biochemistry related job (I'm already working on this one and my cousin Val Pal is setting me up with her friend who works for a biomedical company)
   
3. Gain residency in California
   
4. Expand my resume
5. Volunteer at a charity medical clinic
6. Continue coaching swimming, if possible
   
7. Take the GRE
8. Take the GRE: Biochemistry Supplement Test
9. Reapply to medical school
10. If option 9 doesn't work again, apply to graduate school and move on

I hope all of this works out, if I'm not admitted into medical school this year. Thanks for all of your support. I do appreciate it.

Future, What Future?

I am depressed about my future. I feel like I don't have one. I feel like my dreams are falling through the cracks or shattering into a million and one pieces. I just don't know what to do anymore. The interview season is almost over (2 or 3 months depending on the school) and I have yet to hear back from one medical school. It is getting beyond frustrating. I've tried really hard not to think about it, but it's all that I can think about lately. I really want to go to medical school and I feel like it is going to be the best place for me, but I guess the schools are thinking otherwise. Sigh...

I've started looking into taking the GRE and applying to graduate schools in biochemistry because I don't think I'm going to get into medical school. This is something that I don't want to do because I don't want to be in a lab my whole life. I want to be interacting with people and healing them. It looks like this isn't going to happen though. Sigh... Life is so depressing right now.

What did I do wrong? What should I have done differently? Should I call or email the medical schools to see about my application status?

I feel like a failure and failure is my biggest fear.

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.

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.

Waiting...

I am getting even more antsy as the days go by. Whenever there is an unknown number calling me on my phone, I secretly hope and pray that it is a medical school, but alas, it isn't. I have had that happen to me five times in the past week. Seriously, five times! It's pure torture! I really hope I get a call soon. It's driving me nuts! I just want an interview, that's all. Well, that and then an acceptance letter, but I'll take an interview anytime soon!

In other news, the first Timpview swim meet is on Wednesday... you all should come and cheer on the team! It starts at 3:30 at the Provo Rec Center!

Six Weeks

It has almost been six weeks since I turned in my first medical school applications. I am getting very nervous. I need to receive a call in the next little while or I might freak out! Oh wait, I am. That means I might go insane! I need to get interviews! UGH! I am hoping that I will get a call or email this week because it will make my week so much better. My week has been horrible and it's only Wednesday! Double ugh!