The Apprenticing Lab Rat

Sharklet Technologies, Inc.

2011-02-10T21:55:00.013-07:00

Because we have been in the news lately (woot woot), I want to carpe diem on the media attention and elaborate on my current position before I begin reflecting on graduate school and the transition to industry....

SO.

I am working for a small start up company called Sharklet Technologies, Inc. located here in Denver, CO, and we are engineering a novel "bacteria-repelling" surface topography that mimics shark skin:

The founder of the company, Dr. Tony Brennan, made the realization that shark skin does not accumulate barnacles or algae and he wondered if it was the structure that prevents microbial attachment. He began engineering a mimic of the pattern into many types of materials and low and behold it worked! The presence of the micro-pattern alone inhibits bacterial attachment and survival up to 99% in some instances. An example of S. aureus attachment to smooth surfaces (left) and Sharklet surfaces (right) over 21 days is shown below (figure from Chung 2007, Biointerphases 2(2): 89-94).

The really exciting aspect to the technology is that it does not contain any antimicrobials and thus shouldn't contribute to the rising problem of antimicrobial resistance!! It just passively prevents bacteria from attaching to surfaces without actively killing them.

Research into this technology began in order to provide the Navy with new surface coatings for ships that they could use in place of the toxic and environmentally unfriendly paint they currently use. Since then, we have moved into the field of medical devices and the healthcare industry as a whole in the hopes to prevent hospital acquired infections. We are currently working to understand how the pattern resists attachment and also which areas (or devices) we should apply the Sharklet micro-pattern to. We are selling surface laminate kits that can be applied to hospital doors, bed rails, nurse call buttons, etc. AND we got an amazing score (but are still waiting on the $$...friggin congress and their inability to pass a final budget...grrr...) on a Phase II SBIR grant to develop a Sharklet Foley catheter with the aim of reducing urinary tract infections (which is a HUGE problem in hospitals...they kill patients and prolong hospital stays thereby decreasing patient care and increasing hospital costs).

If you are interested...visit our website and take a gander at the publications on our technology.

In the meantime, watch us on this clip from the PBS - NOVA show "Making stuff Smarter" that aired on Wednesday, February 9th 2011:

Time fly's when your.......

2011-02-05T23:43:00.002-07:00

...having fun? I suppose thats one way to look at it....

Over the last year I worked harder than ever to graduate and land a dream job. I had a goal in mind and I couldn't stop till it was over. Now that I have re-entered normal society, I thought I would log on and describe how my last year of grad school played out.

Around January 2010 I decided it was time. I got my committee together in February and warned them of my antsy-ness and gave them a list of final experiments. They nodded. whew. I worked feverishly to check off each experiment. But the data did not come easily, of course. I had to do tons of troubleshooting, which yielded a few tears and shudders that I might be stuck in grad school forever...

Meanwhile. I went looking for a job. I had been keeping my eyes and ears open to numerous possibilities for a while now and it was time to make some choices. I knew that I wanted to leave academics at some point...but when? Should I do an academic post-doc...I mean after all academics are fun...or do I cut to the chase and look for an industry position....am I even qualified for a real job?? Again, more tears arrived since there were so many unknowns. I didn't know if I was even going to graduate...and the awkward feelings that I had at this time really surprised me...I should feel like I have it all together by now, right? and things are going well for the most part, right? so what's the deal? why does this step feel so daunting? Maybe its just because change is always scary...and self doubt is the worst. It seems that every step of graduate school tests your self-confidence, and leaving is just another step. boo...

But, eventually, things worked out (as they always seem to do in grad school...and in life for that matter...after all, you are doing the best ya can, right?), and I had no reason to be so stressed. I found a job. I met my future employers at a tiny career fair of all places...which just goes to show how important it is to seek out every opportunity you can. AND I got enough data that I felt comfortable to ask the big Q: Am I ready to graduate? I met with my committee again in August and they gave me permission to write. whew...especially because my new job really needed me to start ASAP and they would take me in November at the latest. A slight panic ensued. Could I get it all done in time? I had been dreaming of the moment that my committee would say "You may write" and I thought that I would celebrate for at least a week after said statement. However. I had too much to do at that point to be excited. bummer...

I had exactly 2 months to write my dissertation. I got a plan together and stuck to it with the help of countless shots of espresso and a "few" bottles of wine. This part seemed less scary for me...I knew what I needed to do. I got the whole thing written and felt pretty proud when I printed it off and gave it to my committee members in the middle of October. I even took a moment for myself in the park near my future place of employment before I walked in and met with everyone at my new job (yes, I turned in my thesis in the morning and met with them in the afternoon. Who's crazy? This girl.) None the less, I was beginning to get excited....

Two weeks later, I defended (I'll go into more detail about that here soon). One week after that I started full time at my new job at a small start-up company called Sharklet Technologies Inc. where I am 1 of 8 employees, 1 of 2 microbiologists, and 1 of 2 PhDs. Like I said its a dream job for me (I'll also go into more detail about the company here soon too).

So here I am, at the ripe age of 27, a contributing member of society. I really enjoyed graduate school and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But damn, am I happy to be finished.

brought me outta hibernation...

2010-01-15T11:06:00.002-07:00

I got super excited yesterday when I heard about this
slug! It's jaw dropping, eye opening, nerdylicous to the max!!

Hope everyone is well and their science is blossoming!

Cold Spring Harbor...

2009-08-23T13:02:00.002-06:00

...is anyone going to the 'Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Response' Cold Spring Harbor conference from Sept 8th-12th?? My excitedly nerdy self will be there!!

Odd Phase.

2009-08-23T12:15:00.002-06:00

I am going through a weird scientific phase. My fuse is short, my days are long, and I have an unnecessary itch to move onto my next step. I love my project and my job...I have no idea why I want to move on so badly. It must be some part of entering your 5th year that makes you realize how long you have been in school, and that graduation still seems so far away. I don't know if it's a fear of inadequacy if your degree takes too long...or if its just that its time for you to move on, you've learned a lot and feel ready for your PhD?? I feel like I am mostly waiting on the bench work to pick up...tho that is probably a naive statement (I know that I have so much more to learn...)

Sigh. It will happen someday....hopefully late next year........

Introducing Rhea May...

2009-07-30T09:57:00.011-06:00

The ceremony...

Time TO PArTaY!!

...so as I mentioned before with working a ton and planning a wedding I was left with ZErO free time to....ummm....blog. But with that said...I'm now back to enjoy extraneous science with my fellow bloggers!!

Oooo the guilt....

2009-04-07T19:09:00.001-06:00

....as I put on my coat and think of all the things I still need to do.

I'm pretty good about always doing my bench-work. Instead, the guilt comes from my consistent neglect of reading articles. There is so much to know and learn...and I have a hard time modivating myself to get it all crammed in my small head (I have a really small head btw...I went looking for a helmet for skiing and found myself in the juniors section...and whats worse....I bought a juniors small. yikes.) I have a committee meeting coming up...I better get my butt in gear!!

But for now....I think I'll just go home....shame on me!!

800 colonies to pick today...

2009-03-09T23:02:00.006-06:00

...800 colonies to pick. I pick one up, and place it down....799 colonies to pick today!

E-gads am I a transposon screening fool or what?!?!

So I have good reasons for my pause in blogging...between wedding planning, working A TON (please see above), and skiing every weekend I just seem to loose all my time (hahahaha, Oooo poor me...right?)

Honestly, I think my main reason for the lack of blog posts is due to my current successes in the lab. It certainly makes me think about my future...when will I graduate, where will I go, what will I do for the rest of my life. And I'll tell you what...I'm a bit scared about the whole ordeal...and I'm not even that close to being done. Since I started graduate school, people have asked me what I want to do with my degree and my obvious answer was "research." But now I realize I have no clue about what kind. I thought I wanted to go into industry and so my plan was to do one academic post-doc and then do some sort of industry internship. Unfortunately, I am growing up fast and I might want to move right on into the field I plan on working in...in other words...why do two post-docs?

So what do I want to do with my life??? I figure the first step I can take is to find the kinds jobs that are available in the cities I would like to settle down in...is that a good step, or a bad step? I am 100% afraid of pigeon holing myself into one single profession and then not being able to find a job...but then I wonder, is that even a real possibility??

Oooo my brain hurts. Thinking of my future is so overwhelming...it's kind of like how this kid views kicking a ball.

...hahahahaha. Bummer deal.

I LOVE my lab.

2008-12-15T17:55:00.002-07:00

My lab is full of people that love to hear how each others experiments are going...we love to laugh and joke...love to teach and help each other grow. We give good hugs, smiles, and tissues/kimwipes when the going gets tough. We call each other when there is free food in the break-room or when a baby is born. We keep up with people that graduated/moved on years ago and make sure that everyone says hi. In all, we are a big loving family of 8 not including our lab mom and PI dad (yup, they are even married...) So why do we work together so well...what makes us different from the other labs on our floor???

First off, our PI views our non-lab-life as important. He lets us do what we need to do and treats us as the adults that we are, thus, he allows us to be relaxed and focused when we are at work. He also promotes playfulness...he'll come in with a bat and start playing ball in lab...or...he'll find our dialysis bags and start swinging them around attempting to make the lab mom mad...lololol. And what's nice is that this environment propagates itself because those that are interested in joining the lab are usually people that want a fun place to work...natural selection at it's finest.

But that's not all. Our boss is in high demand...he works on lots of committees and he gives many talks/reviews/etc a year...therefore, he is not usually available for project discussions. Thats where the lab mates step in. We go to each other when we need a little help here and again, making us incredibly strong as a group. None of us are pinned against each other for papers and projects. Instead, we are all proud of each other and our progress.

I don't know how I would survive graduate school, at least with high spirits, if I did not have my lab. I suppose the point of this post is that I am beginning to realize how important lab environments are to me...more than I thought when I picked mine.

My top 10 favorite bacteria.

2008-12-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

Oooo...I just want to hug them and squeeze them and never let them go!! Thomas Joseph liked one of my comments recently and expanded it to a meme of sorts...i'll extend this invitation out to all of you too....

What are your top 10 favorite bacteria??? We're all nerds and we all have secret crushes on various bacteria spp's for various reasons...so don't be shy.

10. Clostridium botulinum - I am impressed with this bacteria because it has convinced us to shoot its horrible toxin right into our face. It doesn't even need to be cleaver enough to evade the canning industry's strict sterilizing protocols anymore. *bows down*...the stupidity of humans are no match...

9. Leuconostoc oenos (now known as Oenococcus oeni) - It converts malic acid to lactic acid and thus reduces the acidity of wine!! yum, yum, thanks dood!!

8. Bacillus anthracis - I love spore formers...ingenious. And its crazy how these guys can cause such a none de-script disease (yay flu-like symptoms) at first and then can kill you in a variety of ways depending on their mood.

7. Staphylococcus aureus - I hate that this guy is developing so many resistances. However, I respect them because they are putting the fire under investors asses to friggin fund the development of new antibacterials.

6. Listeria monocytogenes - It's pretty neat how these boogers move from cell to cell. They also have a lot to teach us about bacterial signaling...yay for ppGpp and cyclic-di-GMP!!

5. Clostridium tetani - Whoa, have you seen the results from infection with this guy...that looks intense.

4. Myxococcus xanthus - In your face creationists...these prokaryotes work together to form a multicellular fruiting body. These guys are crazy cool and will forever make their way into my thoughts and best wishes.

3. Pseudomonas aeruginosa - These guys are so cute and innocuous (and my they smell lovely)...then...bam they have taken over your body just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. They will also (hopefully) grant me my Ph.D by letting me genetically manipulate them and expose them to weird chemicals. *hugs the plates on my bench*

2. Mycobacterium tuberculosis - R-e-s-p-e-c-t....sing it with me.....These guys infect most of the world, kill tons of people a year, AND has the general public thinking its an old disease (like small pox) and doesn't exist anymore. HA. They also know how to go dormant in our bodies which is pretty cool...but my favorite part is that they cover themselves in thick mycolic acids (lipids with 80-100 carbons...whoa, thats a thick friggin goo.)

1. Helicobacter pylori - This guy is absolutely my favorite pet. He is uber cute with his multiple flagella's and helix shape. It completely baffles me that he has found the highly acidic stomach comfortable and a place to hang his hat. I can't wait to see what research will reveal about this bugger.

x.x Bleach x.x

2008-11-18T14:56:00.001-07:00

I always wondered how bleach kills my poor used up bacteria as I prepare them for sink disposal...and in order to avoid extra google searches I figured I would stumble upon the answer one of these darn days. Thanks to Jonathan Eisen that day finally came.

Apparently, it wasn't entirely known before Winter et al. accidentally found an answer and published their findings in the recent Cell issue. Errr...wait a tick...you MEAN we didn't even know how bleach worked?!?!? We have been using bleach since the late 19th century when Louis Pasteur discovered its killing potential...and we hadn't a clue of its mechanism, who da thunk?!?

Well, we do know that bleach is a strong oxidizer. That could be a clue...but how in the heck do you study the mechanism of such a harsh killer, even with a hypothesis?? Even if you did some sort of shot in the dark experiment...lets say a microarray comparing samples +/- a small amount of bleach...my guess is you would prolly see an up-regulation of general stress response genes and nothing specific enough...tho I donno. (I didn't find any research out there on bleach killing in my quick search...let me know if you know/find out more) At least with antibiotic treatments, bacteria will mutate in order to survive...and you can study those mutations in order to get an idea about its mode of action.

Anyway, these guys (Winter et al...see above) at the University of Michigan study the redox-regulated chaperone, heat shock protein 33, Hsp33. They found that small amounts of hypochlorous acid (the active ingredient in bleach) causes the oxidative C-terminus of this protein to unfold and activate. This activated Hsp33 acts as a chaperone holdase, "which protects essential Escherichia coli proteins against HOCl-induced aggregation and increases bacterial HOCl resistance" as written in their abstract. They suggest that bleach acts a lot like high temperatures in that it causes an irreversible unfolding and aggregation of proteins thus leaving dead cells in its wake.

Oooooo...Ahhhhhh!

The 5 Things Meme...

2008-11-16T20:11:00.004-07:00

MicroXX tagged me for 'The 5 Things Meme'...Mmmmmk.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Dressing in Junco's, HUGE tee-shirts, and a green canvas jacket.

2. Getting used to High School...feeling like an unsure girl with a gap in her teeth.

3. Listening to Smashing Pumpkins and Bob Marley.

4. Taking the city bus and metrolink everywhere around St. Louis.

5. Learning Muay Thai...if only my mother could have known it would become a life long practice instead of just a summer activity.

5 things on my to do list today:

1. Take the dog to the dog park and laugh at her goofyness.

2. Get my registry together for Bed Bath and Beyond.

3. Turn on 'Pandora.com' and rock out...

4. ...while cleaning the WHOLE house...dusting, mopping, and folding all the laundry...yeah the good stuff

5. Give a big hug and smooch to my future husband as he come in from outta town.

5 snacks I love:

1. String Cheese.

2. Granola Bars.

3. Salt and Vinegar chips.

4. Beer.

5. Brownies.

5 things I would do if I were a Millionare:

1. Pay off Johnny's student loans, my car, and my loans.

2. Pay off my parents loans...and pay back the retirement money they lost in the market crash.

3. Buy a beautiful chunk of property in Steamboat, CO for Johnny and I's retirement.

4. Travel.

5. Invest the rest.

5...err...3 places I have lived:

1. Granite City, IL.

2. Saint Louis, MO.

3. Denver, CO.

5 Jobs I have had:

1. Babysitter.

2. PetsMart cashier.

3. Lab tech.

4. Construction Worker.

5. Graduate Student.

Whelp, now that I've been severely dated as a wee one...

5 people I'll tag:

1. Pooflinger.

2. Carlo.

3. Epicanis.

4. Hermitage.

5. Mad Hatter.

Why advanced education?

2008-11-12T20:05:00.007-07:00

So I was thinking about why I decided to go through graduate school on my drive home tonight...

Is it that I absolutely love science?? Is it because I have dreams of becoming a great scientist and furthering the field? Or is it more that I yearn for a job that is impossible to be the best at? Would excelling at something else be too easy and thus too boring??

Ugh, I think its a bit of all of that. I love the challenge and discovery involved with science. But, with it comes my frustrating fears of not excelling. I am starting my fourth year of graduate school and know that I have so much left to learn before I will even know if I will do well in this field. For example, I still do not retain basic knowledge...like...what is the ~size of a Pseudomonas genome? 6MB apparently...I learned that today when I should have learned that during my first year in the lab. I also have a hard time asking questions and putting ideas together during a presentation. I don't know if I struggle with this aspect because of my lack of basic knowledge, my lack of confidence, or my shear inexperience with putting ideas together. And, I still fight with google and pubmed for information...I would love to be able to think up a question and then convert it to google terms instead of looking through multiple pages of google answers before I find one that comes even close. I am getting better at each of my short comings...but is it enough to make me a true fourth year?? I do have some skills...I think I usually ask the 'right' question; one that will actually answer the question at hand and is also not too far ahead of the current understanding (thus can be interpreted). I am ok at experimental design and have decent hands to execute them (even tho most experiments are inconclusive, lol.) And, I do have a true passion for information, thus, have a lot of motivation to work hard. Boy, being a student is hard work, eh? So much to learn and yet in no way does graduate school make me feel smart (not exactly what I would have thought, lol.)

So the question still remains: Will I ever excel in the realm of science...or will I continue to be mediocre? And does it even matter as long as I am happy?

Inconclusive.

2008-10-19T16:10:00.002-06:00

Hmmmm...imagine that?? (i crack myself up.)

Well as science always goes...an experiment that was suppose to be clear cut (due to months of preliminary data) was not.

So I didn't get a bad result to make me toss in the towel. I definitely saw a knock down of my phenotype...but it wasn't a total inhibition. HOWEVER, I have a theory about why (*giggles* I can't seem to let this hypothesis go) so I'm gunna do some more experiments this week.

I'll keep you updated.

I'm Nervous!!

2008-10-16T18:01:00.003-06:00

Oooooo...I'm nervous for tomorrow's results.

On one side, I am really excited for them. They will tell me whether i have been barking up the right tree for the last few years (its a beautiful hypothesis you know.)

However, I am really scared for them. They will tell me whether i have been barking up the wrong tree for the last few years (its a beautiful hypothesis you know.)

I have dropped this particular idea three times due to negative results...maybe more? But it fits so well that i keep letting it stew in the back of my brain until it pops out a new theory as to why the last time didn't work out. Well, I'm done tomorrow, if it doesn't work, then *pulls out a tissue* but if it does, then *cartwheels through the lab*.

It's a hard thing in science. You want to get excited for what tomorrow brings, its what makes science fun. But the heartache is hard to handle...where is the happy medium???

Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!! I'll let you know how it works out.

Uhhh...motivation...

2008-09-20T21:18:00.000-06:00

...is up to me??? You mean, no one really cares (besides my boss) how much i get done??

Hmmmm...

It seems to me that motivation is a fine skill, or art, in the way of the scientist. We all know that hypotheses fall through, experiments don't work, etc. And there has to be a driving force that keeps scientists motivated.

So what's mine? I just have to know....I have to figure out what the answer is. What are my bacteria seeing?? What proteins are involved?? Which sensory system is being used?? Could it be a totally novel system?? Could i be that lucky? I am also driven to perfect the art of asking the most valid scientific question, and answering that question in the most appropriate manner.

I feel like if i don't remind myself that i really do want to see what those plates have to tell me, then i don't really feel like going in, or designing the experiment, and def not like pouring those fifty plates.

So how do you do it?? Is there a better way?????

The Scientists...

2008-09-19T10:58:00.003-06:00

...by John Cleese.

Thank you respectful insolence for bringing this vid into my life.

The CURSED lab notebook

2008-08-26T13:01:00.000-06:00

This lesson is always painful...and I have to relearn it about every six months...ouch.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, look back in your lab notebook. Ok, sure, its good to figure out what you need to try next, or to jog your memory about how you did something in the past. But never spend more than 5 mins in there....get what you need and get out!! Run!! It is nothing but a world of pain to look back and remember that it took you 6 months to make that mutant that just gave you a negative result. Or that dead end you found and won't ever publish. *tears well up*

I suggest that you should protect yourself from these awful moments by looking at your final figures instead of looking at your lab notebook...that's WAY more satisfying. And if you absolutely have to look back...gander at your favorite figures first...just to remember that the ends do justify the means....eventually :P

I wanna give thanks to Viktor Poor who hilariously depicted these moments on his blog Stripped Science.

Awwwww Shucks!!

2008-08-22T11:05:00.007-06:00

MicrobiologistXX nominated me for TWO awards!! One is an Art Y Pico award that looks like it belongs in my great grandmothers home. The second is a bling'n Prism award for a "brilliant weblog"! Much thanks to her!!

So the rules...

1) Put the logo on your blog. check.

2)Add a link to the person who awarded it to you. check.

3)Nominate at least 7 other blogs....

My nominees for both of these awesome awards are:

The Angry Lab Rat

VWXYnot?

It's a...MicroWorld...After all

Carlo Artieri

Moselio Schaechter

Steven Salzberg

FemaleScienceProfessor

...check.

4)Add links to these blogs on your blog. check.

5)Leave a message for your nominee on their blog. check.

Sweet...that was fun...you guys should check out these blogs. They rock in my opinion.

It's just a TOOL!!

2008-08-11T14:30:00.005-06:00

A large part of being in graduate school is to completely immerse yourself in your work. Therefore, it can easily dictate your overall (non-lab-life) mood and happiness as well. If your experiments bum you out...then your just bummed. End of story.

Well, about a year and a half ago, I was in a grad school slump that I just couldn't get through. My hypothesis was falling through, my protocols were impossible to optimize, and it just seemed that I was making zero progress. I felt like a failed scientist, and it was affecting all aspects of my life. After weeks of near depression, causing many tears and occasional blow ups, my now fiance sat me down and said something that jarred me into reality. He said...

Graduate school is not the place or time that you are going to impact the world. You will not make your scientific career based off of what happens in these 5-6 years. In fact, you need to work a life-time to achieve what you are trying to accomplish here. Grad school is about learning...it is a stepping stone to help make you a scientist. Your instructors know that. They expect you to get what you can from them, and the institution, and then to GRADUATE and move on.

He's right. How many great scientists were actually remembered for their graduate work alone?? To make a dent in any scientific question, you need to consistently contribute good work to the field.

That reality check changed my view of graduate school progression. Instead of stressing myself out by asking: is this an important question to ask, should i be doing more, can i be more successful. I instead began saying: I'm glad i learned from that mistake, even tho the answer is negative at least I'm progressing, etc. Of course I still want to excel and learn to ask the right questions and do the best I can...I just don't want the stress to take over my life. I have the time to prove myself to the scientific community over the next few decades...it doesn't have to happen all up front. Whew, thank goodness.

where is your head????

2008-08-04T23:31:00.002-06:00

Uggg i walked into work this morning to see shameful blank gels, plates strewn about with zero colonies on them, week old cultures...and who can i blame for this mess?????

me.

I seemed to single-handedly mess up every experiment i did last week, and not by my typical bad troubleshooting skills :P. I instead seemed to make silly mistakes such as: running my gel backwards after it took me a week to get my sample, diluting out my cultures so that i got NO growth, and i even forgot about an entire experiment that i set up. Really? Really Rhea??? I was so frustrated with myself by friday that i just up and left. So what is my excuse?? My head wasn't in the right place...i was so busy thinking about my non-lab-life that i couldn't focus on the task at hand. I had never realized how much concentration it takes for me to function in the lab until last week. wow, lets not do that again...at least not for a while.

Vow to never become Jaded...

2008-07-25T14:30:00.000-06:00

...with a capitol J.

According to Webster: it means to be "made dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience or by surfeit"

In going though graduate school I feel like too many people graduate a bit on the jaded side. Worse yet, that being jaded is something to joke about AND is just a part of developing as a scientist. We all know that science works about 1% of the time....maybe...and its 100% alright to get bummed out and unmotivated during the lowest of the low's. It is also understandable to vent to others in order to keep plodding along. But I do NOT understand why it is socially accepted to be a Jaded student...to be completely negative about the research he/she does, to avoid showing up to journal clubs/seminars, or to never participate in scientific discussions. What does being burnt out do for you in becoming the best you can be?? How does it help your science, your field, or your coworkers??

I really only notice these attributes in young scientists, i.e. graduate students and post-docs. Does this mean that the Jaded ones eventually give-up, get use to it, change their prospectives, or do they hide that inner Jaded color as they progress?? Or maybe it's just that grad students/postdocs can't seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel until they get there??

Anywhichway, science is exciting and challenging...please don't let it beat you down. Here, I'll give ya a hug to keep those spirits up....*Hug*

Alternatives in Science...

2008-07-24T17:38:00.002-06:00

For those interested in learning about Alternatives in Science...there is a new blog up!! Posters are bringing out the big guns and teaching others how to network, write, apply, etc. I think you'll be pleased by the caliber of posts on this blog...it should develop into a wealth of information.

a bit on grad student blogging...

2008-07-24T17:29:00.002-06:00

...by John Hawks . He made me feel a bit more comfortable about being a student in this HUGE world of blogging. So I thought I would pass it along. He is also doing a series on blogging while working for tenure...so if that applies to you I would definitely suggest it!

Love it or leave it...

2008-07-18T15:28:00.004-06:00

So a post-doc, a grad student, and a PI decide to go out to lunch together. As they are walking through the park, heading back to the lab, the graduate student kicks a bright blue bottle which lights up and releases a genie. "I'll grant you each ONE wish for releasing me from that infernal cage." says the genie. The graduate student looks up with sleep-deprived and overworked eyes, "I wish I was back at home and in bed." *poof* the graduate student lays in his bed faaaast asleep and merrily dreaming. "What about you?" the genie points at the Post-doc. "Hmmmm..." she says while scratching her head, "I wish my husband and I were on a beautiful beach drinking beverages with little umbrellas in them while watching the sunset." *poof* there she was with a pink drink, looking at an brightly lit sky and holding her husbands hand. "And what about you sir, what do you wish??" the genie asked the PI. "I wish my graduate student and post-doc would get back in the lab and get to work. *poof*

Hahahaha, what a bummer. But really...grad school is a commitment, 100%. "if it were easy everyone would do it"...right?? And even though we loose sleep, miss out on quality time, and make millions of other sacrifices...there is no other place we would rather be...yes? or no? If no...do you really belong here? (or maybe you are just ready to graduate...tee hee hee.)