Sickness is Fascinating

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:31:58 +0000Experimental BiologySfN14IllnessesAlternative CareersFundingAdult NeurogenesisSickness is FascinatingA curious patient's guide to illnesshttp://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)Blogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-3202970334422897126Fri, 14 Jan 2022 20:55:00 +00002022-01-14T14:55:14.987-06:00Acoustic Neuroma aka Vestibular SchwannomaFirst blog post in over five years! Do people even read blogs anymore? Other than when they maybe pop up in a Google search? If not, welcome fellow googlers!This disease-related post is a little more personal than my other illness/disease-related posts. In 2017, I had an incidental (happenstance) finding on an MRI that I had done due to recurring migraines and some peripheral neuropathy (numbnesshttp://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2022/01/acoustic-neuroma-aka-vestibular.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-8601854848571348778Thu, 23 Jun 2016 21:16:00 +00002016-06-23T16:16:12.175-05:00Keeping a Lab NotebookHere's an example lab notebook page I made for my undergrads. It's the general format I use for experiments and thought it might be handy for some of you too. http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/06/keeping-lab-notebook.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-2122500181050593025Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:11:00 +00002016-04-26T07:11:37.473-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio APS Program: Chronic intermittent hypoxia suppresses adult neurogenesis and disrupts synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus through a pro-oxidant state Figure 1: Sleep apnea occurs slightly more often in men  and causes substantial daytime sleepiness and can  impair cognitive function. (Source: geralt) Obstructive sleep apnea occurs in over 3 percent of people worldwide and is slightly more common in men. It occurs when the upper airway collapses during sleep, decreasing oxygen delivery to the brain, and causing disruptions in http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/04/expbio-aps-program-chronic-intermittent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-5733458308155096132Mon, 18 Apr 2016 16:19:00 +00002016-04-18T11:19:51.009-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Social defeat stress in males and females: Role of kappa opioid receptors   1: What vaping looks like for those  of you who haven't seen anyone doing it.  Though I'm sure you all have. (Source) E-cigarettes emerged as a new form of tobacco delivery after cigarette smoking was banned from public spaces. E-cigarettes and related deviceshttp://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-physiological-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-761134533774465858Wed, 06 Apr 2016 16:30:00 +00002016-04-06T11:33:32.512-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Development of Prophylactics Against Stress-induced Depression Figure 1: Depression can be caused by many  factors, including chronic stress. (Source) Major depression is caused by multiple factors. In other words, there is not one gene causing it but many genes associated with it. Some are influenced by environmental stimuli, such as chronic stress, and http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-development-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-4167588199878192923Tue, 05 Apr 2016 01:32:00 +00002016-04-04T20:33:57.068-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Mentoring Your Mentor: Key Skills for Effective Mentoring Relationships with Shared Responsibility Communication style inventory results for a Thinker (I swear this isn't mine) At some point, all trainees find themselves frustrated with aspects of their experience. For some, this frustration is due to feeling as if their mentor is not providing the help they expect to receive. Dr. Rick McGee’s session on Mentoring Your Mentor showed how important it is for trainees to communicate their http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-mentoring-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-9025495118607459017Sun, 31 Jan 2016 16:12:00 +00002016-01-31T10:14:44.612-06:00How to defer your student loans as a postdocThere are many reasons postdocs might want to defer their student loans. In the U.S., postdocs are generally paid by the NIH scale, which is higher than a graduate student stipend but isn't much under certain circumstances. For example, a high cost of living in Postdoc City, children or aging parents to take care of, or credit card debt, among others. The average student loan debt was $35,000 in http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-to-defer-your-student-loans-as.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-5877507066607644435Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:00:00 +00002016-01-31T10:20:34.107-06:00Why does this gym smell like ammonia? What is that smell? It’s that time again, the new year when people are frantically trying to keep their resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier. Gyms are flooded with people trying to work off their holiday overindulgences and the air is filled with the smell of… ammonia? What’s the deal here, why does sweat sometimes smell like highly concentrated pee? If this has not happened to you,http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2016/01/why-does-this-gym-smell-like-ammonia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-3495817867021794835Mon, 10 Aug 2015 17:03:00 +00002015-08-10T12:03:15.590-05:00Week 7: Postdoc updateWrote this last week then forgot to post it... busy week. Lab I submitted a fellowship application within 6 weeks of being here! It was intense and difficult to dive into the literature of a couple of new fields, synthesize that data, and propose aims to test my hypothesis... using some techniques unfamiliar to me. My PI was extremely helpful and we went through several rounds of revisions, http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/08/week-7-postdoc-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-1688534465052589364Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:37:00 +00002015-06-19T17:14:37.882-05:00Week 1: Thoughts on PostdocNew mentor My new PI is AWESOME. Ze* had goals for me immediately, discussed my project with me for 2 hrs one day this week, gave me a whole folder of PDFs to get me started learning about this mostly-out-of-my-area-of-expertise project, and provides awesome feedback to everyone in the lab. New colleagues One of the grad students referred to me as "the confocal expert" and I realized that yes, http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/06/week-1-thoughts-on-postdoc.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-687196263511047881Mon, 11 May 2015 15:45:00 +00002015-05-11T10:45:50.054-05:00#expbio ASPET Blogging: Late Wrap-upIt's been over a month since Experimental Biology and I haven't posted my wrap-up yet! Eek! But, to be fair, I have been a little busy becoming a Dr. and all. ;-) This was my third year blogging for ASPET and I enjoyed it even more than last year. It may have helped that I didn't present a poster this year so I could focus just on attending sessions I wanted to write about and, well, writing. http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/05/expbio-aspet-blogging-late-wrap-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-8850783877194384607Thu, 09 Apr 2015 19:12:00 +00002015-04-09T14:12:27.612-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: RGS6 protects the heart from ischemic injury Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease, is the leading cause of death in the United States. Ischemia is when blood flow to the heart is decreased or blocked because of atherosclerotic plaque build-up in blood vessels. When blood flow is blocked, cell death can occur and the damaged area is called an infarct. Dr. Boyd Rorabaugh, at Ohio Northern University, studies ischemic http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-rgs6-protects.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-7825791302805303542Tue, 07 Apr 2015 17:00:00 +00002015-04-07T13:21:56.073-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Modified dextromethorphan displays antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test Figure 1: Mmmm, cough syrup.  (Disclaimer: cough syrup is *not*  a treatment for depression.)  (Source: @aerial_m) Remember that thick purple cough syrup you took as a child? Maybe you still take it when you’re so sick you feel like you’re hacking up a lung. One ofhttp://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-modified.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-4405363371459389171Wed, 01 Apr 2015 13:45:00 +00002015-04-01T08:45:36.607-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Examining the consequences of pre-natal exposure to stress in the behavior of adult offspring Figure 1: Elevated plus maze,  a test for anxiety in rodents.  (Source: Bd008)  Schizophrenia affects 1 in 100 people globally and in the United States. The onset of symptoms is during late adolescence to mid-adulthood (16-30 yrs of age). There are several ideas regarding how brain http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/04/expbio-aspet-blogging-examining.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-3551070514498558045Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:11:00 +00002015-03-31T13:11:16.664-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: RGS4 differentially regulates antidepressant and locomotor behaviors in vivo Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States, affecting about 7 percent of adults per year. There is a 16% lifetime prevalence for depression and 1 in 5 people in the US will experience a depressive episode in their lifetime. Many people are under the impression that the way antidepressants work is unknown but that’s not exactly true. Most currently used http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/expbio-aspet-blogging-rgs4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-7522650962132538787Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:46:00 +00002016-07-11T13:46:36.886-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: Stabilizing a productive but structurally unstable research system Figure 1: Alarm - boom - bust cycles  destabilize the scientific research system  in the US. The scientific system in the United States is highly productive -- predominant globally -- and yet is showing many signs of instability. Flat funding levels, declining success rates for http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/expbio-aspet-blogging-stabilizing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-5774575138597984766Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:13:00 +00002015-03-30T08:15:50.287-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio 2015 ASPET Blogging: Who owns the data I generated and how do I transition from grad school/ postdoctoral scholar to independent scientist? The lab notebook: you can't take it with you. The path to becoming an independent scientist is different for everyone but the training steps are similar. Graduate students pursue ideas originally proposed by their advisor, likely in a grant application. Learning and perfecting techniques takes time and many scribbled notes (hopefully) in a lab notebook. After reading a million papers and http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/expbio-2015-aspet-blogging-who-owns.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-4053202908337769523Sun, 29 Mar 2015 20:25:00 +00002015-03-31T11:21:16.822-05:00Experimental Biology#expbio ASPET Blogging: ASPET Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony Dr. David Lehr (Source: ASPET) It's awkward to admit it but the only other time I have attended a business meeting at Experimental Biology was when I was a fellowship awardee. I was an undergraduate and the meeting seemed so boring. This year, I was fascinated! So *that's* where all the money comes from and goes through a society. We get to vote on bylaw changes? Neat! Wow, the award http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/expbio-aspet-blogging-aspet-business.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-940446178883659405Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:05:00 +00002015-03-29T14:53:34.529-05:00Experimental BiologyASPET blogging at Experimental Biology 2015 Boston Convention and Exhibition Center at night  (Source: Groupe Canam) Hello, readers! I'm an official blogger again this year for the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) at the Experimental Biology conference next week. It starts next Saturday, March 28 and runs throughout Wednesday, April 1 (no joke). I'll be there from Saturday http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/aspet-blogging-at-experimental-biology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-1481229087991430614Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:09:00 +00002015-03-20T10:41:53.990-05:00Dissertating TipsThis is a very long post. I hope it will be helpful to people writing their theses or dissertations. It's not the first blog post* on the subject but I found those helpful so I hope this helps you. PIs, you can pass this on to your trainees if you're so inclined. This is US-centric. Feel free to add comments if you're outside the US where they do things very different. *There are more of these. http://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2015/03/dissertating-tips.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-393828925796735565.post-865363515461648767Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:38:00 +00002014-12-22T10:43:21.132-06:00SfN14SfN14 blogging: Impact of age and chronic ketamine treatment on parvalbumin interneuron number Schizophrenia is a difficult disorder to study because it is so complex. There are many symptoms and patients show different combinations of them. To study the neurobiological aspects of schizophrenia, researchers use animals, including rodents like rats and mice. Because of its complexity, it is impossible to recreate the disorder in an animal but there are ways to mimic certain aspects. One ofhttp://sicknessisfascinating.blogspot.com/2014/12/sfn14-blogging-impact-of-age-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Katie Collette)3