Can't focus

Blaahhh. A quick rant: I am having massive issues focusing on my work because I am waiting on a couple researchers to get back to me about working in their labs this summer. One researcher at the NIH who was interested in me forwarded my information to a collaborator, and the collaborator hasn't gotten back to me yet. It's been nearly a week. I even sent him a politely prodding email yesterday. No response. Another researcher at Stanford who is (thankfully) good at prompt replies, is currently trying to get some biotech companies to fund me for the summer. Thus, I have to wait on a response from these biotech companies. I really need some financial support in order to do research at Stanford. Palo Alto is not a cheap place to live, unfortunately.

Another smart-alecky reply

Okay, I admit that I love being smart-alecky, and remembering my smart-alecky comments. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. Sorry! A few weeks ago, I was in a conversation about a recent, well-publicized scientific breakthrough in figuring out how to make cells stop aging (i.e. getting one step closer to making "immortal cells").

I had quipped, "So, what? Nature already figured out immortality. It's called cancer."

Though, in retrospect, I think the more appropriate quip should have been about lobsters. Some researchers argue that if lobsters weren't eaten by predators (including humans) or didn't succumb to infectious disease, they'd live forever by the same mechanism that those scientists used on mice.

Immaturity never gets old

One time, I was studying with a friend and this precious exchange occurred:

Chris: Relativity can suck my dick.
Me: Are you sure it's sucking your dick... or are you just moving in and out of its mouth?

I'm normally not this clever, I swear.

Part II project

Project allocations came out last week, and I got my second choice—Peter McNaughton's lab! Put simply, my project will involve transfecting a gene for a particular pain-modulating ion channel into mouse knockouts of the same gene. This is to make sure that the ion channel does what we think it does, which means restoring pain-modulation to the nerve cells.

Not a bad project, I must say. Now that I've met with the PI, I'm actually quite glad that I got this project over my first choice—because of all the cool things I will learn how to do! This includes:

• Dissecting dorsal root ganglia out of mouse spinal cords
• Culturing neurons
• Transfecting DNA into neurons
• Using confocal microscopy to image the neurons
• (If time permits) patch clamping neurons and recording their activity

I asked for a wet lab, I got a damn wet lab all right. When one of the post-docs took me on a tour around the lab, he showed me the old electrophysiology rig that Alan Hodgkin used! Craaaazy. I must admit that I feel a bit anxious though. Based on my conversation with Dr. McNaughton, it seems he is holding me to high intellectual and technical standards, which makes me worry that he might think me too dull later on.

...I hope I can meet his standards?

A passing thought

During a talk given by a neuroscience researcher this afternoon (with tea and cakes, of course), a thought passed through my mind: Here at Cambridge, I feel like I'm at a Society for Neuroscience conference— every single day.

All neuro, all the time. It's great.

I wish essays weren't such a pain to write, though.

Projects!

This is going to be a boring update, but I just want to jot down a few things for my own satisfaction.

I've submitted my choices for the research project I wish to work on during Lent Term. I didn't end up arranging my own project because the projects they offered on the list were quite good, and I am just so damn busy. Here are the projects I have chosen, in order of preference:

1. Matthias Landgraf - Title: Cellular interactions and synapse development in a locomotor network
2. Peter McNaughton - Title unknown (probably a topic on TRPA1 channels and/or pain)
3. Amy L. Milton, Barry J. Everitt -  Title: What is the role of dopamine in CS-fear memory reconsolidation?
3. Zara Bergstrom - Title: EEG correlates of strategic processes in episodic memory retrieval

Landgraf's project is a strong first choice for me, since I really want to work in a wet lab that isn't just cell cultures. He does experiments on Drosophila—yes, I know fruit flies are not the most exciting or cuddly animal model—but it's with optogenetics! For those of you who don't know what that means, it basically means: shine a light on the animal, activate specific nerve cells, and watch the animal freeze/walk in circles/walk normally/spasm/etc. So damn cool. Optogenetics is a relatively new technique, so loads of new experiments are just waiting to be thought of! Dr. Landgraf seems like a pretty cool guy and his lab cohorts are great too.

Plus, his lab is across the street from Pembroke College. That means if I need to do any late-night or early-morning work, I don't need to make a 10-minute commute. I can just roll out of bed.

92 and still kicking

Woooaaahhh. I just found out that Andrew Huxley (of the Hodgkin-Huxley model) is:

1. Still alive
2. Teaching at Cambridge, somewhere

I don't think I have any lectures taught by Huxley, but I will be sure to keep an eye out for any special seminars or talks that feature him.

List of potential researchers

The Part II Neuroscience curriculum at Cambridge requires me to spend Lent Term working in a research lab—a requirement to which I am very happy to oblige. The University posts a list of projects to choose from during Michaelmas Term, but if I do some extra legwork, I can arrange my own project or pick another lab that's not on the list.

I've spent two summers and two semesters seeing a project from start to finish in a fundamental research lab at Brown, and as a result, I have had rigorous training in the scientific process. However, I have also discovered that my interests lie much closer to translational "bench-to-bedside" research than to purely fundamental research. My goal is to spend Lent Term working on a translational (possibly clinical) project.

I'm not really sure how receptive Cambridge clinical researchers are to undergraduate students, but I'm going to compile a list of the ones I'm interested in working with anyways, so I know who to pester come October. I will amend the list as I find more neuroscience research labs.

I'll list the researchers after the cut.