Coffee, Cards, and a Goatee.
7.31.2006
Yeah, yeah...
The tomatoes have ripened, the cat has moved to Riverdale, Ed barely moves at all, and I'm posting again. Now you're all caught up on stuff from last time. No apologies for my lateness this time. I'm sick (physically and, some would argue, mentally), and I'm stressed, and I dont need that kind of pressure from you anonymous folks out there.
The reason I'm stressed, and probably the reason I'm sick, is because I'm working for this man: Raj Ratan. In his lab, located at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, I work with a wonderful woman named Ambreena on little tiny cells, attempting to extend their lifespan when undergoing oxidative stress by using drugs.
For those of you that are unhealthfully interested in biology, we work with prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors. Specifically, we work with DFO, which is an iron chelator, and DHB, which is a 2-oxogluterase inhibitor, both of which de-regulate prolyl hydroxylases, which in turn, upregulate HIF-1 alpha, starting off a series of genetic processes that provide a larger window of time before the cell goes through apoptosis. We use the homocysteaic acid model, as published by Raj, to induce oxidative stress. Currently, I'm attempting to find what the link is between the cell proliferation that inhibition of the prolyl hydroxylases causes, and the CREB cycle, which our lab accidentally found a correlation between.
For you normal people out there, here's what you need to know:
Stroke -> Drugs -> Yay!
Anyway, the work is really stressful. I get paid a measly salary, but I'm also considered a "summer student". So not only is the work I'm doing reviewed by world reknowned scientists and doctors, but I'm also responsible for studying and knowing all the crap I'm doing. Considerng I haven't taken a biology or chemistry class since high school, and that I've only been at it for 2 months...I think I'm doing a pretty damn good job. Hopefully, Raj agrees, and we'll find out on Thursday when I have to sit down with him and discuss just that.
So what you ask? What does it matter if Raj thinks I'm a dunce? So what if that's the first time anyone has written "dunce" since 1548? Well, it doesn't matter really. I mean, its just a summer job. Oh, except for one little detail:
Raj is the executive director of Cornell Medical School, and is interested in accepting me to their program based on my work in the lab.
Other than that, I feel very little pressure. I'm just peachy keen otherwise. I mean, I haven't slept in 3 weeks, I do nothing but work, and I've developed a lovely respiratory virus, but I've been very lucky otherwise.
Here's my one saving grace. Even if the whole thing falls through, even if the "sure-fire" recommendations I should have never come through, even if Raj fires me and makes sure I'm never accepted to med school anywhere, even if I accidentally burn the lab and all of Burke down, I still have this...
I feel and look damn cool in a lab coat.
Don't believe me? Follow the simple equation:
Me:
Plus this:
Equals this:
Heyyyy, sit on it.
The reason I'm stressed, and probably the reason I'm sick, is because I'm working for this man: Raj Ratan. In his lab, located at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, I work with a wonderful woman named Ambreena on little tiny cells, attempting to extend their lifespan when undergoing oxidative stress by using drugs.
For those of you that are unhealthfully interested in biology, we work with prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors. Specifically, we work with DFO, which is an iron chelator, and DHB, which is a 2-oxogluterase inhibitor, both of which de-regulate prolyl hydroxylases, which in turn, upregulate HIF-1 alpha, starting off a series of genetic processes that provide a larger window of time before the cell goes through apoptosis. We use the homocysteaic acid model, as published by Raj, to induce oxidative stress. Currently, I'm attempting to find what the link is between the cell proliferation that inhibition of the prolyl hydroxylases causes, and the CREB cycle, which our lab accidentally found a correlation between.
For you normal people out there, here's what you need to know:
Stroke -> Drugs -> Yay!
Anyway, the work is really stressful. I get paid a measly salary, but I'm also considered a "summer student". So not only is the work I'm doing reviewed by world reknowned scientists and doctors, but I'm also responsible for studying and knowing all the crap I'm doing. Considerng I haven't taken a biology or chemistry class since high school, and that I've only been at it for 2 months...I think I'm doing a pretty damn good job. Hopefully, Raj agrees, and we'll find out on Thursday when I have to sit down with him and discuss just that.
So what you ask? What does it matter if Raj thinks I'm a dunce? So what if that's the first time anyone has written "dunce" since 1548? Well, it doesn't matter really. I mean, its just a summer job. Oh, except for one little detail:
Raj is the executive director of Cornell Medical School, and is interested in accepting me to their program based on my work in the lab.
Other than that, I feel very little pressure. I'm just peachy keen otherwise. I mean, I haven't slept in 3 weeks, I do nothing but work, and I've developed a lovely respiratory virus, but I've been very lucky otherwise.
Here's my one saving grace. Even if the whole thing falls through, even if the "sure-fire" recommendations I should have never come through, even if Raj fires me and makes sure I'm never accepted to med school anywhere, even if I accidentally burn the lab and all of Burke down, I still have this...
I feel and look damn cool in a lab coat.
Don't believe me? Follow the simple equation:
Me:
Plus this:
Equals this:
Heyyyy, sit on it.
