1) Write up my annual PhD candidate progress report.
2) Convince a leading opiate addiction expert that I can construct a tractable thesis project centered on the effects of chronic opiate exposure on the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.
3) Convince a leading stem cell expert that I can construct a tractable thesis project centered on the effects of chronic opiate exposure on specific stem and progenitor cell compartments within the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.
4) Convince a leading chromatin biology and epigenetics expert (and potential Nobel laureate) that I that I can construct a tractable thesis project centered on the effects of chronic opiate exposure—as mediated by alterations in chromatin structure and epigenetic machinery—on specific stem and progenitor cell compartments within the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.
5) READ READ READ so that I can do 2, 3, and 4 without sounding like an idiot.
So I’m gonna be super responsible and have a Red Stripe at 2:40 in the morning.
This is me attempting to give a fuck about tubulin because I have to give a microtubule-themed presentation on Tuesday morning. I have something to talk about, but it’s not very exciting and oh my god I am so bored with this shit.
Currently, NIH-funded research must become available to the public after no more than 12 months following acceptance for publication. The Research Works Act would change that by essentially broadening the definition of “private-sector” research work to include work that is now considered open-access and placing such it behind publisher fee barriers.
In January, 2010, a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcyclekilled Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, who “taught neutron physics at Tehran University.” In November, 2010, two separate car bombs exploded within minutes of each other on the same day, one that killed nuclear scientist Majid Shahriar and wounded his wife, and the other which wounded another nuclear scientist, Fereidoun Abbasi, along with his wife. Then, in July of last year, Darioush Rezaei, 35, was shot dead and his wife was wounded by two gunmen firing from motorcycles outside of their daughter’s kindergarten; Rezaei “did his doctorate in neutron transport – which lies at the heart of nuclear chain reactions in reactors and bombs” and “was a member of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s official atomic energy commission.”
And now, yet another Iranian scientist has been killed. According to Iranian media, a 32-year-old university professor, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, died when an assailant riding on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car, which then detonated and killed him. According to The Washington Post‘s Thomas Erdbrink, a conservative news outlet in Iran reported that the young scientist “was believed to be involved in procuring materials for Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.”
A couple of things:
1) If I ever said that science was always a safe career choice, here is proof of the contrary.
First trip to the dentist in a while today. Need a lot of work. Luckily, my dental benefits for the year are untouched, and I can get some of pretty expensive work done before I lose my 2011 dental moneys. BUT will definitely have to do some of it out-of-pocket. I’m okay with that, but hopefully we can break it up so that I can maximize my yearly allowance. We shall see.
Apparently, I eat too many carbs and my diet is poor (it’s not). I don’t drink much soda, no juice, use minimal sugar in my coffee, eat very little dried fruit (except for raisins every now and then), and eat whole wheat everything.
That leaves cookies, which I will not give up. I will figure something out.
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I’m currently taking a break from writing a Cell-style minireview on the neural crest stem cell lineage for my stem cells class. It’s a vast topic, which is great and not-great at the same time. There’s no dearth of things to write about, but I think I may be trying to accomplish too much in what shouldn’t be more than a 3500-word article.
I’m about halfway done. It’s due tomorrow at 5ish. I feel good.
I’ve never really thought seriously about studying the biological bases of addiction and addictive behavior, but I really liked the approaches (and more generally the attitude) that this PI employs. Also! There’s a huge potential for me to use my existing behavior/psychology/neuroscience background to do something that dovetails pretty nicely with my interest in disproportionately affected populations.
I’m finding more and more that I can’t escape my translational biology heritage.
