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PHD Movie Trailer from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
Looking forward to seeing this ... something's got to vindicate my decision to continue the grad student life as a postdoc ....
Showing posts with label Graduate School Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graduate School Life. Show all posts
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Fiery Ice
Grad school is awesome because you get to meet so many talented people from so many different backgrounds. It turns out that my next door neighbor, who is a law student at Duke, is also a man of many other gifts. Not only does he have a healthy interest in philosophy, politics, and religion, but he's also a writer and talented musician.
Ryan was telling me last night that before too long he hopes to get an album out with his band, but in the meantime we're left with the good ole stand by ... YouTube! Check it out and let him know what you think of 'The oceans fiery ice'.
Ryan was telling me last night that before too long he hopes to get an album out with his band, but in the meantime we're left with the good ole stand by ... YouTube! Check it out and let him know what you think of 'The oceans fiery ice'.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Prince Alberts!
The first author came today. THE first author (even if it is listed just aplhabetically). The man whose name comes first on the book Molecular Biology of THE CELL (the holy grail for undergrad and grad biology students) came to visit Duke today! Bruce Alberts is every grad student's hero (and enemy for making such a big book). He's also now the editor in chief of science magazine and on a bajillion (his word) committees.
I went to a luncheon and spoke up about science education with him before his lecture this afternoon about how to better teach science in our country.
One of the most interesting points he made is that, after a focus group study with college educated adults, the participants saw little difference between knowledge revealed in the bible and knowledge revealed in a science textbook. Crazy, huh? These college educated people accepted the knowledge in science books as coming from an authority just like 'knowledge' from the bible comes from an authority. Except that nothing could be further from the truth.
Science is about observing the world around, asking questions, forming hypotheses to answer those questions, figuring out the predictions those answers would make, and testing whether those predictions come true. Religion and faith don't test hypotheses or make predictions (well, only the really loony ones make predictions, and then not based on evidence). The problem is that even college educated adults are not taught to fully appreciate what science is, how it works, or where knowledge really comes from - empirical reasoning and experimentation. Inquiry based learning is the only way knowledge is acquired - and it is solely dependent on evidence, something religion seems to scorn.
After he spoke at lunch I quickly jumped up and got him to sign my very own copy of the book - 4th edition.
Now when I read it I'll absorb the information so much better ... or just get the newer edition online and read about all the mistakes.
I went to a luncheon and spoke up about science education with him before his lecture this afternoon about how to better teach science in our country.
One of the most interesting points he made is that, after a focus group study with college educated adults, the participants saw little difference between knowledge revealed in the bible and knowledge revealed in a science textbook. Crazy, huh? These college educated people accepted the knowledge in science books as coming from an authority just like 'knowledge' from the bible comes from an authority. Except that nothing could be further from the truth.Science is about observing the world around, asking questions, forming hypotheses to answer those questions, figuring out the predictions those answers would make, and testing whether those predictions come true. Religion and faith don't test hypotheses or make predictions (well, only the really loony ones make predictions, and then not based on evidence). The problem is that even college educated adults are not taught to fully appreciate what science is, how it works, or where knowledge really comes from - empirical reasoning and experimentation. Inquiry based learning is the only way knowledge is acquired - and it is solely dependent on evidence, something religion seems to scorn.
After he spoke at lunch I quickly jumped up and got him to sign my very own copy of the book - 4th edition.
Now when I read it I'll absorb the information so much better ... or just get the newer edition online and read about all the mistakes.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Big Nuts
I thought that the people who read my blog (all two of you) might like to see an example of what it is that I study. My lab focuses on sex determination and gonad organogenesis - or rather, how the decision is made to become male or female, how the organism's cells remember this decision, and how the process plays out. Since humans become male or female depending on whether their gonad develops as a testis or an ovary, we study the particular cellular decisions that must be made for the gonad to commit to a testicular or ovarian fate.
Sometimes the signals get mixed and the decision isn't clear, and as a result you end up with a hermaphrodite, or intersex organism - having both male and female parts. Other times the right signal is masked or lost entirely such that the opposite decision is made and sex reversal occurs.
Inside the gonad (both testis and ovary) special cells, called germ cells, give rise to either sperm or oocytes which are responsible for generating the next generation. These cells represent the immortal line, and through them we can all be traced back to the very beginnings of cellular life on this planet. My focus is on these germ cells, and how they decide to behave accordingly depending on which kind of gonad they end up in.
Particularly I study a mouse that has a mutation that causes germ cells to do something considered very bad in humans - turn into cancer! Germ cells are so special, and powerful, that they are set aside at very early stages during development - so early that there is no gonad for them to live in yet. So they wait for the embryo to develop further and begin to migrate to the inside, up through the hidgut and finally to the site of the emerging gonadal tissue just in the nick of time.
In my mutant males, the germ cells are pretty sick before they get to the gonad and only a few make it. Those that make it to a testis end up transforming a few days later and turning into early cancer cells. By birth the mutant testis is already sick with these growing cells, forming an early tumor. Two weeks after birth the testes look monstrous - even the name for this kind of tumor, teratoma, actually comes from the Greek meaning 'monster'. Here's a picture of normal mouse testes and then a pair of testes from my mutants:
Overall my goal is to study germ cells and learn about how this gene affects their development. One of my sub-goals is to figure out how and why this particular mutation causes these kinds of tumors at this particular point during development.
Cool, huh?
Sometimes the signals get mixed and the decision isn't clear, and as a result you end up with a hermaphrodite, or intersex organism - having both male and female parts. Other times the right signal is masked or lost entirely such that the opposite decision is made and sex reversal occurs.
Inside the gonad (both testis and ovary) special cells, called germ cells, give rise to either sperm or oocytes which are responsible for generating the next generation. These cells represent the immortal line, and through them we can all be traced back to the very beginnings of cellular life on this planet. My focus is on these germ cells, and how they decide to behave accordingly depending on which kind of gonad they end up in.
Particularly I study a mouse that has a mutation that causes germ cells to do something considered very bad in humans - turn into cancer! Germ cells are so special, and powerful, that they are set aside at very early stages during development - so early that there is no gonad for them to live in yet. So they wait for the embryo to develop further and begin to migrate to the inside, up through the hidgut and finally to the site of the emerging gonadal tissue just in the nick of time.
In my mutant males, the germ cells are pretty sick before they get to the gonad and only a few make it. Those that make it to a testis end up transforming a few days later and turning into early cancer cells. By birth the mutant testis is already sick with these growing cells, forming an early tumor. Two weeks after birth the testes look monstrous - even the name for this kind of tumor, teratoma, actually comes from the Greek meaning 'monster'. Here's a picture of normal mouse testes and then a pair of testes from my mutants:
Overall my goal is to study germ cells and learn about how this gene affects their development. One of my sub-goals is to figure out how and why this particular mutation causes these kinds of tumors at this particular point during development.
Cool, huh?
Friday, January 9, 2009
It's Green!
It arrived. I got home from lab about 2:30 AM on Wednesday night and it was there, waiting for me on the kitchen table. My roommate saw that the mail man brought it and he left it on the downstairs table for me to open. A late christmas present ... my brand new GREEN laser pointer!
You see, in the basic science research world, presentations/lectures/seminars are given all the time - and you always hope to get a chance to present your very own data. There's an art to presenting your own data and some scientists need lots of help learning how to communicate their ideas in this open forum fashion. To compound the issue in graduate school, there exists a hierarchy of importance - indicated by the type of laser pointer used.
Presenting data on big screens can be trouble, and no one likes to be the joker having to jump up and down, using their very own finger to point at data on the slides. To go a step up from this, it's common to find hand held red laser pointers in use. These are common among grad students and some faculty. But the color is harsh, not aesthetically pleasing, and let's be honest - it's the easiest color to generate on the electromagnetic spectrum so it's cheap.
If you're really lucky, you can invest in the GREEN laser pointer - I've seen some very famous researchers, including nobel laureates, use a green laser pointer. They're so much more pleasing to the eye to follow on a screen. But they cost more money since it's a harder color to produce. Also, because of the higher energy it's a more dangerous laser and care must be taken not to point it at anyone's eye, or even combustible material!
Only the most elite can move up from here and purchase a BLUE laser pointer! These cost around $500 and are very dangerous. I've only ever seen one used, by a nobel laureate at an important international meeting. Definitely making a statement about status when you show up presenting data with a blue laser pointer.
For now, I'm just happy to have graduated to the next level. I can point it across the street to the treetops and make out the very bright dot when it's nighttime. I can even point it up at the stars and point out a specific star because the beam of green light is visible all the way up to the heavens!
Maybe one day I can go for the gold, I mean blue. :-)
You see, in the basic science research world, presentations/lectures/seminars are given all the time - and you always hope to get a chance to present your very own data. There's an art to presenting your own data and some scientists need lots of help learning how to communicate their ideas in this open forum fashion. To compound the issue in graduate school, there exists a hierarchy of importance - indicated by the type of laser pointer used.
Presenting data on big screens can be trouble, and no one likes to be the joker having to jump up and down, using their very own finger to point at data on the slides. To go a step up from this, it's common to find hand held red laser pointers in use. These are common among grad students and some faculty. But the color is harsh, not aesthetically pleasing, and let's be honest - it's the easiest color to generate on the electromagnetic spectrum so it's cheap.
If you're really lucky, you can invest in the GREEN laser pointer - I've seen some very famous researchers, including nobel laureates, use a green laser pointer. They're so much more pleasing to the eye to follow on a screen. But they cost more money since it's a harder color to produce. Also, because of the higher energy it's a more dangerous laser and care must be taken not to point it at anyone's eye, or even combustible material!
Only the most elite can move up from here and purchase a BLUE laser pointer! These cost around $500 and are very dangerous. I've only ever seen one used, by a nobel laureate at an important international meeting. Definitely making a statement about status when you show up presenting data with a blue laser pointer.
For now, I'm just happy to have graduated to the next level. I can point it across the street to the treetops and make out the very bright dot when it's nighttime. I can even point it up at the stars and point out a specific star because the beam of green light is visible all the way up to the heavens!
Maybe one day I can go for the gold, I mean blue. :-)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Woohoo! I'm in!
I'm so excited! I found out today that my paper was just accepted for publication in the journal Developmental Biology! And I'm first author! For a grad student this is a wonderful milestone to pass during the graduate career. Every department has an unofficial/official requirement that you must not ONLY have a thesis written and defended, but your research published. Our department's going rate is two first-author papers. A few revisions need to be made, but I've now got one down and one to go :-)
To celebrate, I'm offering to you one of the most kick-ass videos on youtube. It's of James the Amazing Randi, a very famous magician, debunking the claimed 'psychic' James Hydrick on primetime television! It's a butt-kicking worth watching; you begin to wonder how deluded or evil he is - perhaps both? It turns out, just pure evil - as he confessed to an investigative reporter after this very failed performance. Oh, and you get to see Bob Barker in his younger days - hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
To celebrate, I'm offering to you one of the most kick-ass videos on youtube. It's of James the Amazing Randi, a very famous magician, debunking the claimed 'psychic' James Hydrick on primetime television! It's a butt-kicking worth watching; you begin to wonder how deluded or evil he is - perhaps both? It turns out, just pure evil - as he confessed to an investigative reporter after this very failed performance. Oh, and you get to see Bob Barker in his younger days - hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Friday, August 15, 2008
SUBMIT
Oh, it's that time of year again. School is beginning, new students are arriving, and for me the overcommitment begins. As part of my overcommitment to life, learning, and science, I'm co-chair of the Graduate Student Symposium committee. I'm also appointing myself to the marketing/advertising subcommittee.
As such, I've been working with my good buddy, Josh Lacsina. His ideas and acting together with my cinematography and production/editing skills, we've managed to put together a cool video. It also commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of 'On the Origin of Species' and the upcoming 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. This year's keynote address will be made by Dr. Robert Hazen, researcher at the Carnegie Institute who contributes to our understanding of origins research and early inorganic life.
Now, without further hubbub, the video. Be sure to comment and/or rate. Enjoy!
As such, I've been working with my good buddy, Josh Lacsina. His ideas and acting together with my cinematography and production/editing skills, we've managed to put together a cool video. It also commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of 'On the Origin of Species' and the upcoming 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. This year's keynote address will be made by Dr. Robert Hazen, researcher at the Carnegie Institute who contributes to our understanding of origins research and early inorganic life.
Now, without further hubbub, the video. Be sure to comment and/or rate. Enjoy!
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