I Speak Dork...

My family has always kind of teased me because I am such a dork.  Whenever one of them spouts off a random question or wandering, I tend to spout off some scientific explanation.  I can't help it, I am a dork.  I was the science club president in high school and did science fair projects... enough said?

In 2007 Drs. Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies, and Martin Evans were the cowinners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for pioneering transgenic "knockout" mice technology.

If you know what transgenic mice are then you probably speak dork too.

This is Dr. Capecchi, co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine:

I was accepted into the University of Utah Summer Undergraduate Research Program (well not really, I applied for it but they put me into another program for minority students; basically the same thing).  I was in Córdoba working in the lab on a geometric morphometrics project (that's "dork" for I was studying shapes of flowers) when I checked my email and frantically read: 

Hi Malaina,

Since we didn’t hear from you (see below), we are assuming you’ve decided not to join us this summer.  We will be withdrawing your offer as of 3/16/09 if we don’t hear from you.

"Below" was my acceptance letter and a request that I formally accept their offer by March 9th... I received the email on March 13th!  I didn't get the acceptance email! I had been waiting and waiting for some kind of reply to my application but didn't receive any kind of email until this "final notice" email.  In absolute horror I wrote back something to the effect of "I didn't get the email, please still let me come!"

I skyped my family and was about ready to sick them on the U's butt with emails and phone calls so they wouldn't withdraw my offer (I was afraid my emails weren't getting there from Argentina)... luckily my contact at the U replied and said she got my email and that all was well, I was accepted into the program.

My next task was to send in some forms and list my TOP 5 faculty members I wanted to work with this summer...

Two years earlier while sitting in my Bio 240 molecular biology class, my teacher- Professor Bridgewater- was lecturing on stem cells and "knockout" mice.  During this time they announced Dr. Mario Capecchi as co-winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on knockout mice. Dr. Bridgewater worked with Dr. Capecchi while doing her graduate degree or post-doc- sometime in her career.  She told us what a great guy he was to work with and that if we ever got the chance to work with him we should...

I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah right, like that's ever gonna' happen."

Back to picking my TOP 5:

I'm in Argentina reading over faculty statements because I needed to choose five; I remember Dr. Bridgewater's statement about working with Dr. Capecchi and I put his name down as my number one choice, and then my other 4 choices.

Low and behold:

I'm on some dumpy hostel computer in El Calafate, Argentina checking my emails and I come to find out my research mentor for the Summer Undergraduate Research Program is...

drum roll please....

duh dada duh...

Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Mario Capecchi!

I didn't actually think I'd get in because I figured EVERYONE would put his name down and someone with more lab experience would work in his lab (if he even accepted undergraduate lab grunts).

So it's the night before I meet Dr. Capecchi and he introduces me to the lab in which I will work this summer, AND I'M NERVOUS AS HELL!

What if I go in there and make a complete idiot of myself???  He's probably a nice guy but he is also a Nobel Prize winner who studied under James Watson- Watson of Watson and Crick! The dudes that discovered the structure of DNA- even if you don't speak dork you've probably heard of them.

I gotta' go to bed.  Send some good Qi (chi) my way if you don't mind...