Say Shava Shava!

I love Indian food!  My friend and I had been talking about going to get Indian food throughout the whole program (she had never tried it before and I of course told her she MUST). 

 We sent around an email to the rest of the program to see if anyone wanted to go.  I was pleasantly surprised that so many came along.  We had a really good time (though the food wasn't as good as India Garden on Center Street in Provo).  No one really knew what to order or how much of it to get... this worked out good for me because I knew exactly what I wanted (and I got it because everyone let me take charge).

For many of my friends (from Puerto Rico, China and other various places in the U.S.), this was their first experience with Indian food- I think they liked it.

Maritza y Martha- two of my roommates I've had a great time with this summer.

Below is the FAMOUS Bollywood Actor Sharukh Khan

Click on the link above to see a special Bollywood clip- Shava Shava.  It was from the first Bollywood movie I ever saw- the first time I saw it I didn't know what to think.  Bollywoods grow on you and are a LOT of fun becuase they make you want to get up and dance.  You can picture me bouncing around my dorm room to Shava Shava.  Sharukh and Bollywood bring back memories of highschool and living in Malaysia (where there were fabulous Indian people with great food, clothes, festivals and Bollywoods with Sharukh in them).  Eating Indian food also makes me feel nostalgic for Malaysia and Penang's Little India.

Basket Case and more Science Mumbo Jumbo

Do you know that Greenday song- Basket Case?

The first verse goes:

"Do you have the time
to listen to me whine?
About nothing and
everything all at once.
I am one of those
melodramatic fools.
neurotic to the bone
no doubt about it."

I swear this verse describes my life this week; sometimes it's hard to be female. At least I'm going to see Green Day next month!

Did I mention that I am working for Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi this summer?

Just kidding, I know it's all I can talk about and you are probably sick of hearing about it.

Anyway, Dr. Capecchi (because I'm too chicken to go up to him and say "Hey Mario, what's up?") had his Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) review last week. What happens is the PI (Principal Investigator) has 30 minutes to give a presentation/review of how their lab's work is going- they get a 10 second warning before the microphone shuts off. The PI presents in front of a review board of 25 other scientists who ultimately decide whether or not to continue funding the PI's lab.

I love listening in to people's conversations while I'm doing my thing in the lab... you hear so many interesting things. Kay (the lab manager) was talking to Matt (post-doc) about how Mario came to her at 5:00 the night before his review to ask her to change a PowerPoint slide for him if it wasn't too much trouble. He told her that he was planning on about a minute a slide (*at this time he had over 70 slides). Last thing Kay heard was that Mario had narrowed down the slides to about 35 or 40. Mario spent A LOT of time preparing- he even read the latest papers/publications of everyone on the review board (let me just tell you, scientific papers are NO easy reading- at least for me).

It was Kay (and pretty much everyone else's) opinion that after you get the Nobel Prize you can kind of "relax" when it comes to the HHMI review because they aren't going to cut funding (apparently HHMI gets certain bragging rights when one of their PI's gets the Nobel Prize). Mario didn't "relax" in his preparation- he went in knowing his stuff... I guess that's how you get to be a Nobel Laureate.

We found out later that day that his presentation went good and that the panel of 25 scientists questioned him for two and a half hours. Mario came back to Utah and we had lab meeting the next day- HHMI doesn't tell you right away if your funding is continued.

Friday afternoon we hear the news.... funding is continued for the next five years! (I really don't think anyone was shocked). Lesson to be learned: even Nobel Prize winners get nervous.

I come to find out that the "funding" is over 1,000,000 dollars a year! (imagine Dr. Evil saying one million dollars!).

We had happy hour yesterday in the lab to celebrate... I was sitting at my bench and I look over to see Dr. Capecchi wheeling a cart of beer into the cold room (there's a walk in fridge that is like 20 below). I had my BYU-student-Diet Coke.

Today I learned the hard way how lab work differs from any other job I can think of. In the blink of an eye, two days worth of work can go down the drain!

This is a gel electrophoresis chamber/power supply. For those of you not fluent in dork, allow me to explain:

You boil a powder with some buffer in a microwave and when it cools, it forms a gel- imagine you are making Jello- except the gel is a lot stiffer than Jello.

You put your DNA in the gel and then run an electrical current through the gel... it separates the DNA by size so you get this:

Can you see the different bands (is anyone still reading this? I'm rambling.)? By looking at the different bands and measuring their size you can figure a bunch of stuff out about your DNA.

I spent two days growing a bunch of yeast samples, extracting the DNA (which took forever), quantifying the DNA, calculating restriction digests, setting up the restriction digests (cutting the DNA with enzymes), and then running the gel. When I went to look at the gel, it slipped out of the damn tray and splattered all over the floor!!! We were going to do a Southern Blot (transfer the DNA from the gel onto a piece of paper to radio-label it to see how many copies of our gene were put in the yeast clones). A Southern Blot is like a two or three day process by itself! I felt like a big idiot but Matt was cool about it- he said it's happened to him and to everyone else. At least no one saw me drop the gel on the floor.

I'm going in early tomorrow to extract some more DNA and start the process all over again.

Something Fishy

So my last post was pretty angry.  What can I say? A pervert broke into my apartment, I was pissed.  We're doing better now but we're still creeped out.

On a much happier note...

Last Friday my dad and I went to Strawberry Reservoir...

We got two doubles...

...and a total of 17.

I broke in my new fishing pole real good.

Everyone around us was looking over trying to see what bait we were using; I can't describe in words how fun it is to be catching more fish than everyone else.  We were the people to hate... we would know because a week earlier we were the losers looking on while another boat was catching all the fish.

Some SOB Pervert Broke Into My Apartment...

I heard a loud scream at about 4:45 in the morning last Friday; at first I thought it was someone messing around so I rolled over to go back to sleep but then I heard my roommate Martha yell "Are you okay?  Are you alright? What happened?"

I got out of bed, took out my earplugs and pulled my face mask up on the top of my head and headed over to my other roommate to ask her if she was okay. She told me that a noise woke her up; her room was completely dark- she had a sheet over the window to block the light.  When she grabbed her phone and opened it, there was just enough light that she could see a man on his hands and knees going through her drawers.  He got up and groped her and that's when she screamed- he said "It's okay" and then ran out of the apartment.  Freaking SOB perv.

The police came over.  Then the detectives (dusting for prints below)

(I know, only a freak would be taking pictures with detectives, policemen and locksmiths over doing their thing.)

My other roommate thought she heard someone trying to get into her room (which was locked) around 2:00 or 2:30 AM.  She even called out "who's there?" - but brushed it off and went back to sleep because she thought it was me or whatever.  Basically we think the SOB pervert was in our apartment doing who knows what for 2 or 3 hours; he made off with some of my roommates underwear... freakin' sicko.  My room was unlocked; I don't know if he went in or anything... I'm hoping not (it was so messy he would've tripped on shoes or something... I hope he took one look and turned around.)

We moved apartments but all of us are still creeped out.  We don't know how he got in... did he have a key? They haven't found the pervert yet. We've had trouble sleeping, we check in closets, under beds and behind doors- we're paranoid.  We've boobie trapped the front entrance.  We don't feel safe and it sucks!  

Things could have been a whole lot worse and we are grateful to be safe and unharmed.  Be careful... you never think anything's going to happen to you but there are a bunch of creeps out there. 

Moab

The first week in the lab was great; I've already learned so much.  Dr. Capecchi was really nice- I'm working closely with one of hist postdoctoral fellows and a lab technician.

The other day we had a required seminar to attend for my research program.  One of the administrative workers for the summer research program asked me "are you turning mice into bats yet up there in Capecchi's lab?" and laughed.  I thought she was joking.

So far I have been learning a lot of techniques and pieces of things; today I got a general overview of two main projects we are working on. One of the large projects is focused on transferring an entire bat chromosome into a mouse stem cell with the hopes of creating a transgenic mouse that expresses the bat DNA- turning a mouse into a bat! The other day I got into the lab and Matt (the postdoc I work with) told me Mario needed to meet with him most of the day and wouldn't be around so I would need to get help from Joan (lab technician).  Apparently Mario had a meeting with Bill Gates in a few days to get some more grant money to fund the project and needed some presentation materials from Matt... I know, right?!! Too cool.

We went to Moab last weekend as part of this research program.  We had a lot of fun river rafting down the Colorado River.

I'm making some new friends...

The weather was perfect- not too hot and not too cloudy.

We hiked up to Delicate Arch; the wind was blowing so hard with a bunch of sand in it that it was probably as good as a microderm abrasion treatment.  Too bad you can't really see the arch in the picture; we were too busy fighting the wind to check and make sure we got a good shot.

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...

"You may carry a backpack but you are no 'backpacker'..."

I'm back in good old Provo, Utah.  I meant that too, Provo is my home.  It may not be the most diverse and I realize people get culture shock coming out to Utah County, but I love it just the same.  

After we got back from our backpacking trip throughout Argentina things were crazy and I didn't make time to blog about my adventures so here it goes now...

I should start of by admitting that I am NOT a real backpacker.  I proudly admit that I am a fake, a backpacker wannabe. 

1. I carried too many clothes because I refused to "make do" with two outfits.
2. I refused to camp.
3. I bought things everywhere I went... let's just say that real back-packers are a lot more frugal.
4. I tried eating really simply to save money (because eating out gets expensive)... cheap empanadas and sandwiches from kiosks.  It lasted ONE day before I said to hell with it
   and ate what and where I wanted.
5. I forked out 130 pesos for a private room.  It was towards the end of the trip after two weeks in hostels.  I walked into our 6-person, female-only, hot and humid, smelly, hostel room and there was some weird Israeli guy lying in bed with a girl in her undies. Wouldn't you have said "oh hell no!!!" and gotten your own room too?
6. I insisted on cama-suite for every bus trip we took (like taking first-class instead of coach when traveling by bus).
7. I whined about my ugly toes.  I desperately needed a pedicure.

Even though I am not a real backpacker, my backpacking trip was amazing just the same.

  

Stop One: San Carlos de Bariloche

We arrived after a 25 hour bus ride from Cordoba.  We decided to do laundry, pack, buy bus tickets, say goodbye to our Spanish teachers and book a flight the day we left for our big trip. We basically planned the trip the day we left (after having stayed out all night saying goodbye to friends from church), but don't worry, we made it to the bus station 10 minutes before the bus left.  I was neurotic and ready to strangle one of the bus conductors because he wouldn't let me take my back pack up with me- he made me check it under the bus.  I've decided last-minute doesn't work so great for me (yet here I am blogging while I should be doing my homework that I've just about put off until last-minute).

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous throughout Patagonia.  As we got about an hour away from Bariloche I started looking in my travel book for things we wanted to do, places we wanted to eat and also for a place to stay.

After checking into the hostel we took a tram to the top of a hill to get a scenic view of beautiful Bariloche and Nahuel Huapi Lake.

We woke up early the next day and set out horse-back riding.  I had so much fun... my horse was kind of a dud the guy leading the tour had to kick his butt into gear to get him going but it was fun all the same.

Later that day we took a small bus ride out to Hotel LLao-LLao-

I don't remember why the tour book recommended it but it was a neat trip that only took a few hours.  Someday when I'm rich I'm going to stay at hotel LLao-LLao instead of some rotten old hostel (okay hostels aren't that bad I'm just not a real backpacker, remember?).

The next day we took a really neat tour and saw some more scenery and lakes

behind me is Mount Tronador- a glacier

Up close view of the glacier

It was really amazing.  You can see where glacier has fallen and melted down in the water below.

We then walked up to see a waterfall... it was really lovely.

We had fun in Bariloche.

Stop Two: El Calafate- Perito Moreno Glacier

We took another 30 hour bus ride from Bariloche further south to a town called El Calafate.  It is the gateway to the Glaciers National Park.

We started the day by going out to see the famous Perito Moreno (expert Moreno- named after the geologist Moreno who was an expert I guess).  It is one of three glaciers that is not retreating... it still is moving forward with ice chunks fall off into the lake.  It was amazing, while we were there we heard and saw a bunch of ice chunks fall off and crash into the lake.

It was cold and windy... very windy.  You can see Amanda through the front window of the tour bus hiding out from the cold and being a wimp.

The glacier was absolutely incredible- I have never seen anything like it.

We took a ferry across the lake and strapped these "crampons" (I know, it sounds like tampons) onto our shoes.

Can you see the hooks?

We didn't actually strap them on, the tour guides did.

We went hiking on top of the glacier.  It was expensive but completely worth it!  It was scary at first because I was sure those silly little crampon things weren't going to hold me and I was going to go plummeting to my death, but they turned out to be pretty sturdy.

The consistency of the ice on top of the glacier reminded me of regular ice you'd buy at a gas station- it wasn't like solid ice, but gravely pieces about the size of regular ice cubes.

There were deep crevices where the glacier was melting... they were so incredibly blue and clear!  Absolutely amazing.

The water was so refreshing and clean tasting

When we got to the end of the hike the tour guides had a little "bar" set up.  Everyone had whiskey on the rocks (glacier rocks of course). 

Us little BYU chicks had ice water... it was fun all the same.

I absolutely loved Perito Moreno.  Ironically I planned my Argentina trip for winter semester so I could avoid cold and snow... I didn't know I'd be going so far south and that I would encounter extremely cold weather and humongous chunks of snow...

Tomorrow (or whenever I get around to blogging again) I will add more pictures from El Calafate and then talk about Iguazu Falls, and the ruins of San Ignacio.