More on research, and upcoming stuff...
Thank you everyone for your encouragement! Haha that was just an example of how messed up experiments can foul up mood, especially when under stress... Things have gotten better - actually the blots all worked excellently well! I have been really happy for the past couple of days and now what I have to do is to get the in vivo and in vitro time point data done, wait for results from the transgenic mice, and I would be able to start writing up.There are two ways now which the paper can be structured:
1) Reporting expression only
2) Report expression + first couple of studies regarding function.
If we were to go by strategy 1, the paper would be good for places like Journal of Urology; not very good journals but well we get to publish it first. If we were to do it the second way, it will take a little longer but it can go into a better journal, not Developmental Biology standard though - still have to think about that.
Problem is, we know that THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE DOING A SIMILAR THING WE ARE DOING. It is a race now - which would be lame if we lose it.
The BMP4 story is neat - we might include it, but I guess the main thing should still be: what on earth is the PTEN doing there - as it doesn't seem to be playing its regulatory function through pAkt, and that excludes the whole downstream pathway. We will find out.
Haha my whole life is revolving around these stuff now, to an extent that I do not feel like doing homework and studying for exams at all (which explains why I have been putting off studying all the time until the very last minute; honestly, I don't care already, if I get all A-es or B+es for this semester, so be it - will not kill me completely :P). Anyway, I am going to take a week's break from 13 March to 22 March, in which the first 7 days will be spent on HCF's urban plunge (community service project - I will talk about it when it is done, together with the whole idea of urban ministries and Christian community development), and the last three days in Madison WI (and the amazing thing is that Gerald is also going to be there - completely by coincidence). Then Kenneth will be coming over in April (awesomeness - I am hugely thankful for that! He is choosing to fly over the Atlantic to come see us for his week-long Easter break!), I am graduating at the end of May, and going home at the end of June.
I will start the application process for Duke-NUS and the graduate schools pretty soon too - I have gotten my MCAT score, and I probably will take my GRE some time soon as well. All these will start when Spring break is over!
Labels: Life, Studies and Career
