The Best Way to Learn is to F%$K S#&T Up.
Currently I am conducting a research project as part of my senior year curriculum to satisfy the graduation requirements for my pharmaceutical sciences program. As a student, I am allowed to choose a professor to work with based on their area of research. Some professors give the students lots of flexibility and independence on their projects while others are much more guided. Frankly, I like flexibility and dislike rigidity. Sometimes it’s unavoidable but I try to avoid it when I can, so naturally, I chose a professor that’s relaxed and easy-going.
My research relies almost exclusively on the operation of a UPLC/MS instrument. It’s pretty significant for a variety of reasons. Let’s start with the fact that the instrument itself cost half a million dollars. Secondly, it seems that no one in our department knows how to really operate the damn thing. My professor knows a few minor points but he seems to be learning about it as I am. In fact, it seems I have taught him most of what he knows about it! I just get to go off into my little corner of the lab and play with the instrument. No one’s breathing down my neck or questioning my actions because they don’t know anymore about it than I do. I’ll have to take advantage of that type of opportunity while I can. There’s no way in hell that when I go into industry they’ll be letting me just push buttons out of curiosity!
When I started this project I got an intro crash course by the company training rep. Since then I’ve pretty much just been pushing buttons to see what they do. Very interesting considering I’ve never operated an HPLC nor an MS. Let’s just say it’s been quite the learning experience. It seems the instrument has never been fully functional since I’ve started. Once I get one issue with it resolved, another one seems to arise. Most of the learning process, troubleshooting, critical thinking has come from the damn thing not functioning properly. It’s kind of fun to know that I know more about the instrument than anyone else in the lab. Not that I’m an expert (by far!) but it motivates me to learn more.
This semester has been merely trying to figure out the operation and method development part. Next semester I expect to have it fully functioning and use it to characterize and quantify proteins. That should be really fun. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that all goes well!
Junk Food-Addicted Rats
I think at this point it is fairly well known that overeating is an addiction behavior, much like that of a drug addiction. There are a few new findings presented at last week’s annual meeting for the Society of Neuroscience held in Chicago that I find quite intriguing, though. Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute coauthored a study involving rats and junk food. The study points out how deeply the high-fat, high-calorie diet affects the brain’s reward system.
Scientists attached electrodes to the rats’ brains which were stimulated by the rats running on exercise wheels. As you can imagine, rats on the unlimited, junk food diet ran a lot more than rats on the healthy, portioned diet. The junk food rats needed much more stimulation in order to be satisfied. What was most surprising to me was the fact that rats were willing to endure repeated pain in order to keep eating junk food. For another portion of the experiment they were shocked on the foot after consuming junk food. The rats “hooked” on junk food continued to eat it despite the fact that they expected a shock afterwards. Scientists reported that the rats continued to demonstrate this behavior for weeks after returning to their normal weight. It is speculated that the effects of such unhealthy diet may forever alter food perception for the individual.
Considering these findings, it is unfortunate that as Americans we seem to be doing too little, too late. There is a reason that prevention is considered the best cure. Healthy lifestyles and nutrition education needs to start at an early age. Sadly, we live in a society that makes it much more affordable and convenient to eat unhealthy, processed foods and that promotes sedentary lifestyles.
You can read the original article in its entirety here.
Anticipating 2010
I’ve been in proactivity overdrive lately. Graduation is soon approaching. Only one more semester and I’ll be on my own in more ways than one. 2010 certainly brings a lot of changes for me. I’ve been nickel and diming college for 10 years now although I’ll have 2 children, 2 Associates degrees and a Bachelors degree to show for it. I will be moving out on my own after 8 years of marriage as well. It’s kind of refreshing to have the opportunity to be fully responsible for myself. Needless to say, a lot is riding on my ability to be employed promptly after graduation.
Luckily, the pharmaceutical industry seems to be thriving despite the economic crisis. Perhaps many of you may believe it’s that way because it’s an exploitative industry but personally I also see a lot of good in it and am fortunate to have chosen it as a profession. Overall, I’m not concerned about being hired after graduation but rather how quickly I am hired. It is for these reasons that I have decided to put all my efforts into networking and learning the industry lingo. Unbelievably, the world of pharmaceutical professionals is a relatively small one.
I’m making some contacts through an international pharmaceutical professionals’ organization that I am a member of and president for our university’s student chapter. Being president is like having a part-time job but most definitely worth the extra effort. I’d like to say that I’m a generally ambitious person but next year will require me to pursue what I want even more aggressively. I just want to be able to say that I can be independent and successful for myself and for my children. It’s a bit unnerving but rather exciting all at once. We’ll see what lies ahead in 2010.
I Get the Award for Deadbeat, Slacker Blogger
As some of you may know, I’ve taken a hiatus from this whole blogging deal. I think what really did me in was losing an internship simply because I referred to a pharmaceutical company by name. I guess that just left me jaded. I felt that I was being punished for something I may *potentially* do. It was kind of like being in the “Minority Report”. Things just got really busy after that. Thankfully, I had a great internship and an awesome vacation to Colombia right before the semester started.
Being a student and single mother of two is exhausting work to say the least but you learn to cope. I am happy to say that my son is now in the 3rd grade and he has adjusted much better this year in school. We’re lucky that he has a really sweet and nurturing teacher who also has oodles of patience. More recently I enrolled him in tae kwon do. He is really enjoying it. My daughter started elementary school this year as well. It was then that I came to the realization that my kids are kind of grown. Sorry, but unlike most, that doesn’t make me sad at all! I’m not a big fan of babies. Or toddlers. Or anything small and annoying. Ha ha ha.
So now I’m back to full time school, taking calculus. It drives me nuts. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, though. I graduate in May so I’m working hard to be gainfully employed come the beginning of summer. Anyway, just a little update on what’s going on with me and why I fell off the face of the blogosphere. I suppose if I want to go to SciOnline ‘10 (doesn’t rhyme this year, darn!), I should actually do some blogging of some sort. I’ll have to squeeze it in where I can. I hope to find some interesting topics for the upcoming posts. I don’t want to bore you all with my mundane life! Until next time… Adios!
Pharma Internship: Week 2
I’m quickly approaching the end of my second week at an undisclosed pharmaceutical company (ugghhh… I hate being secretive). I work in the quality control laboratory of a solid oral dose plant. So far I’m rather enjoying the company in general. It’s a great work environment and people are very friendly. The employees seem generally happy… and why shouldn’t they? They have the most awesome cafeteria food ever prepared by a five star Austrian chef! ha ha ha. Actually, it is quite delectable and also rather affordable.
The QC lab is great for me so far since I really enjoy chemistry. I’m just wondering how long I could do the work before I get bored. It’s a bit repetitive. Who knows. I wish I had several more summers worth of internships to try out different departments. The one that sounds very interesting to me is R&D. The downside is that R&D usually gets laid off before the other departments. Also, quality control is more in demand and the skills can be transferred to many different companies. All I’m hoping for now is to make a great impression on my supervisors so they’ll think of me next year when I’m graduating and the economy is still sucking!
My other good news for the moment is that I am officially taking a vacation. And I say officially because the kids aren’t going with me! I love them to death but I need a little break before school is in full effect again. This will be my senior year, too. Anyway, I’m going to Colombia. I’m really excited. I can’t wait! I’m also bringing along a friend who’s never been. It will be about 5 days only but I’ll take what I can get… there’s only so long you can convince someone else to take your kids ;o)
Well, it looks like it’s bedtime for me. Long day tomorrow. Frankly, long day every day! It’s well worth it, though. Hopefully I’ll be able to update again relatively soon.
Reality Check: Censorship Sucks!
Hmmm… I always thought I was acting within the boundaries of good judgement when I posted about my life events. Apparently, I need to learn to be paranoid. While I don’t completely disclose my information such as name, university attended, city I live in, etc… I honestly don’t give a fuck about anonymity. The things that I speak of on my blog are not secretive and I would gladly tell people in real life. Well, I got a nice little reality check today.
I was informed that I was turned down for an internship because I mentioned a pharmaceutical company by name on my blog and it showed up when they did an RSS search. They felt that this was a potential liability for them. While I understand issues of confidentiality and defamation, I did not say anything other than the fact that I interviewed with them and was very excited about the prospect. Wow. I was really frustrated to learn that this simple action could keep me from getting a job. As you can imagine, I have begrudgingly gone back and edited out the names of any companies I have spoken of despite the fact that I would never speak negatively of a potentially or currently employing company in such a public forum. I feel that if I can’t tell the person or group how I feel about them, I probably shouldn’t be blogging about it, either. That’s just me, though, and I realize that bloggers may frequently be labeled as liabilities by companies and organizations that are afraid to have their images associated with their opinions.
This whole thing even made me consider taking down the blog altogether. I almost feel like if I have to be this damn paranoid, what’s the point. It kind of takes the fun out of it. Uggh. I guess I’ll keep it but now I know how hypersensitive companies are about this sort of stuff.
ADD… How poorly understood.
So I’m having the same issues with my son in school: he’s not staying in his seat, talks to much, jokes too much, won’t stay focused on his work, etc… but yet he scored in the 99.5th percentile on the academically and intellectually gifted tests across a variety of subjects. I really thought it was just his impulsivity that kept him from doing well but now I see it’s only a small piece of the puzzle.
Since I last posted about him, I’ve had umpteen million notes, phone calls, emails, and even a conference with some board which consisted of the vice principal, the teacher, the counselor, and the school psychologist. Try walking into that unprepared! No one ever told me I was going on trial… They said I need to get him assessed despite the fact that he is currently seeing a counselor on a weekly basis. They want an MD to properly diagnose him but I suspect it’s because they’re pushing for me to medicate him. I took him to a pediatrician and she just looked at some assessment given to me by the school and said she can prescribe him something. No questions asked. Geez… Honestly, this week I broke down and really questioned whether I was making the right choice by keeping him off medication. I am lucky to have support from a few great friends who are encouraging me not to give in. One in particular is very holistic in his approach to health. He advised that I look into diet changes and vitamin supplements specifically for ADD. This led me on an internet quest….
After some research, I ended up finding some really well-reviewed books on Amazon. One is about nutrition for ADD, another about discipline for ADD, and lastly, one for my son about ADD (geared towards children readers) because he often feels alienated because of his behavior. He really isn’t a bad kid. Anywhere besides school, he’s rather well behaved. As a matter of fact, my kids get complimented frequently regarding how quietly they sit during presentations, meetings, symphonies, etc… His problems at home really are normal, everyday kid issues. His problems at school are crushing our family, though. I’m only one parent and his school issues take up virtually all my time and energy.
Anyway, I find an excellent site regarding ADD (or what people presume to be ADD) and the different approaches to understanding and dealing with it. Those of you that are interested can read about it here. What I like most is that it admits that ADD is a general term and is a label given to those with or without neurological issues or giftedness. It’s a catch-all. I can’t wait to get the books I ordered and start the diet (which shouldn’t be too hard because we eat pretty healthy anyway). It’s an 18 day initial commitment. A small price to pay for peace of mind for all of us.
The other thing that I am convinced about now is that public school isn’t the right setting for his type. His first two years at a Montessori school were far better. Reading more about how their mind works and how they need to be stimulated, it totally makes sense. They aren’t required to sit at a desk all day, they do their school work on their own terms (they have a check list of tasks to complete and they determine when and what order as long as it’s before the end of the day), there is much more hands-on activity. Unfortunately, I cannot afford Montessori school right now but as soon as I can, it will be the first investment I make before he ends up hating school. I also see now that his defiance lately against his teacher is because he feels she has already labeled him a “brat”. I think she has. I feel for her because I realize it’s hard to deal with him sometimes but at the same time he needs all that much more effort so he doesn’t give up.
As you can see, I’ve had a lot preoccupying me lately. I’ll have to keep you posted on how the diet goes. I’m broke as hell but I’m going to see if I can get him into karate or something. We’ll see….
I’m Back!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve last posted. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life and not much time or energy to contribute to the blog. It was the end of the semester and I was dealing with finals and trying to get an internship. I admit also that my free time was spent with a boy. Ha ha. Well, we all have to have diverse hobbies, don’t we?
I’m glad to say that the semester is officially over! I’m done with finals and I received my grades. I did real well, especially considering the gazillion other responisibilities I have. I even secured an internship… finally! That had me stressed the hell out. I was having waking nightmares of having to work retail for the summer [cold shiver down back]. I will be working at a pharmaceutical company doing analytical chemistry in the QC dept. It sounds really interesting to me because I <3 chemistry.
Now, hopefully, I’ll have a little more free time on my hands. I’m going to give the blog the TLC it deserves. I’ll try to post on the regular again. Maybe I’ll get my 10 regular readers back. LOL!
TGIF
Yay! It’s finally Friday! After having to cancel all my plans from Wednesday on this week, including my interview with Talecris, due to my daughter’s pink eye and her dad’s unexpected military leave, I am soooo glad the weekend is here! It has really dragged. I’m going to be at the cherry blossom festival in DC. I can’t wait; it’s going to be such a fun weekend. The kids will get some much needed quality time with their dad and I get a much needed break from my responsibilities. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures…
A Taste of Colombia
I dug through some pictures of mine that I took when I visited Colombia in 2006. I found a few of the town where my grandmother lives. This little town is like stepping back in time. It was my favorite part of the trip. I thought I would share them with you. The first is of my grandmother’s house with all the balconies (the most photographed house in that region due to it’s spectacular architecture) and a brightly decorated, traditional, Colombian bus that we call a “chiva”.
Next is a picture of the view from my grandmother’s kitchen. Absolutely breathtaking, I must say! There were no windows on that wall in the house to indicate the view I was about to see. I opened a little door in the wall just above the sink and this is what I saw:
Finally, is a picture that I feel captures the essence of the people from this little town. Mind you this is rural Colombia and not one of the modern cities like Bogota or Medellin… As beautiful as it is, I would never want anyone to think that all of Colombia is some underdeveloped third world country. It is truly diverse in its terrain, its people, its architecture, and climate.
Some day (preferably not at 2 a.m. as it is now…) I will post pictures of a more modern city such as Medellin, my hometown. These pictures are from a town called Sonson and they just happen to be amongst my favorite memories of the trip, so unlike anything I experience here in the States.
