Week 12 in the US — You’re on your way to something new
Week 12. There have been three exams in total, and this week the results of the third one came out.
The results weren’t bad. No — should I say they were good? In Korea, I always used to say “not bad” about anything short of a perfect score or first place, but in the US, I want to try being a little more generous with myself.
I did really well on this exam! Good job, Suyeong. And for the last two Proteins exams, I’ll (probably) end up with an A. Gotta keep it up for the remaining Genes exams too.
Day 1 — Oct 19 (Mon) · You’re on your way to something new.
This week passed by without anything special. No, actually, I’m not even sure anymore what’s special and what isn’t.
At lunch there was an Immunology WIPS, so I went to the talk, and the tofu rice bowl they served was nice — salty, punchy Chinese food. I cracked open the fortune cookie that came with it, and here’s what it said:
“You’re on your wei to something new.”
Then I was catching up on lab meetings I’d fallen behind on, and around 3 p.m., was it? Ahmad suddenly said he had to go pick up human blood and asked if I could help.
Of course! It was for the revision of Danniel, a lab alumnus (now at Boston Children’s Hospital). Anyway, we drove 30 minutes to the blood center and picked up blood packed in a cone. These cones are a byproduct of blood donation, kind of like waste, but they’re highly concentrated in lymphocytes, which makes them compact and easy to use for experiments.
…
And then I helped Danniel with experiments until 9 p.m. To be precise, “watched the experiments” might be closer to the truth.
We got to the lab at 4, isolated lymphocytes with Ficoll, then isolated monocytes by negative selection with MACS.
The goal was to turn them into monocyte-derived macrophages with CSF treatment, then use CRISPR knock-in to evaluate the immunological effects of overexpressing a particular gene.
Anyway, I’ll sum it up by saying there was no step where you could stop until the cells were isolated alive.. When I came out afterward, the dark night air was cold.
Day 2 — Oct 20 (Tue) · How to Give a Good Talk
Today I had a one-on-one meeting with Professor Kevin Mark. He’s the professor who led our last Literature discussion, and every session he put together really sharp (?) introduction presentations, which helped a lot in getting the background knowledge to understand the papers.
I’d asked him for help preparing the Introduction for my Rotation talk.. The meeting was originally scheduled before the talk, but he wasn’t feeling well, so it got pushed to this week. My talk was already over last week, but it was still a good chance to say hello and ask him about how to structure a talk!
…
Here’s his advice, summed up in three points: 1. Remember who your audience is 2. Build it top-down 3. If it’s not something you’re going to demonstrate, cut it without hesitation If only I’d absorbed this a bit more and worked it into my talk..
It’s a shame, but there’ll be more chances to present, and I hope I’ll be a little better next time.
Day 3 — Oct 21 (Wed) · Wednesday buffet
Today was the day of Professor Steven J. Gray’s talk. “Ethical issues encountered with drug development for rare pediatric diseases” As someone very interested in rare diseases and drug development, I found it a fascinating topic.
He shared interesting stories from many angles, including where the drugs UTSW is actually developing stand right now, and the fights among the stakeholders around them.
And then, a delicious lunch! Every Wednesday there’s a buffet lunch on the 14th floor, the top of the building. At $14 it’s on the pricey side for lunch, but the food is good and you can get coffee too, so I go every now and then.
I had a delicious lunch with my Korean friends, and in the afternoon, while I was patting my full stomach and looking up papers, they needed human blood again, so I went to pick up a cone.
Oh, and about the experiment I’m running right now. It needs an instrument to precisely measure the number of cells in each well of a 96-well plate, but our lab ended up deciding to buy a higher-end instrument, so they removed the one we’d been using.
Which means that even if I run the experiment, I now have no instrument to read out the results.. Unbelievable. I kind of panicked, but I’m looking for other solutions. Of course, until I find one, I still can’t run the experiment either way.
Day 4 - Oct 22 (Thu) · Postdoc Candidate!
The Casanova Lab, where I’m rotating, has a lab in each of two countries, the US and France — in Dallas for the US, and in Paris for France.
So they’re called the Dallas branch and the Paris branch.
Before hiring a new postdoc, they always invite the candidate in person to give a talk, and this seems to be the final evaluation.
When the talk is in Paris, it’s 9 a.m. Dallas time, and I’m always in class then, so I could never attend, which was a shame — but this time a new candidate visit was scheduled in Dallas, and the candidate was Korean!
There are three Koreans, including me, rotating in this lab right now, so the possibility of yet another Korean postdoc coming was huge news.
…
I was a little worried at first, but the talk was really clean and well done, and above all, the Q&A was handled really well. Unless something big changes, I think they’ll probably join.
I should get close and learn lots and lots of experimental techniques!
There was also a separate seminar, Nature’s Typo, and this time our lab’s Japanese instructor, Koji, presented his project.
It was a talk on RNA lariats and their antiviral effect, and somehow it feels a bit different from my own interests.
He’s really smart and passionate, so I’d love to work on a project with him, but the project topic doesn’t quite move me, so I’m torn.
Anyway, I happily munched on the pizza they provided.
Day 5 - Oct 23 (Fri) · Experiments, Finally
Oh, I forgot to mention this before we start. This week and next, all classes are held on South campus. I’d only ever been on north campus until now, so this was the first time I took classes on south!
South campus is a bit more beautifully landscaped, but the familiar north is still more convenient.
Class let out a little early, so I went to a coffee shop nearby with friends and grabbed a cup. I think I’m starting to get tired of Kanu instant coffee. A friend packed me a whole bag of it, and now that I’ve almost finished it, I’m debating what to do for coffee next. Another friend apparently bought a coffee machine and grinds and brews his own..
I’m not confident I could brew coffee every morning, so I’m torn.
…
And then there was a whole electroporation commotion.
Here’s the background. There’s a postdoc, Vu Trans, who sits in the same row, and he asked if my schedule was free because he had an experiment worth showing me today, and since my experiments are on hold right now, of course I said yes!
So I got to follow along with a simple CRISPR-Cas9 knockout experiment.
The lab only has four hoods right now, and we’re waiting to move into a space that’s under renovation, so nothing is easy. On top of that, the hoods were packed with people because of Danniel’s revision experiments.
And then three people needed electroporation at the same time, (you give cells a strong electric shock to open holes in them and push the CRISPR-Cas9 complex inside) so a lot of people were crammed into a tight space.
It’s a basic technique, but a really powerful one, so I think it’ll come in handy if I learn it well.
Day 6 - Oct 24 (Sat) · Ed Sheeran Concert! @AT&T Stadium
Today was the day of the Ed Sheeran concert! Honestly, he was a pop singer I liked back in the “Shape of You” days, so I wasn’t hugely into him, but his voice is so good, and I was curious what an American concert would feel like, so I made plans along with my friends.
But first things first: food.
We had tacos for a slightly late lunch, and it was a lovely meal on an outdoor patio with a full view of the Eye Ball, Dallas’s most famous landmark!
And then, AT&T! A stadium I never thought I’d visit in my life, and the concert gave me an excuse to come.
First impression: huge, and super flashy.
When we booked, though, we’d split up into pairs of seats, and even then the stadium moved our seats, so we ended up watching from really far away.
Still, my friend and I sitting together had a great time at the show.
We’re beer people, so we had chicken tenders and fries with beer. But there was one problem.
We’d come thinking the show started at 6, but it turned out Ed Sheeran’s set started at 8, and from 6 it was an opening act by another musician..
Concert rookies that we were, we were stuck listening to the entire two-hour opening act, and the real concert started at 8!
…
This experience changed my standards for concerts forever. Thanks to big brother Ed Sheeran, who pulled off belting out songs for a full 3 hours without a single break, my ears were truly, truly spoiled.
And he hadn’t sung “Shape of You” by the very end, so I was starting to wonder if he wouldn’t, but he closed it out with that exact song — our big brother really knows what he’s doing.. The best.
Day 7 - Oct 25 (Sun) · Gotta Do What Needs Doing
Old man Ed Sheeran’s 5-hour! (…) concert completely drained me. Thanks to that, I woke up way later than usual..
I spent hours on my backlog of laundry, and even though I really, really didn’t want to go out, I somehow changed and forced myself to the Katy Trail, and I ran at a better pace than usual.
Then I went to REI to buy a Patagonia Synchilla, but they didn’t have it.. I had no choice but to order online based on sizing info from the internet, and they gave me a 15% off coupon for my first order — what a steal.
I had no energy left to cook dinner, so I picked up a burger and a shake from In-N-Out and went home. The burger always has to be switched to Animal Style onions, and the fries I had yesterday were so salty that I just couldn’t face fries today, so I only ordered a shake. Burger & vanilla shake — a combo that can’t fail.
I was tired from running laundry since the morning, but thanks to that, I’ll get to sleep like a log under freshly dried, fluffy blankets.
Week 12 in the US, my first time experiencing a concert.
With my experiments blocked, my weekdays were a bit more relaxed, but because I couldn’t pick up speed, the anxiety inside me seems to keep growing.
Next week, I have to find another way somehow. Let’s not forget what I’m here for!