Week 4

This week was very different from the weeks prior.

First, we presented an article by Dr. Salveson et al that discusses the activation of the apical caspases. We were able to split the presentation between the 6 of us. I think it went really well. A few people asked questions, and more were baffled that we found some problems with the science (more so the presentation of) in the paper. Afterward, a couple of the Bridge program organizers commended us on a job well done.

Secondly, we attended a retreat/ symposium on Thursday. We saw many presentations by grad students and post-docs. I found it a bit hard to follow at time since they used advanced terminology. Overall, I thought it was an in depth look at the lab experience of PhD/post-doc. During lunch, a couple of us met Dr. Ze'ev and Bill. With Dieter (Dr. Wolf wants us to address him as Dieter), they discussed the perils and problems of acquiring funding and maintaining a lab. The sandwiches served at lunch had interesting combinations of flavors; roast beef with a weird horseradish and turkey with a cranberry jelly.

This was our first full week with Dieter in lab. He helped us perfect our PCR technique and troubleshoot it. On Friday, we ran a gel to examine our PCR from Wednesday, and IT WORKED! This next wekk will be interesting since both Dieter and Judith will be out of lab. We will be running western blots and PCRs to look for different things.

Lastly, I went exploring on Saturday. I grew weary of hanging out in my room, so I walked around the village east. There are some cool terraces on the 12th floor ( or on top of one of the ecoflats building) where you can relax. I spent a couple hours reading my book. On Saturday, I also adventured to Serra Mesa where I got a haircut at one of the oldest barbershops in the area.

This is all for now. I will check in again soon!