Jeez I've been neglecting this thing. Grad school is funny. August thru October are pretty laid back. But there are intense bursts of activity. Grant deadlines. Finals. Seminars. Funny thing how they're all happening right about now. I cannot WAIT until the 15th. When I will go on break for 3 weeks.
I just want a day where I don't have to eat my lunch in the BSB Audiotorium, with my salty soup from the School of Nursing perched on my 20lb Systems book. Maybe a day I can read for pleasure. And I'm FREAKING out about my presentation. Not so much the material, but rather the autonomic responses caused by seeing my stupid powerpoint slides on a giant screen and having to talk in front of a bunch of people. Ugh.
Anyways. I need to go read a ton of crap. Sorry for the vacation, blog no one reads :)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Work on the Pharm or Stay in School?
I'm not saying these are the only two options for a PhD fresh out of the lab, but in general you either go into industry or stay in academia.
They are certainly two very different paths. Either work as a post-doc for a few years, then become an assistant professor, then an associate, maybe even full tenure one day. All the while you are writing grants, teaching classes, and sitting on committees. Did I mention its quite hard to get NIH funding these days? About 10% of R01 grants submitted are funded.
Or go into industry. You'll make a lot more money........
Average Salaries for Life Scientists in the Pharmaceutical Industry
$65,042 with a BA only
(from $60,017 in 2003, an 8.45% increase)
$73,462 with a Master's
(from $70,733 in 2004, a 4.13% increase)
$111,268 with a PhD
(from $104,824 in 2003, a 10.93% increase)
$164,199 with an MD/PhD
(from $155,267 in 2003, a 6.18% increase)
But you're also more constricted on the research you can do. I've never worked there, but I imagine it to be more high pressure than a university setting. And do I really want to work for a company that advertises with THIS abomination of a well-loved song?
More about the subject in this article from The Scientist
They are certainly two very different paths. Either work as a post-doc for a few years, then become an assistant professor, then an associate, maybe even full tenure one day. All the while you are writing grants, teaching classes, and sitting on committees. Did I mention its quite hard to get NIH funding these days? About 10% of R01 grants submitted are funded.
Or go into industry. You'll make a lot more money........
Average Salaries for Life Scientists in the Pharmaceutical Industry
$65,042 with a BA only
(from $60,017 in 2003, an 8.45% increase)
$73,462 with a Master's
(from $70,733 in 2004, a 4.13% increase)
$111,268 with a PhD
(from $104,824 in 2003, a 10.93% increase)
$164,199 with an MD/PhD
(from $155,267 in 2003, a 6.18% increase)
But you're also more constricted on the research you can do. I've never worked there, but I imagine it to be more high pressure than a university setting. And do I really want to work for a company that advertises with THIS abomination of a well-loved song?
More about the subject in this article from The Scientist
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Good News
Hello hello. Its been a while, I know. Had to leave Texas for North Dakota when my uncle passed away suddenly, and then had a two day Neuroanatomy exam-a-ganza awaiting me when I returned!
Anyways, its good to be returning to normal life.....
AND I got some great news today. Back in August I applied for a predoctoral fellowship thru the NIH. Today I got the results. Firstly, I should just say that as a first time applicant relatively early in my PhD, I was simply hoping to get scored. They rate the applications from 1.0-5.0, with 1 being the best. Only those 3.0 and better are "scored". And I got a 1.5 !!! I am totally shocked and surprised. Because I thought I would be submitting at least a few more times.
Unfortunately, with the funding situation what it is, even a good score doesn't guarantee I'll get the money. We'll see what the percentile cutoff is for this round of grants....
It looks like my mentors R01 is going to be funded too. Those are the big grants that principal investigators submit to the NIH. With all the salary costs, and administration and institution costs, you basically end up asking the government for 2 million dollars for 5 years of work. Your tax dollars at work folks.....(Don't worry, my grant is only for my salary, tuition, and health insurance!)
Next week...off to the society for neuroscience conference in sunny (fiery?) san diego. I hope.
Anyways, its good to be returning to normal life.....
AND I got some great news today. Back in August I applied for a predoctoral fellowship thru the NIH. Today I got the results. Firstly, I should just say that as a first time applicant relatively early in my PhD, I was simply hoping to get scored. They rate the applications from 1.0-5.0, with 1 being the best. Only those 3.0 and better are "scored". And I got a 1.5 !!! I am totally shocked and surprised. Because I thought I would be submitting at least a few more times.
Unfortunately, with the funding situation what it is, even a good score doesn't guarantee I'll get the money. We'll see what the percentile cutoff is for this round of grants....
It looks like my mentors R01 is going to be funded too. Those are the big grants that principal investigators submit to the NIH. With all the salary costs, and administration and institution costs, you basically end up asking the government for 2 million dollars for 5 years of work. Your tax dollars at work folks.....(Don't worry, my grant is only for my salary, tuition, and health insurance!)
Next week...off to the society for neuroscience conference in sunny (fiery?) san diego. I hope.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Science Rules
Scientists may have found appendix’s purpose
From MSNBC.COM
Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut.
That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.
For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them.
And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food.
'A good safe house'
But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.
The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. The location of the appendix — just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac — helps support the theory, he said.
Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.
That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy.
In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said.
The appendix, which is about two to four inches long, may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system, he said.
Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC.
Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions.
The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense."
The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils."
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Society for Neuroscience Conference
The first week in November me and 25,000 neuroscientists will attend the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. 5 days of poster session fun, filled with keynote addresses and the like. I was looking at the list of social events and got a laugh when I saw this one.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007
I Hate Western Blots.
Well, its been over a week. I'm neglecting this blog thing. Probably because I haven't really done anything productive in the past 10 days. Except pack. I'm moving this weekend, and aside from filling boxes I've been a monumental slacker. Just BARELY managed to do the two experiments my mentor wanted me to finish while he was away. Redoing one of those experiments today. The worst part of what I do is how one tiny mistake can screw up a week long experiment, like putting the wrong comb in your gel for your Western.
About Westerns. Most anyone that took biochemistry can probably tell you what they are. An assay to determine amounts of proteins in cell lysates, or brain homogenates, or what have you. I felt they were pretty innocuous, standard things until I actually had to DO one. It involves making a two part gel, preparing samples that need to be collected and purified, running the proteins on a gel, transferring the proteins on a gel to a membrane, incubating with a primary, and secondary antibody, followed by a series of steps that "develops" the membrane so you can get a signal from it. It takes like two freaking days. I hate Westerns. I still am trying to produce a good one. This thing below is not mine, but it gives you an idea of what hours of work produce.
Speaking of which, my bands aren't moving even though the electricity has been running for 45 minutes. Looks like I get to do this again tomorrow. Yippee.
About Westerns. Most anyone that took biochemistry can probably tell you what they are. An assay to determine amounts of proteins in cell lysates, or brain homogenates, or what have you. I felt they were pretty innocuous, standard things until I actually had to DO one. It involves making a two part gel, preparing samples that need to be collected and purified, running the proteins on a gel, transferring the proteins on a gel to a membrane, incubating with a primary, and secondary antibody, followed by a series of steps that "develops" the membrane so you can get a signal from it. It takes like two freaking days. I hate Westerns. I still am trying to produce a good one. This thing below is not mine, but it gives you an idea of what hours of work produce.
Speaking of which, my bands aren't moving even though the electricity has been running for 45 minutes. Looks like I get to do this again tomorrow. Yippee.
Friday, September 14, 2007
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