Even though it's only Memorial Day Weekend, I feel this is the beginning of summer. We helped open the family pool yesterday. The days are already longer. Hello, sunrise at 5:40am and sunset not until 7:55pm. Over 14h of daylight. I've been thinking about my Arabidopsis plants and how they are on a 16h light 8h dark schedule, beginning around 7:30am and ending around 11:30pm. This explains my work schedule. I feel if Arabidopsis is working 16 hour days making molecules for me, I should be keeping busy too.
I'm getting ready to attend a conference on plant adaptations to low oxygen environments. My research has been using the model plant Arabidopsis, one of the first 3 organisms to have its genome sequenced. It will be interesting to show my work to the other attendees at this conference, who come from a wide cross-section of scientific disciplines with the goal of addressing a specific scientific problem and who work with a wider diversity of plants (some adapted to grow in low-oxygen environments and some of agricultural importance). My friend Takeshi Fukao (http://genomics.ucr.edu/news/news-details.php?id=41) told me that the conference attendees will be mainly ecologists (who study life and interactions between lifeforms within ecosystems) and agronomists (who develop plants for specific purposes including food, fuel, feed and fiber). As I'm writing this now, I am supposed to be working on a poster summarizing my research project... later, right?
I'll be flying into Tuscany for sightseeing June 14-20, then attending the conference in Volterra June 20-25, then traveling to the rolling plains of central Germany (Thuringia) to work at a research institute specializing in the study of plant-insect communication. I hope to rent or buy a bicycle over there and see the areas better that way. I'm looking forward to being situated in a world-leading research center while I continue my doctoral studies. The Saale river, which bends along the east side of Jena, has cut high limestone cliffs into the landscape and supports nearby wine growing regions.
How do I feel right now? Well I feel loved and supported. I've just had visits with my sister Karly for adventures, my mom for Mother's Day, and my friend Cheri for her birthday. My husband and doggies are here right now with me, so I can't complain. There's so much to do and so little time, yet I have all the time I need. I feel I could do so many more experiments, but that's where skill comes in. Knowing one's priorities is priceless.
"Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Next blog post, I swear, I will write about the integral membrane protein called human serotonin transporter (SERT) and the small molecules that bind to it.
I'm getting ready to attend a conference on plant adaptations to low oxygen environments. My research has been using the model plant Arabidopsis, one of the first 3 organisms to have its genome sequenced. It will be interesting to show my work to the other attendees at this conference, who come from a wide cross-section of scientific disciplines with the goal of addressing a specific scientific problem and who work with a wider diversity of plants (some adapted to grow in low-oxygen environments and some of agricultural importance). My friend Takeshi Fukao (http://genomics.ucr.edu/news/news-details.php?id=41) told me that the conference attendees will be mainly ecologists (who study life and interactions between lifeforms within ecosystems) and agronomists (who develop plants for specific purposes including food, fuel, feed and fiber). As I'm writing this now, I am supposed to be working on a poster summarizing my research project... later, right?
I'll be flying into Tuscany for sightseeing June 14-20, then attending the conference in Volterra June 20-25, then traveling to the rolling plains of central Germany (Thuringia) to work at a research institute specializing in the study of plant-insect communication. I hope to rent or buy a bicycle over there and see the areas better that way. I'm looking forward to being situated in a world-leading research center while I continue my doctoral studies. The Saale river, which bends along the east side of Jena, has cut high limestone cliffs into the landscape and supports nearby wine growing regions.
How do I feel right now? Well I feel loved and supported. I've just had visits with my sister Karly for adventures, my mom for Mother's Day, and my friend Cheri for her birthday. My husband and doggies are here right now with me, so I can't complain. There's so much to do and so little time, yet I have all the time I need. I feel I could do so many more experiments, but that's where skill comes in. Knowing one's priorities is priceless.
"Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Next blog post, I swear, I will write about the integral membrane protein called human serotonin transporter (SERT) and the small molecules that bind to it.
