Monday, April 29, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Authorship.....
Let's face facts: my master's thesis data wasn't all that exciting. In the end we didn't write it up for publication and that was alright with me. In my mind there wasn't a coherent story to be told there.
I'm happy to say that things are already different, regarding publications, as I'm one year into my PhD program. At the end of last year a colleague, Alana, and I ran an extended experiment that finished the day after Christmas. Of course, right? We love science and repeated testing! :)
Our results were very exciting and Alana, our advisor, Bart, and I spent the last couple months sending drafts back and forth to get it ready for publication. After being rejected from Nature and Science (yes, we were aiming high but if you never try then you won't ever be published in such prestigious scientific journals). A tad disheartened we decided to submit our manuscript to Molecular Psychiatry which still has a decent impact factor.
A couple mornings ago Tim and I were just rolling out of bed when I saw that my phone's 'notification' light was flashing blue. Absentmindedly, I picked it up to see that I had a new email. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening as I read the good news. Our manuscript was going to published!! I was going to be an author, officially, for the first time!! As reality sunk in I shrieked with surprise and this sudden exclamation scared Tim half to death. I apologized (I really didn't mean to scare him) and within a few minutes his heart rate returned to normal. :)
Soon you'll be able to read "A genetic deletion in the serotonin transporter greatly enhances the reinforcing properties of MDMA in rats" with yours truly as second author. The best part about this is that this article will just be the beginning. Hello, authorship. There were times I never thought I'd see the day. And here it is. :)
I'm happy to say that things are already different, regarding publications, as I'm one year into my PhD program. At the end of last year a colleague, Alana, and I ran an extended experiment that finished the day after Christmas. Of course, right? We love science and repeated testing! :)
Our results were very exciting and Alana, our advisor, Bart, and I spent the last couple months sending drafts back and forth to get it ready for publication. After being rejected from Nature and Science (yes, we were aiming high but if you never try then you won't ever be published in such prestigious scientific journals). A tad disheartened we decided to submit our manuscript to Molecular Psychiatry which still has a decent impact factor.
A couple mornings ago Tim and I were just rolling out of bed when I saw that my phone's 'notification' light was flashing blue. Absentmindedly, I picked it up to see that I had a new email. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening as I read the good news. Our manuscript was going to published!! I was going to be an author, officially, for the first time!! As reality sunk in I shrieked with surprise and this sudden exclamation scared Tim half to death. I apologized (I really didn't mean to scare him) and within a few minutes his heart rate returned to normal. :)
Soon you'll be able to read "A genetic deletion in the serotonin transporter greatly enhances the reinforcing properties of MDMA in rats" with yours truly as second author. The best part about this is that this article will just be the beginning. Hello, authorship. There were times I never thought I'd see the day. And here it is. :)
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Netball.....
Last week I was at the gym, about to head home, when over the intercom a voice said, "Attention members, we have one free netball ticket to see the Wellington Pulse play the New South Wales (Aussie) Swifts. The first person to reception can have the ticket!". Tim and I had been talking about taking in a netball game because it's such a different sport from anything we know. With that in mind I thought, "I should run out there and snatch the ticket". However, as happens so often, I wasted some time over-thinking my decision. Then I shook myself from my thought process and, barefoot, I turned the corner and headed for reception figuring that someone else had taken the ticket. One of the employees spied me as I spun out of the changing room entrance and asked, "Are you alright?". I must've looked crazed or something. I asked if the ticket was still available to which she beamed and said "Yeah! You can have it!!".
On the way home I called Tim to tell him that we had half our way paid to the game! What are the odds? So we set out to take in a sport totally new to us. Predominantly, a women's sport netball was developed in England and is a variation on basketball. Seven players from each team are on the court at all times but depending on a player's position she can only travel to certain portions of the arena that is separated into thirds. At each end of the court is a hoop but here is where you'd immediately notice a difference between netball and basketball. There is no backboard, it's just the hoop and net. With no backboard players take a different approach to shooting the ball. Instead of a basketball player who shoots up and directly in front of him/herself a netball player holds the ball above and slightly behind her head to shoot while protecting the ball from being intercepted by the other team. Another striking difference is that when a player has the ball she cannot take a step in any direction let alone dribble the ball. While the other players are running around to catch passes the player with the ball has to stay put until she has relinquished the ball to another player. In an effort to not err and accidentally take a step we noticed that the players would run and then jump into a stop so their feet would stop moving.
The game was fast paced and, much to my surprise, very entertaining. I wanted to see a game out of curiosity but had low expectations because I assumed it would be similar to basketball and I'm not a fan whatsoever. Happy to be mistaken we thoroughly enjoyed the game along with a packed house - the Wellington Pulse definitely has a following that can make a lot of noise!
On the way home I called Tim to tell him that we had half our way paid to the game! What are the odds? So we set out to take in a sport totally new to us. Predominantly, a women's sport netball was developed in England and is a variation on basketball. Seven players from each team are on the court at all times but depending on a player's position she can only travel to certain portions of the arena that is separated into thirds. At each end of the court is a hoop but here is where you'd immediately notice a difference between netball and basketball. There is no backboard, it's just the hoop and net. With no backboard players take a different approach to shooting the ball. Instead of a basketball player who shoots up and directly in front of him/herself a netball player holds the ball above and slightly behind her head to shoot while protecting the ball from being intercepted by the other team. Another striking difference is that when a player has the ball she cannot take a step in any direction let alone dribble the ball. While the other players are running around to catch passes the player with the ball has to stay put until she has relinquished the ball to another player. In an effort to not err and accidentally take a step we noticed that the players would run and then jump into a stop so their feet would stop moving.
The game was fast paced and, much to my surprise, very entertaining. I wanted to see a game out of curiosity but had low expectations because I assumed it would be similar to basketball and I'm not a fan whatsoever. Happy to be mistaken we thoroughly enjoyed the game along with a packed house - the Wellington Pulse definitely has a following that can make a lot of noise!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Cajeta...
Kah-hey-tuh.
Tim and I were out and about exploring the Wellington suburb of Petone (peh-tone-eeee, even though it looks like pet-one) and we happened upon something most surprising. We bussed out following the suggestion of friend in Tim's lab. He mentioned that there's a little store in Petone that sells all different kinds of foods from all over the world. It originally came up when he and Tim were talking about dill pickles (because you can't buy them in the stores here - we're stuck with bread and butter pickles which are no substitution for yummy dills). He told Tim and that we could get out dill pickles fix at this store called On Trays. On a whim we checked it out yesterday and happened upon all kinds of goodies but mostly things we had never seen.
We were perusing the Mexican food section and drooling over all the beans, salsas and hot sauces while simultaneously cringing at the prices (one particular brand of black beans was $9.95 NZD a can!). It was then I saw something I never expected to encounter since summer 2003 when I lived in Puebla, Mexico. I was crazy about the food there as was evidenced by the fact that I came home a couple pounds heavier than when I left the US. :) One thing I encountered there was called cajeta; it's a caramel-like spread made from a base of goat's milk. I know it sounds totally bizarre but it became one of my favorite things. So much so that my host family and another family I befriended sent me home with two bottles of cajeta. :) I think it's designed to top ice cream or other desserts but we actually just spread it on bread or french toast. YUM! With that in mind imagine my surprise when my eyes landed on a bottle of cajeta!! What are the odds of finding this obscure food product in NZ?! And what did Tim say? He snatched it off the shelf and said that we HAD to get it. I was on cloud nine - I'm crazy about happy surprises. :)
So this morning I whipped up some french toast; I wanted Tim to experience cajeta just how I remembered it from Mexico. I gave Tim the first couple pieces and watched happily as he put them away. Then I tried one for myself wondering if it would live up to the memories and I'm happy to say that it did!!
Tim and I were out and about exploring the Wellington suburb of Petone (peh-tone-eeee, even though it looks like pet-one) and we happened upon something most surprising. We bussed out following the suggestion of friend in Tim's lab. He mentioned that there's a little store in Petone that sells all different kinds of foods from all over the world. It originally came up when he and Tim were talking about dill pickles (because you can't buy them in the stores here - we're stuck with bread and butter pickles which are no substitution for yummy dills). He told Tim and that we could get out dill pickles fix at this store called On Trays. On a whim we checked it out yesterday and happened upon all kinds of goodies but mostly things we had never seen.
We were perusing the Mexican food section and drooling over all the beans, salsas and hot sauces while simultaneously cringing at the prices (one particular brand of black beans was $9.95 NZD a can!). It was then I saw something I never expected to encounter since summer 2003 when I lived in Puebla, Mexico. I was crazy about the food there as was evidenced by the fact that I came home a couple pounds heavier than when I left the US. :) One thing I encountered there was called cajeta; it's a caramel-like spread made from a base of goat's milk. I know it sounds totally bizarre but it became one of my favorite things. So much so that my host family and another family I befriended sent me home with two bottles of cajeta. :) I think it's designed to top ice cream or other desserts but we actually just spread it on bread or french toast. YUM! With that in mind imagine my surprise when my eyes landed on a bottle of cajeta!! What are the odds of finding this obscure food product in NZ?! And what did Tim say? He snatched it off the shelf and said that we HAD to get it. I was on cloud nine - I'm crazy about happy surprises. :)
So this morning I whipped up some french toast; I wanted Tim to experience cajeta just how I remembered it from Mexico. I gave Tim the first couple pieces and watched happily as he put them away. Then I tried one for myself wondering if it would live up to the memories and I'm happy to say that it did!!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Taste test....
We've encountered all types of interesting and different food products since moving to Wellington. But let's just say that some are better than others. Upon arrival we noticed that people really seemed to like putting either Vegemite or Marmite on toast for breakfast. Ok, a little background if you are unfamiliar with these products - they are yeast spreads (gag). I didn't get around to trying either of these spreads until last week and, admittedly, going into this gustatory experience I was expecting that I wouldn't like either (I mean yeast spread? Does that sound appetizing to anyone??). But what could I say until I tried them both? It happened when a group of us from the lab were chatting one morning in our break room where many students have their breakfasts/lunches. There's been a lot of hubbub lately because for awhile Marmite was off the market and just recently is back in stores. Kiwis are very excited about this. We were chatting about the Vegemite vs Marmite debate (a very polarized issue here in NZ) and that's when I said I hadn't tried either. So a taste test was arranged for me - two half pieces of toast were smeared with one or the other of the dark brown/almost black goo and presented to me side by side on a plate. I was kept blind to which was which and could try whichever one first. With all eyes on me I had to laughed before I took the first bite. It was a weird kind of salty, spicy flavor. After some water I tried the other one and found it to be salty too but not so spicy. In the end I admitted my preference would have been the second option which turned out to be Marmite (my friend Hannah was openly disappointed as she is in the Vegemite camp). I did qualify my statement by saying that I actually wouldn't eat either of them (willingly). Bleh. With that said they squabbled amongst themselves as to who would get to finish the pieces of toast. Needless to say we won't be adding a jar of either spread to our next grocery order. Seriously, out of all the things you could put on toast: peanut butter, jam, butter; why would you choose something that looks awful and tastes like salty nothing? I mean I get it, we are all exposed to different foods in our lifetimes but honestly people. Who said, "I think yeast would be a great compliment to toast"?. Yeasty flavor on a food made with yeast. Yum-brilliance! Or at least Kiwis think it is. :)
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