Black on Blue

Just had to ring my dear old Dad on the look out for some western blotting film which I (in)conveniently left in my scanner at home...

Dad: "What would you like me to do with it?"
Me: "Keep it! It's a good result."
Dad: "Just looks like blue film with black smudges to me."
Me: "Yeah well it means more than it seems."

:)

“If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again.”

I hate packing.

Even when I'm just packing for a weekend away I always end up feeling uneasy... just a lil queasiness in the tummy.... and it's always telling me that I've forgotten something. Even when I've been through my mental check list a hundred times

Undies ................. check
PJs ....................... check
Clothes ................ check
Toothbrush ......... check


I still think there is something, something important, that I'm missing! I don't know why. However once I'm at my destination the feeling passes and I go on living my life in happy blissfulness.

I had to repack for MIF last night. I had all my stuff in a relatively large (& heavy) sports bag however had then discovered we may be staying in shared dormitories(!!) where I would need to lock up my bag and also that I apparently wasn't going to be able to park on site... which means I'd need to lug my bags from the car to the school. So I pulled out Mum's suitcase... it's lockable and has wheels!! It's also the smallest suitcase in the house... though it was actually a lot bigger than I remember. I look like I've packed for a few weeks instead of a few days! I still feel like I've forgotten something (not sure what!) but I also feel like I've overpacked as well... there is no winning with my brain.

Last night I also received acceptance for my ANZBMS abstract. However... this paragraph:

"Your work has been highly valued by this stringent peer review system. Since your work is expected to receive a lot of attention at the scientific meeting, the ANZBMS Council asks that you take considerable care with its presentation."

SCARES ME!

I'm hoping that it comes standard with every abstract acceptance! (I'm waiting for Mahvash to get hers!)

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but 'Hmmm...That's funny...'"

Slight excitement in the lab a few weeks ago - I've finally managed to get my Western Blots to a standard AC is happy with! *yay!* Even more importantly I have a result which supports our hypothesis... As you can see in the image below the two test bands (circled in green) are between the negative control (red bands) and positive control (blue bands). The 'negative' control shows my mature receptor with full glycosylation, while the 'positive' control shows the deglycosylated receptor... as my test bands are in the middle it seems to indicate there may be partial deglycosylation of the receptor which is affecting it function!

However, like everything is science, it now has to be repeated ad nauseum to prove that this was not just a fluke result!! But fingers crossed!

In other, not so exciting, news the microscope is still out of action. Turns out, what we though was just a dud bulb is actually a faulty power supply - so we now have to wait for a new one to arrive from the US and have it installed.... *sighs* I'm hoping we'll have it up and running before the end of this month.

On top of that - I've now seriously started making some headway with the review AC and I are writing. The plan is complete - so now here comes the fun part... actually writing it! AC thinks I should be able to write ~1 pg a day/ 5-6 pgs a week.... I think he's delusional... but as it does have to be done by the end of the month.... I should probably attempt to keep on schedule...
(wish me luck!)

On top of this I'm taking a mini-holiday this week as I'm off to the Marist International Festival (or MIF) which I'm extremely looking forward to. As it's unlikely I'll be attending WYD, this is as close to the festivities as I'll be getting.. but oh well - it should still be awesome!! :D