Hello from San Diego! Glad to hear everyone who posted is enjoying their summers. For the new MARCies, my name is Chloe and I just graduated as a MARC scholar in Spring. I will be entering the Biomedical Sciences PhD program at UCSD in the fall and this summer I am working as an intern at Biogen Idec. I am a part of the Immunology Drug Discovery Team and work under Dr. Elisabeth Mertshing. I can't tell you the specifics of my project besides we are working on a small molecule inhibitor to stop B cell activation with our target disease being Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is really exciting working on a translation project that could go into clinical trials soon. It makes me so motivated to go to work knowing we could develop a drug to help millions.
Other than enjoying being touristy and outdoorsy in san diego I have been enjoying the perks of corporate life. Biogen Idec is equipped with a 24/7 gym, volleyball court with sand imported from fiji, a nurse who customly designs your desk to be ergonomically comfortable, and biweekly TGIF's complete with inflatable sumo suits. The company is all about making employees happy and healthy so they will be more productive. The upsides of biotech are new and state of the art equipment and resources while the downsides are not having as much creative freedom with projects as they must follow the goals of the company. Hope to keep updating you all and pictures soon to come.
-Chloe Rivera
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Working in the Hill Lab at UCLA
Hi Everyone!
My name is Jason Melehani. I just joined MARC this summer so I haven't had the opportunity to meet many of you but I look forward to being able to. I am spending this summer at UCLA working in Dr. Kent Hill's lab in the MIMG department. I have actually work with Dr. Hill sense Fall 06 and love the research and the people in the lab. I am being trained by a post-doc named Pius Kabututu. Our lab is studying the parasitic eukaryotic Trypanosoma brucei. Specifically we are looking at the flagellum and motility of the parasite. We have many exciting projects going on right now in our lab including cryoelectron microscopy and tomography of flagella, social motility and chemotatic experiments, and isolating complexes to identify their components. I am working on two projects which focus on the regulation of motility through the central pair apparatus, radial spokes, dynein regulatory complex and dynein motors.
For the first, I am isolating the flagellar skeleton from the rest of the cell body by using a combination of detergent and salts. Most of the work comes in verifying the purity of this extraction by western blotting and electron microscopy. Once satisfactorily enriched for flagella, I will send samples of wild-type and two mutants (a central pair apparatus mutant and a dynein regulatory complex mutant) to collaborators in Maryland for iTRAQ mass spec analysis. iTRAQ is a system of tags used to quantitatively compare different samples and has been very valuable in seeing altered regulation in cancers and in identifying post-translational modification differences.
The second project is a little more exciting because it is my own design. I had previous done work on identifying the components of the dynein regulatory complex by immunoprecipitation of the only known component, trypanin. This was successful in showing that a protein, CMF70, interacts with trypanin. However, the current extraction protocol for solublizing the dynein regulatory complex is probably too harsh and likely rips apart most of the complex. There are thought to be at least 7 proteins in this complex but without a more efficient system of isolating these proteins we are unable to identify them. So my new project will hopefully overcome that problem. I will be using a recently developed system (2005) of in vivo crosslinking of proteins through endogenous incorporation of UV reactive Photo-Leucine and Photo-Methionine. While this system has worked in mammalian cells, it has never been tried in trypanosomes. Hopefully, the trypanosomes will use the UV reactive amino acids in building all their proteins. Then, when I expose them to UV light the amino acids will cross link adjacent proteins at the protein interaction interface. Because the proteins will be covalently linked, the extraction buffer will not break them apart and I will be able to isolate the complex and identify the components by mass spectrometry.
Sorry for that long winded summary of my research. Besides lab work, life in LA is great. The weather has been wonderful every day and the water is cool. Today there was an earthquake but luckily no damage occurred on campus.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and I look forward to meeting you all soon!
Jason Melehani
My name is Jason Melehani. I just joined MARC this summer so I haven't had the opportunity to meet many of you but I look forward to being able to. I am spending this summer at UCLA working in Dr. Kent Hill's lab in the MIMG department. I have actually work with Dr. Hill sense Fall 06 and love the research and the people in the lab. I am being trained by a post-doc named Pius Kabututu. Our lab is studying the parasitic eukaryotic Trypanosoma brucei. Specifically we are looking at the flagellum and motility of the parasite. We have many exciting projects going on right now in our lab including cryoelectron microscopy and tomography of flagella, social motility and chemotatic experiments, and isolating complexes to identify their components. I am working on two projects which focus on the regulation of motility through the central pair apparatus, radial spokes, dynein regulatory complex and dynein motors.
For the first, I am isolating the flagellar skeleton from the rest of the cell body by using a combination of detergent and salts. Most of the work comes in verifying the purity of this extraction by western blotting and electron microscopy. Once satisfactorily enriched for flagella, I will send samples of wild-type and two mutants (a central pair apparatus mutant and a dynein regulatory complex mutant) to collaborators in Maryland for iTRAQ mass spec analysis. iTRAQ is a system of tags used to quantitatively compare different samples and has been very valuable in seeing altered regulation in cancers and in identifying post-translational modification differences.
The second project is a little more exciting because it is my own design. I had previous done work on identifying the components of the dynein regulatory complex by immunoprecipitation of the only known component, trypanin. This was successful in showing that a protein, CMF70, interacts with trypanin. However, the current extraction protocol for solublizing the dynein regulatory complex is probably too harsh and likely rips apart most of the complex. There are thought to be at least 7 proteins in this complex but without a more efficient system of isolating these proteins we are unable to identify them. So my new project will hopefully overcome that problem. I will be using a recently developed system (2005) of in vivo crosslinking of proteins through endogenous incorporation of UV reactive Photo-Leucine and Photo-Methionine. While this system has worked in mammalian cells, it has never been tried in trypanosomes. Hopefully, the trypanosomes will use the UV reactive amino acids in building all their proteins. Then, when I expose them to UV light the amino acids will cross link adjacent proteins at the protein interaction interface. Because the proteins will be covalently linked, the extraction buffer will not break them apart and I will be able to isolate the complex and identify the components by mass spectrometry.
Sorry for that long winded summary of my research. Besides lab work, life in LA is great. The weather has been wonderful every day and the water is cool. Today there was an earthquake but luckily no damage occurred on campus.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and I look forward to meeting you all soon!
Jason Melehani
Thursday, July 24, 2008
UCLA - Summer in the Portera Lab
Hi everyone,
So I'm finally taking the time to write my introductory blog as a new MARC student. Never too late to start, right? I am currently at UCLA in the Portera-Cailliau lab in the department of Neurology where I have been involved in studying development of the neocortex since April 2007. I have been working with my post-doc mentor, Alberto Cruz-Martin, on imaging dendritic spines in a mouse model for Fragile X Syndrome and comparing them to normal wild-type mice. In the first two postnatal weeks, we have found significant differences in the morphology of spines in Fragile X mice. It's interesting because we are imaging slices during a period where no one has really looked at before. Next I plan on identifying abnormalities in synapse number and distribution in Fragile X mice during this early developmental period. The hours in the lab are long, but so far I am thoroughly enjoying my summer experience. It's great not having to worry about classes and I love having the time and freedom to try different experiments and learn a ton about the field and so many aspects of research. My lab mates are also great to be around, making my lab experience all the better. I'm also in the Amgen Scholars program, which is basically an opportunity to get funded for 10 weeks during the summer and meet students from across the country all interested in biomed research. There are also some helpful workshops and a 3-day (really a 2.5 day) symposium. So far that's been excellent as well. Well, I guess I'll get back to reading papers.. I'll try to add updates when I can.
Best,
Michelle Crespo
So I'm finally taking the time to write my introductory blog as a new MARC student. Never too late to start, right? I am currently at UCLA in the Portera-Cailliau lab in the department of Neurology where I have been involved in studying development of the neocortex since April 2007. I have been working with my post-doc mentor, Alberto Cruz-Martin, on imaging dendritic spines in a mouse model for Fragile X Syndrome and comparing them to normal wild-type mice. In the first two postnatal weeks, we have found significant differences in the morphology of spines in Fragile X mice. It's interesting because we are imaging slices during a period where no one has really looked at before. Next I plan on identifying abnormalities in synapse number and distribution in Fragile X mice during this early developmental period. The hours in the lab are long, but so far I am thoroughly enjoying my summer experience. It's great not having to worry about classes and I love having the time and freedom to try different experiments and learn a ton about the field and so many aspects of research. My lab mates are also great to be around, making my lab experience all the better. I'm also in the Amgen Scholars program, which is basically an opportunity to get funded for 10 weeks during the summer and meet students from across the country all interested in biomed research. There are also some helpful workshops and a 3-day (really a 2.5 day) symposium. So far that's been excellent as well. Well, I guess I'll get back to reading papers.. I'll try to add updates when I can.
Best,
Michelle Crespo
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Huong At NYU
My sister and I after we finished a five mile race at Central Park
When I first arrived
The Metropolitan Museum's Rooftop Exhibit
Hey guys sorry for the late response but I could not figure out how to write a blog. Well I am living in an NYU dormitory that is steps away from Union Square. I am working in Dr. Canary’s lab in the NYU Chemistry department. I am part of the Science and Engineering of Soft Materials and Interfaces (SESMI) REU program. My project this summer is to crosslink DNA to peptides using click chemistry and native ligation reactions. I am in the lab everyday but on the weekends I visit my sister, who lives in Brooklyn. I have eaten a lot of great foods and visited great places. For example, I went to Coney Island to watch Olympic Gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty Mae play volleyball. I also went to the Yankees game, which was very fun. For all those who are in New York I recommend going to a small “play” called Fuerza Bruta. It is an interactive play. There are full of surprises. I have never experienced anything like it. To top it all off, Susan Realegeno came to visit me for three days. It was nice to see a familiar face. I hope to read more of everyone’s blogs because they are great.
New MARC trainees enjoying a busy summer..
(Left to Right: Paola Castro, Joseph Hargan Calvopina, Melinda Hernandez, Richard Rodriguez, Michelle Crespo & Jason Melehani)The newest MARC trainees are very busy this summer working in their labs. Melinda Hernandez is working in Dr. Peggy Fong's lab, Paola Castro in Dr. Steven Clarke's lab, Michelle Crespo in Dr. Carlos Portera Cailliau's lab, Joseph Hargan Calvopina in Dr. Hong Wu's lab, Richard Rodriguez in Dr. Tomas Ganz' lab and Jason Melehani in Dr. Kent Hill's lab.
None of them are taking any classes this summer, primarily working in their labs for 40 hours a week. Although the days can be long, all of them are finding the experience to be very rewarding. Richard says that the extended one-on-one time in the lab makes learning much easier. Melinda says that it is good because she gets to focus on more than just the research, having more time to read journals and do fieldwork since she is not taking classes. Jason feels that the extra time in the lab allows him to design his own project and take it in his own direction, something that he is greatly enjoying.
Despite their busy lab schedules, these MARC trainees are still finding time to enjoy their summer. Joseph allows time to go play soccer with his friends when he is free, and Paola lists sleeping as one of her top hobbies. Michelle also finds plenty of time to relax and hangout with friends, even though she is also busy with the AMGEN Scholars program.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Upstate and Downtown - Ryan Dosumu-Johnson
I have been really enjoying my time here in New York, so much so that it has been hard to keep up with the blog. The beginning of my fun excursions was with my being invited to a birdsong conference by one of the most famous birdsong labs, Fernando Nottebohm. I met a grad student in his lab at a 4th of July party and he invited me to go and said he would pay for everything. It was a really great experience because I got to meet all the big names in birdsong on the east coast. Fernando was a really nice invited me back anytime and they actually offered me the chance to work on a project I had thought up about the research they were doing. I really enjoyed being able to dive back into birdsong for a couple days and learning about the amazing research being done on the other coast. The best part was being able to see how the research at my lab in UCLA fits into the grand scheme of birdsong. I realized we are actually pretty different from a lot of labs in that we look at things from a vocal learning perspective as opposed to an ornithologist view point. In addition to going to the amazing conference I met some people in my program which invited me to a great free concert put on by the village voice. Overall the past few weeks have been really great but I have the trouble now of trying to finish my applications to schools.
-Ryan
Monday, July 14, 2008
UCLA Josep hargan Calvopina
Hey guys, this is Joseph. As opposed to traveling all over the place I decided to stay here in LA to get some work done and get everything ready for 199 in the fall. So currently I am situated in the Center for health Sciences in the department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. I'm working under Dr. Hong Wu(PI) and Dr. Reginald Hill(Post Doc) on Pancreatic cancer. We are currently using a mouse model with various mutations to try and mimic the human disease. By using this model we will hopefully someday understand the mechanisms involved in the development of the disease. Unfortunately that day is still far far away, we have to get things to work first, hahaha. So far it has been a lot of trial and error because it is the first time we have tried many of these experiments. However there is some progress slowly but surely. I'm happy we finally got this apoptosis kit to work so I'm excited to get some results. Besides that summer is good, and the weather is cool. Next week members of our lab will go see Batman, so I'll keep you guys informed. Good luck with all your research! until the next post, lates!
Jospeh Hargan Calvopina
Jospeh Hargan Calvopina
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Big Apple
Hi all,
I am still here in New York and I am enjoying it and a little put off by the situation. I love lab work (I just love science wherever I go). I really miss my whole life at UCLA though, my lab, my friends and my family. I have been pulling a lot of 10-12 hour days and it seems to be taking its toll now. Haven't been getting a lot of sleep because of the other work I have to do. Funny thing is I am the one pushing myself so hard cause the post doc I was working with has left and now I'm alone with my project. I am now trying to overcome issues with flowrate because at initial analysis it seemed the worms could sense lower than picometer changes in chemicals and everyone was a little worried about that. Now I have to use math and run some physics-like experiments to try and adjust the flow rates. Also I have been having a lot of trouble with the MATLAB code we are using so I have had to play around with that. All in all this is not the kind of work I am used to but I am adjusting and it is most definitely good science just not birdsong. It is hard to be completely naive to a my current system but I am slowly getting things. I have enjoyed going out when I can here in New York. I got to go to a great jazz club this past sunday and have had the chance to eat a different restaurant every day here so far, something that would require a car in LA. Here are some pictures of the view from my lab( almost every room has huge windows with absolutely amazing views) and around New York.
-Ryan Dosumu-Johnson
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