Amazing Stuff

Today is the last lab with Dr. Vera, and I am very disappointed. He's a pure genius, and I've learned so much just by talking to him and asking him questions. He always answers my questions patiently and then points me to new questions, which is awesome. Today we learned something I thought was pretty incredible. I was aware that mRNA undergoes post-transcriptional processing which keeps the exons and removes the introns but I had not known the significance of this process. Dr. Vera explained to us that eukaryotic cells have an advantage because of this processing- it allows for specialization of cell functions and greater diversity of cell proteins by being selective. For instance, muscle cells may process their mRNA differently from brain cells to better fulfill their functions. Then this means a cell's DNA does not determine its destiny. Well, not directly. I think a cell's post-transcriptional processing is regulated by cell signals and chemicals... which are coded for by the cellular DNA. So the cell DNA regulates its own regulation... This is some amazing stuff. I am as excited as the time Lakers got Pau Gasol.

-Min Lee

Today is our last lab in the bioengineering part of this cluster, so it's our last day in the amazing high-tech lab with Ms. Green. We're running an agarose gel electrophoresis right now to analyze for wild type or heterozygous mice genotypes.

Yesterday was a good night. I ended up going to the Rubik's cube tutorial and helping out a few people. Later that night we got a nice warm Pizookie from BJ's and some good chicken burritos from Chipotle. Tonight we have a ton of fun activities. There's slip-n-slide, a picture scavenger hunt, and the COSMOS dance. And parent weekend is tomorrow. Lots of fun stuff... The activities the RA's have been planning this week have all been really good.

Have a good day!

~CS

Shoot for the Stars

I'm listening to Min do a Q&A with Dr. Vera. He's confirming everything I explained to him. I told him that the labs 8 and 9 weren't related. He seems intent on finding a link.

Anyways... water polo was fun. Rob G the RA dove in to "rescue" me and tipped me over. It was terrible, cuz' I had fallen, and I couldn't get up. Other notable events was that I threw the ball OVER the net, being extra excited to score.

Ice blocking didn't go as well. I had to scoot along like a dog after using the great outdoors.

Sincerely,
J.M.

Livin' la Vida Loca

Last day in lab with Ms. Green. It was funny watching her and Ms. Nicely argue. Ms. Green scolded a group for dropping their sample, but Ms. Nicely said that we were first-timers and mistakes happen.

Raizor Ramen: Positive attitude! HOOOooooo~!

Seeing parents tmrw. Wish I could go watch Batman. Looks epic.

Arrivederci