Having been slightly busy for the last week or two, I've neglected (sounds a bit strong) my blog. It's always tricky to almost remember what has happened when time goes so fast and so many things have been done. Firstly, I have to say again, how friggin' fast time is indeed moving. It's been a month already since New Years, standing in all our gear, in Stockholm, watching the fireworks etc.
Cliche as it sounds, time really does fly when you have fun. On a more boring note, our flat is pretty sorted: the electrician has been round and added a few sockets, changed light switches and what not. The bad thing is we havent had the bill yet......hmmmm.
We've been riding a bit at Kungsberget: managed to get Sandra 'Canon ball' Eklund shreddin' the gnar (haha). Grampa Thorpe will be joining us again in the near future to go ride, so might start hitting the jumps : )
Things in the lab are pretty exciting (for me at least). I've just transfected some HEK 293 cells with a number of different serine proteases, so should start getting some recombinant protein soon. You select the cells which contain the DNA you want by adding antibiotics, meaning the ones that don't have the DNA in them die off. Hopefully this week or even tomorrow up to 99% will die, then the 'good' cells will live and grow up (and produce the protein I need!!). Easy right?!
I made a bet today with Johanna that the kid from About a Boy is not the same as the one from Ultraviolet (a crappy film we started watching last night-for like 5 mins!!). Turns out, I won. My reward? No not money (because I would win hmmm, not a lot) but food: in this case some sort of cake. I can smell it cooking now, oh yeah.
Well no funnies from me I'm afraid. I've been searching the news for some interesting stories etc, but to no avail. Everything in UK news is basically saying the country is royally f****d, recession is an understatement. It's getting to that time where I'm seriously needing to look for a job/something to do after I finish in June. There's a NZ job fair in UK in March so might see if I can fly over. Will ask my supervisor whether I can stay in the lab over the summer for some painfully low salary (probably worse than minimum wage), but hey that's Biology and science in general- you learn so much, get over qualified then you can't get a job (no I'm not bitter, just having a moan sometimes!).
On that note, my winnings should be just around the corner.....
Cliche as it sounds, time really does fly when you have fun. On a more boring note, our flat is pretty sorted: the electrician has been round and added a few sockets, changed light switches and what not. The bad thing is we havent had the bill yet......hmmmm.
We've been riding a bit at Kungsberget: managed to get Sandra 'Canon ball' Eklund shreddin' the gnar (haha). Grampa Thorpe will be joining us again in the near future to go ride, so might start hitting the jumps : )
Things in the lab are pretty exciting (for me at least). I've just transfected some HEK 293 cells with a number of different serine proteases, so should start getting some recombinant protein soon. You select the cells which contain the DNA you want by adding antibiotics, meaning the ones that don't have the DNA in them die off. Hopefully this week or even tomorrow up to 99% will die, then the 'good' cells will live and grow up (and produce the protein I need!!). Easy right?!
I made a bet today with Johanna that the kid from About a Boy is not the same as the one from Ultraviolet (a crappy film we started watching last night-for like 5 mins!!). Turns out, I won. My reward? No not money (because I would win hmmm, not a lot) but food: in this case some sort of cake. I can smell it cooking now, oh yeah.
Well no funnies from me I'm afraid. I've been searching the news for some interesting stories etc, but to no avail. Everything in UK news is basically saying the country is royally f****d, recession is an understatement. It's getting to that time where I'm seriously needing to look for a job/something to do after I finish in June. There's a NZ job fair in UK in March so might see if I can fly over. Will ask my supervisor whether I can stay in the lab over the summer for some painfully low salary (probably worse than minimum wage), but hey that's Biology and science in general- you learn so much, get over qualified then you can't get a job (no I'm not bitter, just having a moan sometimes!).
On that note, my winnings should be just around the corner.....
