Studying Genetics on Mendal Dr.

Hi Guys and Gals,

I am really sorry that I haven't written in a VERY long time. I wanted to include apartment photos in this entry, but since I haven't taken any yet...they will come soon. :-)

First I must explain the title of this post because I find it quite ironic. For those of you who do not know, Gregor Mendel (spelled with an E) is the founding father of modern genetics. He was a monk who is famous for his crosses using pea plants, among other things. He is the first one who came up with the idea of traits being inherited in distinct units. Anyway, genetics is the topic of one of my classes and the street that my apartment is located on is called Mendal (with an A) Drive. Pretty cool, huh?!?

Okay, on to what I have been up to. Here is an update on the last 10 days or so. Classes started a week ago Tuesday. Both classes are going well. The genetics course is interesting, but still mostly review. We have to read a couple of journal articles each week to supplement the lecture material. This has proven challenging, but a good learning experience. The course moves very rapidly. I am loving my pathology class. I think this is for two reasons - the material is completely new and the current lecturing prof is excellent. We are learning all about epithelium (the tissue that lines all the organs, cavities, and outside of your body). First she is teaching us about normal tissue and then we will learn about diseased tissue. For both courses there are a number of lecturers (unlike undergrad where there is typically one professor for the entire semester). For my pathology course there are about 16 different lecturers, each one is a specialist in his or her field. My genetics course only has 3 lecturers. I started a small study group with some other students in my genetics class and we have hit it off well. Studying together reminds me studying back at UP!

I also decided on a lab for my first rotation. Things fell into place nicely and the lab working on studying native bacteria in the intestines of mice (related to colorectal cancer) is where I will be. This is a small lab with only the PI (lab boss) and a postdoc (recent PhD graduate). I met with both of them this week and I get to start on Tuesday. I am very excited!! I will be isolating cells from the top of a mouse's intestine, taking out the DNA, and then doing a variety of experiments with it to determine the amount of histone acetylation on the DNA (meaning that I will determine which genes are more or less active in these mice). Working with the mice will be interesting in and of itself as it is something that I never thought I would do (I am an animal lover and until now wrote off labs that worked with mice simply because of that). I figured I will never know what it is like unless I try it, thus I am hurdling head long into a big learning experience. I will spare you the details that I will be learning in "mouse handling training", in case you'd rather not know. Those who are interested ask me individually and I will be happy to share. In addition to mouse training, I am learning a lot about the useful bacteria in our intestines and how they may be linked to obesity - - crazy I know! I am going to be drawing on my knowledge of metabolism and learning more about it in this rotation.

In addition to this science business, I have been getting involved at the Newman Center on campus. I joined the choir. Right now I am singing because I do not have a way to get my guitar to Mass. I am currently walking 2.5 miles to the church, which is a bit far to carry my guitar. I am hoping to talk to another choir member who lives close about getting a lift. I really hope this works out because I miss playing my guitar at Mass, although this is giving me a much needed chance to improve my singing... The choir director is very nice and energetic. The music that we sing is a combination of what is sung at UP and at St. Pius X (my two old parishes), thus I feel right at home.

Last Friday I helped set up for a service project on campus. They (UNC) were participating in something called 1 Million Meals. This project prepares freeze-dried/nonperishable food boxes that are sent to countries in crises. In the past the project was only conducted at 1 university yielding 300,000 meals, but this year they did it at 3 universities and upped to total to 1 million. Anyway, I helped set up supplies, unload trucks, and set up cardboard boxes. I thought this project would be a good way to meet people, but there were so many people there that it was hard to talk to any one person for very long. Either way it was fun to get involved.

I am still eagerly awaiting the arrival of my bike. It has been almost 2 weeks now and it should be here very soon!!

The weather here has been crazy the past couple of days. The tropical storms in the south have been affecting our weather pattern here. Yesterday (Wednesday) there was rain almost all day, often torrential. The grass by my apartment is all laid down because of water rushing over it. It was like a 5-minute Oregon downpour that lasted for 30+ minutes throughout the day. The cooler temps made the humidity bearable; however, it warmed up today and the humidity stuck around. It was very sticky and no fun! :(

Hopefully it will clear off this weekend. I am hoping to go hiking on Monday (we actually get the day off - never happened at UP). I am also making dinner with a new acquaintance who lives next door on Saturday and planning to go to a bluegrass concert on Friday night. Homework and paper writing will be in there as well.

I think fondly of you all often and I hope this finds you well!

Peace!

~S