Update

Hellooo,

I haven't posted in a while because my time has been saturated with some amazing research projects. As a quick overview, I've been performing neurosurgeries on rats for the brain tumor projects. We've been testing liposomal Topo Isomerase I and II inhibitors which target gene expression of both topoisomerases. So far we've done the cytotoxicity tests for these drugs to see how damaging they are to cancer calls and normal tissue, and have come up with the proper dosages to use in our tumor implantation rats. This week, I'm delivering these drugs (I and II) via CED into rats for drug half-life testing in which we harvest the tissue at different time points to see what the drug half-life is within the target tissues. It should be pretty long due to the fact that liposomes are inert until endocytosis occurs within the cells. In previous papers, we've detected liposomes to be present at 0, 30min, 24 hours, and 72 hours. Also, I've been two a few amazing research conferences at Mission Bay, which I intend to talk about briefly in this post.

I'm quite lucky at this job because the people here are amazing. They are easy to get along with and facilitate intellectual development by providing answers to any questions that I have. They all carry a positive attitude and are willing to help anytime, especially my co-worker Yuying who was a nurse in china but moved with her Neurosurgeon husband Dali to work at UCSF on brain tumors. Yuying taught me pretty mcuh every lab technique I know, and she did with an amazing level of patience. I can't tell you how many things I've probably messed up in the learning process, however Yuying never reprimands me and gives me tips to improve my technique. Everyone's support really reflects their willingness and passion to develop the next generation of researchers and physicians who will continue their research in the future. I'm lucky to be here because these people are just so giving, and maintain that attitude in every part of their career. I plan to be like that as a physician, and to carry on this philosophy of teaching for the development of the future of research; which is what compels me to practice in academics.