It’s official.  I’ve finished my third year in college. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about my experiences thus far, perhaps because most of my friends will be graduating in just two days from now.  I came to Fontbonne leery of the thought of taking on a major as challenging as biology, and, I’ll admit it, I’ve really considered changing majors many times ever since (although oddly, I’ve never quite made it over to the registrar to pick up the correct form for that- call me lazy).  Just three years ago, I was staring wide-eyed at my first general biology I assignment, which was on mimicry in the snake world.  I didn’t understand the words.  I was put into a group with seniors who, for some strange reasons, needed to retake general biology and who had already taken crazy 300- and 400-level biology courses.  I had no idea what I was doing in that class.

And look at me now.  I’ve finished my chemistry minor.  I’m practically finished with my biotechnology concentration, and I already finished the physiology concentration.  I’ve even taken an additional independent study human anatomy class (neuroanatomy) for fun.  I technically only need to take one more biology class, immunology, and then I will have finished all of the departmental requirements for my degree.

So what have I learned in three years?  Mostly, I’ve learned to never quit, even though I say “I quit” on what’s practically a daily basis.  I’m scared about what lies ahead as far as GREs and internships and jobs and graduate admissions go, but I think that’s what’s the most exciting thing of all. 

But, with school having just ended, I’d like to take some time to just reflect on the memories.  The memories of Wednesday Cinema, our rather-new tradition of sitting in the biology seminar room and watching movies while doing homework all day.  The memories of taking Molecular Techniques with Dillon and Tim all semester and telling each other to not tell Dr. Paine-Saunders that we spilled buffer all over or that we dropped our Western blot membranes in the sink.  The memories of sleepless nights before organic chem tests and of waking up at 2 in the morning before a biochem test only to lie in bed and go through equations and problems over and over again in my head until it was time to get up and ready to go at 5:30am.  These and countless other memories will continue to haunt me as I realize that many of my friends will not be back on campus in class with me next fall.  But those memories, those bittersweet memories, will in time turn out to be some of the best I’ve ever had.

~ With Two of the Best Friends I’ll Ever Have ~

Pour off old media. Wash twice with Hank’s salt solution. Add 5 milliliters of thawed trypsin and pour off. Wait five minutes. Use 5 milliliters of alpha-10 to quench the reaction. Add 1-2 drops of liquid culture to each of two new flasks, which should each contain 20 milliliters of alpha-10. Add 20 milliliters of alpha-10 to the original flask. Incubate all flasks at 37°C and check regularly.

I’ve been working with Dr. Thomasson on his cancer research all year. I’ve been performing the above procedure, which we call “splitting the cells,” since September. But it wasn’t until last week that I truly had an epiphany. I absolutely love working in the lab.

Since I’ve been a biology major, I’ve enjoyed micropipetting and looking through microscopes and figuring out where I may have introduced error into my experiment. However, last week, it just really hit me: I love working in the lab. In honor of the 60th anniversary of the structure of DNA, my molecular techniques class watched a NOVA documentary about Rosalind Franklin’s underestimated role in Watson and Crick’s field-changing work. In the film, one of the interviewed speakers talked about how Franklin didn’t just enjoy science for the end results, as do most scientists, but she enjoyed science for the entire process of it. While watching the documentary, I was sort of taken aback by that statement. I like results, and I like looking at where I go right and wrong. However, I never had really before thought of enjoying the journey of science more than the final destination.

The next day, I was literally just standing at the lab sink washing beakers that I’d previously used for splitting some of Dr. T’s cells. And you know what? I had this huge smile on my face. I was having the best time ever washing those beakers. Have Dr. T and I cured cancer? Definitely not. But just the prospect that we could make an important discovery or that we could be contributing valuable insight to others in the field is something to be proud of.

My friends will tell you that I’m very impatient, and they would be correct. I don’t like to sit around waiting for things to happen. As my friend and fellow blogger Carly would probably say, I like to be a catalyst and make things happen faster than they normally would. That’s probably why I started my newer method of thawing the trypsin enzyme in the water bath before gathering the necessary supplies for the above cell-splitting procedure instead of using my older method, which involved setting up the rest of the supplies and then thawing the frozen enzyme. However, in light of my newfound love of the entire process of science – not just a love of the results – I don’t think that waiting on the trypsin will be as tedious as I once found it to be.

To begin with, I’d like to offer my readers an explanation as to why my blog last week was so short. As you may have read, I had my third test within the timespan of a week coming up, and I was trying to learn all about photosynthesis and the citric acid cycle and glycolysis regulation. I took a break to write my blog, but while typing, I accidentally hit a wrong button, therefore deleting all of my words except for those in my first paragraph. If you return to my previous blog and look at the comments, I’ve commented on my own blog and filled in some details.

Okay, now on to this week. Once again, I’ve miscounted the weeks until the end of school.  I thought we had four weeks of classes left. Oh, no – we have 2.5 weeks of classes left, and then a week of exams. (I don’t know how I always miscount.  I’m really not that terribly bad at counting…) Anyways, I feel like I still have a lot to do for school and otherwise. This past Friday, a few of my friends from the Biological Sciences Organization (BSO) and I went to the Science Center to celebrate DNA with Science Center visitors. Next week, on April 25, it will have been 60 years since Watson and Crick published their groundbreaking paper in the scientific journal “Nature” that described the structure of DNA. That determination has literally changed and affected all areas of biological sciences, ranging from cell biology to molecular biology to biochemistry to biotechnology to genetics. At the Science Center, we had a big DNA birthday card for visitors to sign, and we had spin-the-wheel trivia. We also had a fun craft activity that allowed visitors to make-and-take their own DNA strand, which they made using two different colors of pipe cleaners. (And boy, was I exhausted afterward. That night, when I was explaining to my mom what we had done, I said that we used “pipettes” to make DNA strands. True story.)

Next week, the BSO will be celebrating that monumental day in style with a party for biology majors on campus. Be sure to look for us, as we’ll be wearing our “DNA Is Life. Everything Else? Just Details.” shirts around campus. And the week after, BSO will have a very big Wednesday. We will be having our annual seniors’ graduation party in the morning and then going on an Owl Prowl in Forest Park that night. (Our new librarian, Mark Glenshaw, works in conjunction with Forest Park Forever and the World Bird Sanctuary, and he offered to take a few of us to Forest Park to show us owls’ nesting and habitat. We’re all really excited about it.)

So, for once, my social calendar is actually full. What about my school calendar, you may ask? Well, yes, my planner is chock full of due dates and the like. However, for the first time ever, I don’t feel like I’m completely panicking about finishing all of my work. Just give me a couple more days, though, and I’ll assure you that the panic will have begun…

~ With Carly and Kaniz at the BSO table at the Science Center! ~

This past Friday, I was honored to be among the Novus International Scholars at the 5th Annual Novus Science in Action Day. I received a scholarship from Novus, a research corporation, and as part of that scholarship, I was invited to the day-long event during which we listened to the wisdom of speakers, learned about the work that Novus does, and took a trip to the butterfly house in Faust Park to meet the entomologist and take a tour of the lab and butterfly conservatory there.

WRITTEN A WEEK LATER:

As promised, here is some more fun info and insight about this day.  (See my next blog post entitled “So Much to Do, So Little Time…” for info as to why I’m commenting on my own blog here!)

What really stuck out to me today was that I need to grasp every opportunity that comes my way.  It can be really scary to branch out and do new things, but that’s something that you need to do in life in order to succeed.  How should you do that?  Do something crazy.  Take an internship at a place that you think is really cool.  Take twenty-semod hours in a semester and reflect on what you learned.  Volunteer at a place with a cause that’s near and dear to your heart.

From my internship, I have a new friend who is from South America.  He graduated with a degree in microbiology, and now he is in the United States to better his English.  I think he’s extremely brave for leaving his country and everything that is familiar to him in order to better himself.  And though I haven’t left my country (or even my home, for that matter) in order to take advantage of opportunities available to me, I feel as though I’ve been getting a lot better at taking risks that could benefit me in the future.

Another important thing I learned from Novus is that it’s okay to not like something.  In fact, if you take a job or internship and end up not liking it, that experience will be as beneficial – if not even more beneficial – to you than a job or internship that you liked.

In short, try new things, don’t be afraid, and get yourself out there.  You’ll be okay. 

Today’s weather was gorgeous. As in, practically eighty degrees, a nice amount of sunshine, and very low humidity. And what did I do today? Homework, as usual. And as I was looking at my planner, I realized that I misunderstood my friend and fellow blogger Carly when she said that we have five weeks of school left after spring break. Yes, technically we do, if you don’t count exam weeks. I love school, don’t get me wrong- but as the weather gets nicer and nicer, it just gets harder and harder to stay inside and study.

I’ve actually already started my summer internship. I’m interning in a microbiology lab halfway between my house and campus, and, if you’ve read any of my blogs thus far, you should be inferring that I’m enjoying the experiences there. And that inference is correct. I’m learning a lot of new lab techniques, and everyone is so nice that I’ve already made some new friends.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m excited for summer. But, then again, I’ll be sad when this school year ends. As I said before, most of my friends are seniors, so they’ll be graduating and moving on to bigger and better things come this May, which will make for a strange school year for me next year. I have a feeling we will all be getting pretty sentimental in these coming weeks.

This weekend, my high school presented their annual spring musical. This year, the show was “White Christmas.” As I sat there in the audience watching eagerly as the cast members tap danced to songs like “I Love a Piano” and acted out some pretty powerful romantic scenes, I started thinking about how fast life goes. I graduated from high school just three years ago, yet I only knew the seniors in the show. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was on that stage playing twelve-year-old Agnes in my last high school musical, “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

So if my rambling here means anything to you, then great. If not, I’ll try to sum it up here: even though these last few weeks may seem daunting and difficult, and even though motivating yourself to do your homework amidst the glorious preview of summer weather may seem nearly impossible, college truly will be over before we know if, so we need to savor every sweet moment we have.

Ah, yes. Spring break. Time to catch up on some much needed rest, get back on track with homework, and enjoy the beginning of the new, refreshing season of spring.

So why is there a blizzard blowing outside my window??

We are only into the first weekend of our spring break, but, so far, it just doesn’t really feel like spring. St. Louis is expected to have up to eleven inches of snow. And we are just one week away from Easter! As all of my friends know, I’m not very happy about the snow. Actually, I despise snow. I prefer snow-less weather when I can wear shorts, a light sweatshirt, and flip flops.

But even so, I guess the snow isn’t so bad overall. I’d rather be able to spend my spring break outside in the nice, sunny weather, but, at the same time, I have a ton of homework to do. Before school resumes, I need to finish my physics term paper, study for two tests, dig deeper to learn all I can about developmental cell communication mediated by glypicans, and get caught up on biochem. If the weather were perfect, it would be much easier to procrastinate. So, in short, I guess that all snow clouds have a silver lining. I just wish that snow would end right around Christmas time, or, more preferably, that it just would stay in the world of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye’s tap dancing paradise.

I guess you could say that I hit the ground running as soon as I began as a freshman at Fontbonne over two and a half years ago. My first semester, I took 18 credit hours, with classes such as general biology, general chemistry, and intro to statistics. Since then, I’ve never taken less than 18 hours per semester, and there have been times when I’ve been enrolled in upwards of six science classes per semester. Call me crazy, but I’ve always looked forward to a challenge.

This afternoon, I made out my fall 2013 schedule. Let me tell you- I was shocked by how different this semester will be for me. Gone will be the days of sleepless nights due to chemistry, molecular biology, and the like. Instead, I’ll be finishing up some gen eds and theatre classes for my theatre minor. Instead of multiple bio classes, I’ll only have one “official” class, immunology. (However, I’m definitely hoping for some department research and independent study courses!) I should have a lot more time since I should only have classes two days per week, so I’m hoping to get an outside internship in a research lab and possibly work more hours at the Science Center.

All in all, this coming school year will definitely be a new experience for me. I hope I’ll be able to use my extra time to better my lab skills, to better my abilities to interpret primary research articles, and to prepare myself for graduate school and life beyond Fontbonne.

I’m not going to lie: though I’m a chemistry minor, chemistry just isn’t really my thing. I have utmost respect for chemistry as both a science and a profession; however, much to the dismay of friend and fellow blogger Carly, it just isn’t something that I absolutely love.

General chemistry was fine, but honestly, organic chemistry just never really clicked for me. I could generally get through orgo problems (except for the obnoxiously-long synthesis problems), but I just really didn’t draw a connection between orgo and the biology classes I loved so dearly.

Since biochemistry draws heavily in concepts learned in organic, I was very hesitant about taking this course. I figured that I’d best take it this semester with all of my closest friends; however, I honestly wasn’t looking forward to it. But thus far in the semester, I’ve come to really enjoy biochem. Take this afternoon, for instance. I was getting very confused by some physics I was attempting. So you know what I did? I put physics away for a little while and picked up my biochem. Though it can take me an embarrassing amount of time to finish one biochem problem, I always feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I successfully complete an assignment.

I think I like biochem because it combines all of the concepts I’ve learned thus far in my studies of biology at Fontbonne. In biochem, there are hints of biotechnology, molecular biology, cell biology, and – yes, that’s right – organic chemistry. There are definitely days when I wish I wouldn’t have to spend umpteen hours reading and taking notes and doing online quizzes and doing homework for biochemistry, but overall, I’m coming to really enjoy looking at the world from the intersection of biology and chemistry. And, much unlike last spring when organic ended, I may actually be quite sad when biochem officially ends in just about two months.

Tomorrow, Monday, March 4, the Biological Sciences Organization will be hosting our semesterly bake sale. Usually, we donate a portion of the proceeds from our sales to animal adoptions. And, though we absolutely love animals and strongly support and promote saving their habitats, we have decided to break from tradition in order to support another worthy cause: breast cancer research.

On campus, a few students (including me) led by Dr. Thomason and Dr. Rayhel are currently working with the EMT6 breast cancer cell line and with mouse-derived macrophage cells. Dr. Thomasson originally published his research in the 1980s. Right now, we are trying to determine which new route we would like to take with this work.

So if you have any questions about the research we are performing on campus, or if you would like to support the cause and purchase a baked treat, stop by the BSO table tomorrow in the Ryan corridor between 11:30 and 1:30. We will have a variety of cupcakes, cookies, and other delicacies available for just $1 each, and every person who purchases a treat will receive a free handmade breast cancer ribbon of their choice in order to wear to show their support. We hope to see you tomorrow!!

After a long day of physics, biochemistry, and molecular techniques lab, one of my favorite things to do is return home to my best friend, Cocoa Dixie, to take her for a walk. Being a commuter allows me to do that.