Grants may cause side effects including blogging hiatus

First, I’d like to blame  a series of grant submissions among a list of other excuses for our virtual absence and welcome our return. Let’s keep this blog alive guys! A quick update on what has been going on in the lab lately…

We attended this year’s Center for Biomedical Neuroscience Retreat where we presented three posters. A very humble someone won first place for the Research Tech/Staff category (this was back in May).

In the  summer, a number of  bright medical students joined the lab for the Medical Research Program and their work will be presented on Medical Student Research Day scheduled for October 6, 2009.

Our PCR machine underwent a near death experience.

Upcoming conferences/poster sessions include Congress for Neurological Surgeons (New Orleans) and Society for Neuroscience (Chicago). More on this later…

Also, Happy Birthday to Lauren and Shane!

Until next time,

B

Beginnings…

Due to popular demand, well just a demand really (Hi Murat!), I am finally posting.

So, our PDK-1 paper in NeuroReport will be available online pretty soon. Exciting! There’s a reason why they call me the PDK-1 Queen around here (jk). Countess Kinase is another you might commonly hear. In all modesty, I sleep, eat, drink, and think PDK-1 and occasionally/leisurely AKT when there’s time. It’s amazing how one can be so absorbed into only a 60 kDa molecule. It’s a beautiful thing.

PDK-1-structure

Let me introduce you to PDK-1, notoriously known as 3′-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1. Here is a stunning portrait (crystal structure) constructed by the Alessi lab. The same lab published a nice review a while back discussing cellular mechanisms, interactions, and structural findings.

In other news…

The abstract submission deadline for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Conference is coming up soon (April 10th). No pressure you say? Good thing CNS decides to continuously send out notifications 2-3 times a week. I mean, come on, I can only mark my calendar once. Although, I have to say, I’m really looking forward to CNS. 

It’s going to be a busy month with our ongoing projects and  grant submissions. “Thinking” time might require more energy than we think. 

More to come,

Betty

 

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Few days later

Now, few days after the “official” announcement of this blog (Hi Betty!) I seem to be the only Neuro Jedi, mastering this universe. The force is not only with me, but it is rather following me everywhere.

This is where we keep our mug shots, continuously updated.
Whoop, sorry I did not realize that blog posts have to make sense. Ok, here is the first to a more focused, scientific and mature post:

The last two weeks have been good to the lab and we have increasingly interesting results. Almost two years of dedication, blood, sweat and (hidden??) tears it seems like we (excluding me) are onto something. Betty’s PDK paper (coming up in Neuroreport) will definitely outshine Obama’s efforts, a follow-up is in the works. Elif showed better than expected results, which in she in her classical manner undersold. Good job ladies. Yo’ Mamma, Lady Fletcher’s watchful eyes will be on you. BTW, congratulations to Lady Fletcher for her first first-author paper!! Coming up in Journal of Neurosurgery (in print as of today, online soon).
The gentlemen in our lab, Shane and Robert (S&R), are doing their own thing, in a typical guy manner, less talk and more mumble. S&R showed great images with cell tracker, folks you are the masters of uptake.

On a bitter note, our R01 grant is going to expire by the end of March 2009. We all are truly grateful for having had the chance to receive this support and continue our research. Grant money dried up, we all know that and the remaining little will go to the big boys, the ones that have multiple grants and devote 150% of their time to all their grants, boards, consultant jobs and start-ups. In contrast to us mere mortals, the big boy’s might have 36h days. Lets see if Obama’s additional funding for NIH of around 10 billion will trickle down to us small labs.
Very interesting article in Nature called “When grants go away”
Let’s see what is going to happen. We have good results, good ideas, now all we need is a little luck.
Selam, MD.

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