I will always be waiting...
This morning I woke up feeling like utter crap, so today started with coffee, which should not happen on a weekend. In any case, bear that in mind when I spout nonsense.
Yahoo Answers is hopelessly addicting. I love answering questions. Is that arrogant? After much thought, I think this is good... if I eventually want to teach, I need to be able to spurt crap that is factual to the best of my ability, and need to be confident in that. And this provides an excellent opportunity for that, because if I'm wrong then nobody's hurt. You take a risk when you look up stuff on the internet. If you don't know that, you deserve whatever's coming to you.
Some of these questions are actually really good. Like this one: "Is HIV virus inherited?"
Of course the 1st two answerers, despite one alleged degree in bio, answered "Of course not." But it's not that simple... viruses DO integrate into the genome. Just (probably) not egg or sperm. But there's that 'probably'.... we're riddled with old viral genetic material, and duplications caused by (I think) retroviruses and at the very least transposons hopping around, so it's obviously happened in the past. The question is: which viruses can get into the critical cells? That depends on the receptors required for infection. And this raises a whole batch of new, interesting questions. What ARE the receptors on egg and sperm? Are there any? If there are, what are they doing?? Can they actually respond to things like mom's/dad's proteins? If mom has high insulin, can it activate an insulin receptor on an egg cell, permanently altering the egg? *gasp* maybe that's the connection from maternal environment to reprogramming of the fetus!!! It's known now that the environment, diet, stress levels, etc of mom influence the kid greatly. Simpler explanation is that this happens to the fetus, which must have cells with receptors because you have to at least signal which cells go where. You can't direct a deaf and blind crowd.
And if viruses are passed down.... you could design a virus.... it could infect a younger human, infect the egg/sperm, integrate, and lay latent. Then it could reactivate in old age and become lethal, killing the host. But it's too late... the original carrier already bore children with the virus. If the symptoms were innocuous enough (fever, sweating--the ubiquitous 'flu-like symptoms') I've played Pandemic, I know what symptoms are low on the public radar, nobody would even think to look for a virus until much of the population had been infected. And it would be years before people even THINK to look in the genome! It's perfect! Peeerrrrfeecccct!!! *evil laugh*
I would name it.... CFS. Or Alzheimer's. Har har.
.... Yes, I'm completely aware that the above is complete BS, and there's probably a billion reasons you couldn't do that. But this stuff is what makes Science Fiction awesome, folks.
In any case, I wouldn't predict the egg/sperm to have receptors, because it's a perfect defense against such things. Let's look it up some time.
Last night, I went with the newly-divorced friend to PF Chang's. There are places that are expensive and normal, and there are places that are expensive and worth it. PF Chang's is the latter. Kung pao chicken=perfect. I was also told the chicken soup was to die for, so got some to go. Not so worth it, but at the moment I feel deserving of a reward.
Vanilla wafers are made for dunking in coffee.
Mon-Thurs, I was there no less than 11 hours, without lunch break. I feel like a real grad student, folks. It's brilliant. My boss treated me horrendously on Wed, but as long as I am moving forward I don't particularly care.
Wed was FACS staining: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_cytometry
I did this two years ago, and was basically handed the protocol and told, 'this is easy, you can do it without someone showing you.' No, not so easy when nobody tells you the cell pellet tends to stick to pipette tips if you use the p20, or that it's ok if overlay is less than 'over', or to turn off the hood light because the fluorochromes are sensitive. At the time, FACS=magic. My first exposure was to the stupid dot plots they stick in papers, which are mere Rorschach tests to the uninitiated. I was still trying to figure out what a CD4+ T cell was. It failed miserably that first time, and since then FACS has been in the back of my brain in the section of 'magic experiments that are utterly terrifying and beyond my ability but everyone else seems to find easy'.
Anyway, the conversation on Wed went something like this:
--------------
Boss: I got your email. Yeah, you shouldn't send that the day of your experiment.
Me: I'm sorry. I sent one yesterday, but I should have checked to make sure you got it. I thought you were just busy.
Boss: What antibody do you think we should use?
Me: Well, we're going to eventually use CD45 and CD11b, but are we're not actually sending these for analysis, right?
Boss: *laughs* Then what's the point? How do you know if it worked, otherwise?
[J-- and I had discussed this in length. FACS analysis at our core facility is $100/hr, so J--- insisted that this was just practice and we wouldn't be sending the samples away. I'd protested multiple times, pretty sure that the advisor would say exactly what he DID say, but J--- was quite sure, and since he's more advanced in Science than I it's best to just follow what he says]
Me: I thought it was just so J-- could show me how it's done?
Boss: Then what's the point of staining with an antibody at all? We might as well use PBS!
Me: .... *getting annoyed, because that's exactly what I'd asked in the FIRST email* Right. That's why I'm asking.
*insert long awkward pause*
Boss: ... stain for CD45, CD11b, CD4, and CD8.
Me: ....all four?
Boss: Oh, you don't know?
Me: *epiphany!* OH, CD45/CD11b in one tube, and CD4/CD8 in another?? [how the CRAP was I supposed to have divined that? This whole time I had thought we were only doing one sample, for practice, and not sending them away]
LATER THAT DAY, IN THE LAB
J-- to boss: (I'd filled him in on the earlier conversation) so I'm showing M--- the staining, and we are sending it for analysis.
Boss: Stain for CD11b, CD45, CD4, and CD8.
J--: All four?
Boss: *completely devoid of annoyance or derision* CD11b and CD45 in one tube, and CD4 and CD8 in another tube.
Me, at back of the room: *facepalm*
by the way, one of my active add-ons searches Wikipedia for a word that I double-click on. Double-clicking on 'facepalm' to highlight it revealed an article defining 'facepalm', complete with picture.
----
Anyway, it seems to have worked ok. Hallelujah.
Yahoo Answers is hopelessly addicting. I love answering questions. Is that arrogant? After much thought, I think this is good... if I eventually want to teach, I need to be able to spurt crap that is factual to the best of my ability, and need to be confident in that. And this provides an excellent opportunity for that, because if I'm wrong then nobody's hurt. You take a risk when you look up stuff on the internet. If you don't know that, you deserve whatever's coming to you.
Some of these questions are actually really good. Like this one: "Is HIV virus inherited?"
Of course the 1st two answerers, despite one alleged degree in bio, answered "Of course not." But it's not that simple... viruses DO integrate into the genome. Just (probably) not egg or sperm. But there's that 'probably'.... we're riddled with old viral genetic material, and duplications caused by (I think) retroviruses and at the very least transposons hopping around, so it's obviously happened in the past. The question is: which viruses can get into the critical cells? That depends on the receptors required for infection. And this raises a whole batch of new, interesting questions. What ARE the receptors on egg and sperm? Are there any? If there are, what are they doing?? Can they actually respond to things like mom's/dad's proteins? If mom has high insulin, can it activate an insulin receptor on an egg cell, permanently altering the egg? *gasp* maybe that's the connection from maternal environment to reprogramming of the fetus!!! It's known now that the environment, diet, stress levels, etc of mom influence the kid greatly. Simpler explanation is that this happens to the fetus, which must have cells with receptors because you have to at least signal which cells go where. You can't direct a deaf and blind crowd.
And if viruses are passed down.... you could design a virus.... it could infect a younger human, infect the egg/sperm, integrate, and lay latent. Then it could reactivate in old age and become lethal, killing the host. But it's too late... the original carrier already bore children with the virus. If the symptoms were innocuous enough (fever, sweating--the ubiquitous 'flu-like symptoms') I've played Pandemic, I know what symptoms are low on the public radar, nobody would even think to look for a virus until much of the population had been infected. And it would be years before people even THINK to look in the genome! It's perfect! Peeerrrrfeecccct!!! *evil laugh*
I would name it.... CFS. Or Alzheimer's. Har har.
.... Yes, I'm completely aware that the above is complete BS, and there's probably a billion reasons you couldn't do that. But this stuff is what makes Science Fiction awesome, folks.
In any case, I wouldn't predict the egg/sperm to have receptors, because it's a perfect defense against such things. Let's look it up some time.
Last night, I went with the newly-divorced friend to PF Chang's. There are places that are expensive and normal, and there are places that are expensive and worth it. PF Chang's is the latter. Kung pao chicken=perfect. I was also told the chicken soup was to die for, so got some to go. Not so worth it, but at the moment I feel deserving of a reward.
Vanilla wafers are made for dunking in coffee.
Mon-Thurs, I was there no less than 11 hours, without lunch break. I feel like a real grad student, folks. It's brilliant. My boss treated me horrendously on Wed, but as long as I am moving forward I don't particularly care.
Wed was FACS staining: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_cytometry
I did this two years ago, and was basically handed the protocol and told, 'this is easy, you can do it without someone showing you.' No, not so easy when nobody tells you the cell pellet tends to stick to pipette tips if you use the p20, or that it's ok if overlay is less than 'over', or to turn off the hood light because the fluorochromes are sensitive. At the time, FACS=magic. My first exposure was to the stupid dot plots they stick in papers, which are mere Rorschach tests to the uninitiated. I was still trying to figure out what a CD4+ T cell was. It failed miserably that first time, and since then FACS has been in the back of my brain in the section of 'magic experiments that are utterly terrifying and beyond my ability but everyone else seems to find easy'.
Anyway, the conversation on Wed went something like this:
--------------
Boss: I got your email. Yeah, you shouldn't send that the day of your experiment.
Me: I'm sorry. I sent one yesterday, but I should have checked to make sure you got it. I thought you were just busy.
Boss: What antibody do you think we should use?
Me: Well, we're going to eventually use CD45 and CD11b, but are we're not actually sending these for analysis, right?
Boss: *laughs* Then what's the point? How do you know if it worked, otherwise?
[J-- and I had discussed this in length. FACS analysis at our core facility is $100/hr, so J--- insisted that this was just practice and we wouldn't be sending the samples away. I'd protested multiple times, pretty sure that the advisor would say exactly what he DID say, but J--- was quite sure, and since he's more advanced in Science than I it's best to just follow what he says]
Me: I thought it was just so J-- could show me how it's done?
Boss: Then what's the point of staining with an antibody at all? We might as well use PBS!
Me: .... *getting annoyed, because that's exactly what I'd asked in the FIRST email* Right. That's why I'm asking.
*insert long awkward pause*
Boss: ... stain for CD45, CD11b, CD4, and CD8.
Me: ....all four?
Boss: Oh, you don't know?
Me: *epiphany!* OH, CD45/CD11b in one tube, and CD4/CD8 in another?? [how the CRAP was I supposed to have divined that? This whole time I had thought we were only doing one sample, for practice, and not sending them away]
LATER THAT DAY, IN THE LAB
J-- to boss: (I'd filled him in on the earlier conversation) so I'm showing M--- the staining, and we are sending it for analysis.
Boss: Stain for CD11b, CD45, CD4, and CD8.
J--: All four?
Boss: *completely devoid of annoyance or derision* CD11b and CD45 in one tube, and CD4 and CD8 in another tube.
Me, at back of the room: *facepalm*
by the way, one of my active add-ons searches Wikipedia for a word that I double-click on. Double-clicking on 'facepalm' to highlight it revealed an article defining 'facepalm', complete with picture.
----
Anyway, it seems to have worked ok. Hallelujah.