Hi everyone. I am happy to announce that my first scientific paper has just recently been published, in the journal Neural Development. The title is... (deep breath)... "The Arp2/3 complex, UNC-115/abLIM, and UNC-34/Enabled regulate axon guidance and growth cone filopodia formation in Caenorhabditis elegans". If you are interested, you can find it online at neuraldevelopment.com, or if you prefer, go to Google and search "Adam D Norris" (in quotes) and the first hit will be a link to my paper. How's that for fame and glory? [editor's note: subsequent to its publication, this very blog post beat out my paper as Google's 1st hit. Oh the irony...]
If you lack the time or the interest to actually download the PDF (and I wouldn't blame you for it), here is the title page for ya (note the authors- Adam D Norris et al.)-
If you want the interesting part of the publication, without the boring parts (that is, 99% of it), here is an example video of what I do. The point is, you see a neuron as it grows from the bottom of the worm's body to the top, similar to the way a neuron from our spinal cord would grow from the spine, around the body, and up to a muscle cell on the abdomen, for instance. Unlike in humans, however, we can keep the worms alive, light up their neurons with green fluorescence, and image them as they grow. Then we can ask questions about how certain genes and gene mutations affect the process of neuron growth.
(If the video gives you trouble, just rewind it and start it over again. And blame it on blogger.com)
So, getting a publication as a first author is very important, as it is usually a necessary step toward graduating with a Ph.D. Which is not to say that I'm about to graduate, it just means that I'm on the right track. No change on that front, as I still hope I can graduate in about a year and a half (assuming all continues to go well).
One day Thomas Kuhn sent me a text message saying “I hear Vancouver is a nice city”. I replied saying “OK, sounds good, let’s go”. And that is the amount of planning that went in to our vacation last weekend (I exaggerate a bit, but only a bit). What follows are some anecdotes from the trip, neither exhaustive nor representative, but hopefully interesting.
The Stang
The first thing of importance is that while I was using the restroom at the airport, Thomas was secretly upgrading our rental car to a 2010 convertible Ford Mustang. Which, in the long run, I can’t say I criticize the choice at all.
Now one piece of advice, if you happen to have a 2010 Ford Mustang lying around (or a comparable vehicle thereto), do yourself a favor, and get someone to drive you up a mountain road with the top down on a crisp autumn day. Even better, sit in the back seat. Push the passenger seat forward, and use it as a footrest. Result: bliss.
Victoria
Victoria is a very lovely city, on an island that is only accessible via sea. It has nice old European-style buildings and gardens, and an excellent museum.
Speaking of Europe, I was surprised to see how much love there is for England in this region of Canada. Most countries are proud that they threw off the yoke of colonialism and became a free country, but it seems that in Victoria particularly they still think that they are a British colony. Every Canadian coin, in fact, has the face of the Queen of England on the front of it. Not a Canadian politician, or a Canadian leader, or even a Canadian citizen, but the figurehead of a foreign government! And the British Columbia flag has the Union Jack right on it:
Anyhow, guess what the $1 Canadian coin is called? A loonie! And guess what a $2 coin is called? A toonie!! No kidding. And believe you me, these coins are used all the time. Thomas and I got a big kick out of every time a cashier, waiter or panhandler would say the word ‘loonie’ or ‘toonie’ with completely straight face. Ha!
Not to be confused with their American counterparts:
Vancouver
So now we come to Vancouver and the post is already longer than I was hoping. Thanks a lot England! OK, less commentary and more pictures:
This postcard-esque location is a ‘clothing-optional’ beach. Don’t worry, it was cold enough that everyone (even Thomas) was wearing at least two layers of clothing.
The Winter Olympics are swinging into gear in just three months in Vancouver, so we went around seeing some of the sites. The figure of this statue is also the official logo for the ’10 games.
I will leave you with a pretty little waterfall north of Vancouver on the way to Whistler. If you want to see more pics check out the face book here (no purchase necessary).
