In the life of a clinican scientist

April 7, 2011

2011-04-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Okay. Lest my admin assistant continue to point out the absence of a blog update, here it is! Maybe winter is just too depressing for blogging. But spring is here…

People:
I have a new summer student lined up for this summer – more dendritic spine analysis! Ironically, my last summer student is getting ready to do a Masters’ project. It isn’t with me, I admit, but it is on prions, so I must have a little bit of influence… 

This past winter has seen my first “499” student. And no, this does not mean I had 499 students, as one applicant misunderstood. This is just a course number, for a research project in final year undergrad. Alas, we hit many obstacles. Trying to make fibrils out of prion protein turned out to be more of a challenge than it should have been. Even just acquiring the protein took months. I requested “full length” prion protein from our on site resource facility, only to find out later they had given us a protein that was missing the first 6 amino acids. When I asked about this, I was told they didn’t think the first 6 amino acids would make any difference… Sigh. Always read the fine print…

As I train more people, I am also learning that not everyone is really cut out to do science. There are some basic math skills that really are needed. I am considering starting a collection of unusual mathematical calculations – like a 0.05% Tween solution being made by starting with 35mL of Tween… (okay, I’ll help you out with that one – to make a 0.05% Tween solution, starting with 35mL of Tween, would create a final solution volume of 70L!! That is more than my car gas tank holds!)

I am really enjoying having post-docs though. I now have three on board! If only it didn’t take a year to hire people! It is a challenge to convince people to come work with you when you are such a new researcher, and I can only extol the virtues of moving Edmonton so far… But, now I can actually spout ideas and have people run off to read about stuff, do experiments and bring me data! Of course, whether I actually believe their data is another issue. Ah, the dreaded control experiments…

I also have a great new admin assistant who pesters me just the right amount to keep everything on track (even this blog). And she makes yummy chocolate too…

Experiments:
I wish we were further along with experiments, but with more hands in the lab now, things are moving faster. We have great infections going, and we have tga20 mice to use now, which make more prion protein and are infected faster. Gene gunning the brain slices is still not optimal though. We are going to try using fluorescent mice (ah, the power of transgenetics) to see if this helps us.

We had some interesting confirmation that proteinase K really works well to chew up protein – even when it has been boiled and stored at minus 80C! Knowing this, we have made some adjustments and our immunoblotting looks much better. I think we may be able to snag a better antibody though…

We are making and comparing our allele a and b prion protein fibrils, with some early but interesting differences seen – and not what we expected. I’m not sure how to explain this yet, but that is part of the fun of research!

Grants:
I actually am allowed to spend money from my CFI grant – as of Feb 9, 2011. You know, I first started putting this grant together in May, 2009!! New Investigators beware…

I also wrote a CIHR operating grant. That is one of the “big” grants, where you are really judged as a researcher. So, come September maybe I’ll have more good news. Although the success rate for these is only 18%, so I am not feeling very optimistic…

Equipment:
The confocal microscope is set up on site – just waiting for a CO2 regulator so we can do live cell imaging (why is everything always on backorder?). And I have bought my fancy field flow fractionation machine. I decided to go with a different company than the one I used as a post-doc. I hope it pays off, especially given the $175 000 price tag. With any luck it will be delivered in the next month.

The Centre:
Sigh. Ah, the Centre… Well, the basement area did actually get certified and activated. Of course, my need is the main floor space. And that NMR? Still no hole in the wall for venting helium. There are days when I feel like proactively making that hole… So, we still wait. Maybe May? Is there even any point in estimating the date? It is SOOO frustrating!! If a protocol has been submitted but no one is there to read it, does it still exist? I can’t believe how much of my time here has been spent trying to help get things rolling, but in the end I mostly feel like Sisyphus. Better him than Prometheus I guess.

Clinical:
I have now been involved with 3 cases of CJD since being in Edmonton, in addition to the general neurology I do in clinic. I really enjoy the clinical side of my career - there is a more immediate impact than I get from the lab. But, every time I tell someone they or their loved one has CJD, and I hear them say "I'm so scared", it really pushes me back to the lab to figure out this nasty disease...

Talks:
I have given talks on how to give a presentation, on career choices, and oh yeah - some on my prion research! The most fun recently was joining Jay Ingram on his Alberta tour where he was discussing prions. Dr. Stephanie Czub and I were invited along to “answer the hard questions”. It was a lot of fun, and there were some really good questions too!

Other:
I am still with Concordia Symphony and the TEMPO group and I’m playing with some quartets now. I have also added some musical theatre into the mix, playing White Christmas over Christmas, and I’m doing Sondheim Into the Woods in a few weeks. So, my backup career is still thriving. Curling is done for the year (Go Stoughton!), so it is time to get my bike out again.

September 27, 2010

2010-09-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hello again. As the sun streams in my window, and the colourful leaves are glowing, I feel inspired to put out another little update on things…

People:
My summer student did a great job and we now have analyzed dendritic spine densities from uninfected slices kept alive for as long as 53 days. He is preparing a poster for the Faculty of Med & Dent summer student research day in October.

Now I have a 499 student who I just threw a bunch of information at and we’ll see how she fairs. Time to start making protein fibrils!

Two post-docs are “almost” hired. I just don’t know how soon they can start, what with all the VISA requirements. The hope is for January?

Experiments:
We have repeatedly succeeded in infecting our slice cultures, and are now trying to figure out the best way to image Purkinje Cells without having to fix the slices. Our latest attempts have been with dyes and gene gunning, with partial success, but I’m not satisfied yet...

Grants:
My CFI grant is in budget finalization, meaning I put out a bunch of requests for expensive pieces of equipment and was rewarded with two large boxes full of quotes from contenders! This is not an environmentally friendly way to do this, as vendors feel the need to put big glossy portfolios together – some of which have each individual page laminated, and there are three copies of every quote. Anyway, the first goal is to purchase a confocal scope, and that order may even go out later this week. :)

The Centre:
We are ever hopeful of getting the main level containment lab up and running “soon”. The CFIA inspection went well, so we thought we were set. Then we were told that the NMR machine needed a HUGE hole in the perimeter wall in order to vent helium. (Either that or users would all be talking like Donald Duck). But, that might actually happen soon, and then, in theory, we could actually “go live” for infectious prion work in a matter of weeks. It’s about time, as our tiny tissue culture suite in containment is about maxed out in terms of personnel…

Vacation:
BIG NEWS! I took my first real vacation since starting here in January, 2009. After doing a LOT of weeks of call over the summer (and having my bike stolen from outside my building!), I finally snapped and decided to take a break. My husband and I went to Peru for 2 weeks at the beginning of September, and it was such a wonderful trip and change of pace. And you know what? Nothing disastrous happened while I was gone! I hope to do this vacation thing more regularly. Afterall, in theory I get 4 weeks per year…

Other:
I joined another musical group – Concordia Symphony, in addition to the TEMPO group. So, that plus curling, which is about to start, will occupy three of my evenings per week. I hope that is enough “other” to keep me sane in the coming year. We’ll see how long it takes me to touch base again…

June 1, 2010

2010-06-01T13:35:00.001-07:00

June already, eh? Sigh. Definitely time for an update.

People:
I had two high school students in the lab for a few months, a couple days a week after school, as part of a Sanofi Bioaventis Challenge. They had hoped to solve the problem of early diagnosis in prion disease in their time here, but I had to convince them that that was a bit out of reach for their short project. Instead we looked at toxicity of prion peptides on cell culture. At least, that was the plan… At least they learned a bunch of techniques and in the process we got Western blotting working in my lab.

I also have a great summer student. It appears that in order to work in my lab, at least so far, your name must begin with J… So J and J are busily getting things done. Now if only I could find a good post-doc candidate. That is proving to be harder than I thought…

Experiments:
We have lots of slice cultures growing, and are trying to infect them now. The first 5 week infection experiment didn’t work, and we found out that a certain someone who gave us the infected source sample gave us one without any infectivity in it! You know who you are… Anyway, we now trust no one and have confirmed there is abnormal prion protein in the latest batch so hopefully we’ll have some infected slices after 5 weeks or so. Our own mice are on site now too, so that helps a lot. Now we are playing around with gene gunning our slices (yes, we shoot DNA or dye-coated beads at our slices!).

Grants:
My biggest news is that I got my Alberta Heritage Grant! It was a bit of a long shot, but I am really happy. That guarantees I have salary support for 7 years, and gives me some operating funds for 3 years. I didn’t get the PrioNet recruitment grant despite all that work, primarily because it overlapped too much with the Heritage Grant. Go figure. I am learning that navigating the nuances of different granting agencies is not as straightforward as I thought. Oh, and my other grant in the works is the infrastructure CFI grant. That was supposed to be reviewed in April and announced in May, but they had so many applications that the put off reviewing some of them (mine included) until June! So I am still waiting to hear about that so I can buy some of my more expensive pieces of equipment… We also didn’t get the NSERC grant we wanted as a Centre, but have just resubmitted, so we’ll see if we have more luck this time. My next big grant will be the dreaded CIHR grant next spring…

Travel:
I went to the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Toronto – the first time since I was a resident. It is more enjoyable when you don’t have an exam looming over you.

Other:
I wound up leading a Meet-a-Mentor initiative at the University, as part of WISEST. We did 4 teleconferences to rural junior high schools over lunch hours, doing some science and engineering labs with them. From jelly beans to volcanoes to turkey basters, it was a lot of fun (and work!). All in the name of inspiring kids to go into science or engineering…

One last tidbit – that WISEST talk I gave last summer? Well, the students enjoyed it so invited me to be their keynote speaker at their graduation last week. It was quite an experience – and a flashback to high school band renditions of Pomp and Circumstance. Anyway, my two take-home messages were “Be happy” and “Follow your passions”. I hope I can live up to that too…

Jan 12, 2010

2010-01-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Where have I been you ask? Well, after my last entry, we successfully started preparing brain slice cultures, and even imaged some on a confocal microscope. This was really a miracle of circumstance, as a colleague happened to have extra mice pups delivered unexpectedly, which would be sacrificed without purpose unless we needed them. They were to be the appropriate age within a week of my lab tech (who I will call J for the purposes of this blog) starting, and we had nothing set up yet, let alone all the reagents required for the experiment. But, somehow J managed to pull everything together and we were actually slicing by early the following week. Then, it turned out we were having a demo for confocal scopes in our building, so we were actually able to bring our freshly prepared slices and look at them on confocal - all within 1.5 weeks of J starting at the lab! Since then we had fortune to have another batch of mice prior to Xmas and made better cultures on this second round. Unfortunately, the cultures still died, but we think we are using too much media on top of the slices and impairing oxygen diffusion. Soon we should have our own mice so we are less dependent on others for sources.

After a week of call at the end of November, I had some "fun" submitting my PrioNet recruitment grant. There was a lot of last minute confusion regarding who had to sign what, and on the day everything was to be couriered to the agency, the final office at U of A, which was supposed to sign off, told me they had received the grant but because there was no sticky note on it saying urgent, they didn't take it seriously... I will refrain from articulating my exact response to this, but let us just say it was the straw that broke the camel's back (my back). The good news is that the agency allowed an extra day for things to get sent. The bad news is that my sanity was damaged for a while... In the future I will invest heavily in sticky notes to ensure communication happens. See? Even within the "science machine" communication breaks down! "A sticky note, a sticky note, my kingdom for a sticky note!"

But, I had a great break for 7 days over Xmas, including some skiing and relaxing in Banff with my husband. After catching up on sleep and sanity, it was back on call on the 31st through to the 7th. So much for sleep catch-up; the last three days straight were very busy. The next day we had a huge NSERC funding agency visit, where we had to demonstrate the quality of the Prion Centre and convince them of our need for funding as a national resource. It was a long day, and I drank a lot of coffee, but it went relatively well. We won't know the results for a while though. In the mean time, the push is on to get the containment part of the Centre up and running - which is currently caught up in paperwork delays...

Anyway, I really should write up this neurology clinical skills test station, prepare my year-end PrioNet report (even though it has only been 9 months since funding was given!) and review this article by the end of the week.

Oh - one more piece of good news. I had my year end evaluation with the Chair of Medicine, and it sounds like they are going to keep me - for the time being at least... ;)

Nov 16, 2009

2009-11-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry about that – kinda fell off the blogosphere for a bit there. But, I have lots of news!

I gave a really well received talk at a prion meeting in Greece – to students, on how to give a talk (the irony being I threw it together at the last minute). It was so great to fire off the Heritage grant and then lie by the Aegean Sea for a bit. Okay, only for 2 days before the conference, but still, better than nothing. I’ll have to take a real vacation one of these days… I also gave a presentation in Vancouver, to the PrioNet crowd, updating my progress to date. It went very well, but was really mostly show, and not data…

I’ve started curling every week – another great way to break from the stress (and no, I don’t just mean the alcohol component). I’m still playing music with TEMPO (a string chamber group) too – and will be playing a solo with them at our Dec 6th concert, but haven’t made it back to any celtic jam sessions recently. I’ll have to try to resurrect that…

I did some poster judging at summer student research day, which was fun but exhausting. Maybe I’ll have my own summer student next summer – if I can get around to actually reading the CVs I have been sent. As it is, I may also wind up with some high school students for a few months December through April. We’ll see…

I am adding to my committee responsibilities, but so far only ones I think will be fun. I am now on the advisory board for WISEST, and the residency training committee (for Neurology). I think the best committee name so far though, is the one we are developing for the Centre for Prions, to facilitate outside users who wish to use the containment areas. We have named this committee the “Facility Use Committee”… I won’t spell out the acronym for you…

But my biggest news? I’ve finally hired a lab tech – she started today. Yay! And she clearly knows her stuff. Already pieces of equipment are appearing in new locations and we are going to start spending money and doing experiments!

Aug 28, 2009

2009-08-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Man, lots happened in these past few weeks. I survived a very manageable week of call, followed by a very well received presentation to WISEST summer students (a bit of inspirational talk about following one’s passions, followed by some music - people always seem to enjoy the trick fiddling).

Then I was really stressing out about:
1) my Heritage grant, finding out I needed to assemble some sort of committee to review it, and reorganizing it all last week after being told my third “aim” was too dependent on the first two,
2) hiring a lab tech – do I hire a good candidate now, or wait for a possibly great candidate later?,
3) the %^&* elevator STILL being out of service, while my fridge, incubator, etc sits in the deliveries dock instead of here in my lab where I could actually use it,
4) figuring out how to image brain slices using confocal microcsopy when the funds I thought would be accessible for a confocal scope are, um, well, not quite available yet…

But, at the peak of my stress, I left work at work last Friday, and Dominik and I drove to Kananaskis for my 10 year med school reunion. It was GREAT. Everyone looked the same, but with a bunch of kids in tow. Who knew our class of 1999 (The Dugongs) was so fertile? I was impressed by how these physicians have managed to find a good balance in their lives. It was inspiring, especially as I was feeling overwhelmed before I went down there. Mind you, I am one of the last ones to get a “real” job and haven’t really settled yet. At least I don’t need to worry about having kids (my biological clock has been in reverse since obs and gyne in med school) – my classmates have seen to it that the next generation is well stocked! Dom and I did begin sponsoring a child in Ecuador though, so that is kinda neat.

Since then I have been taking things in stride. One person can only do so much. So, I am going to enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead (and only review three articles for Monday). After all, it is my last weekend being 34!

Aug 7, 2009

2009-08-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

I managed to work plus get in a hike in the mountains last weekend. Very nice. So, I got my AHFMR grant partially written, enough for the grant editor to have a look at it at least. Now I’m back on call (day 2 and counting), but it has been quite fun so far, and not very busy. I am just covering emerg consults during the day, and two other neurologists are covering ward stuff. Tomorrow I will do the same, plus cover everything after 5pm (or possibly sooner). I hope these two days have not simply been the calm before the storm.

The last time I did call, I presented journal club the morning after. This time I’ll be presenting to WISEST on my day after call. Ah well, I only need to talk about myself and my career path for 15 minutes, for which I don’t need to really practice… My real dilemma, is finding time during the day to contact references for all those candidates I interviewed – at least some of them…

July 31, 2009

2009-07-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Man, what a week! It began last weekend when I did a 100km bike ride – yes, 100km in a row… I borrowed a road bike from my colleague. Healthy body, healthy brain right? Now my sunburned knuckles are healing and I am relieved to find that I am starting to regain sensation in the distribution area of my pudendal nerve…

I learned more about WISEST (Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology) here at U of A, and I forgot to mention in my last blog that I had participated in their role model session for grade 11 students last week, which was a lot of fun. I enjoy meeting people at the early stages of their lives and careers, when they are full of hope and opportunities (the pre-pessimistic stage, ah those were the days…).

After clinic on Tuesday (which prompted me to revisit the whole statin myopathy issue), it was off to Vancouver on Wednesday – just in time for their record heat wave. My talk was very well received. Then I hung out in the hotel lobby working on my Heritage Grant before going for drinks with Jay Ingram and then entertaining the boards of directors at dinner by playing my violin (including some trick fiddling of course). Ah, the life of a researcher… You never know when those backup careers will come in handy…

The rest of the week has been filled with interviewing more lab tech candidates, both face to face and by phone. So far, so good (although I found out that some of them have been reading this blog!). Now I need to contact references. I also got more lab goodies – pipettes this time! Unfortunately, the fridge, freezer, CO2 incubator, and biosafety cabinet can’t make it here until our elevator servicing is finished (hopefully mid-August?).

Now it is time for the long weekend! I have decided to compromise the fact that I need to work on my grant but want to go to the mountains. I realize if I stay here and work all weekend, I will be very grumpy next week. So, it’s off to Calgary where I can work a bit, visit family and friends, and also make a day trip to hike in the mountains! It’s all about balance!

July 24, 2009

2009-07-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well the TV interview is on line now, at
http://start.shaw.ca/Start/enCA/Local+Content/Alberta/Edmonton/
Not bad overall. My voice always goes up in pitch when I do these things… Maybe I use my hands too much? Ah well, at least I managed to articulate reasonably well despite the braces.

What else is new? I’m sending away for business cards (does this font make me look smart?). Oh, and Courtney actually got her desk this week! Amazing! I managed to stay on schedule for my neurology clinic. I am almost through these last resumes and then I get to enter into another round of interviewing for my lab tech. I also have my talk close to ready for next week. Yesterday I analyzed a bunch of data from RML and it looks like my data may be consistent enough to actually write it up. I also organized my office / desk yesterday. A productive week!

You know what this means of course… I am procrastinating doing what I really need to do – write my Alberta Heritage Grant. It is somewhat disheartening to realize how many people submit applications for AHFMR and how few are actually successful. I have spoken to those who simply go through the application because they feel they have to, but they also know they have no hope of success. How depressing. Last year there were close to 80 new applicants and fewer than 20 were successful. And with AHFMR being “restructured”, many people are applying this September because none of us is really sure what the future of funding holds. There seems to be a general trend towards supporting later stage research which has demonstrable direct economic impacts. Does no one value knowledge for knowledge’s sake anymore? Is everything really about translation into dollars? I fear for basic science research, which often lays the foundations for future applications and discovery, and yet which cannot always be predicted to have economic impact at the time. Therein lies the art of grant writing I suppose. I bet Galileo didn’t have to deal with these issues. Mind you, he did have that whole Catholic Inquisition problem. I guess things could be worse…

July 17, 2009

2009-07-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was just interviewed by SHAW TV about prion research. TV interviews are fun I find, as long as you don’t talk yourself in a circle. I love the quest for “B roll” footage - to shoot stuff occurring in the lab or hallways which they can play during the talking. So often it can have nothing to do with the research! I guess watching someone talk is just not entertaining enough. It is supposed to be on line on their “cutting edge” research segment, and on TV on the 23rd at 4pm.

And just when we thought my admin person Courtney was going to get her desk, such that we dismantled her computer and moved the old small desk out of the way, now we find that those booked to dismantle the existing desk over in Medicine and bring it here, are not able to dismantle it. Wrong tools? Who knows. Now a completely different group of people needs to be booked. Sigh. And there Courtney sits, in her chair, no desk, no computer, phone on her lap…

In other news, I have been invited to give a half hour scientific talk at a joint board meeting of PrioNet Canada and the Alberta Prion Research Institute in Vancouver in a week and a half. Apparently mine will be the only science presentation of the afternoon. No pressure! After all, these are only the people who have provided me with most of my funding so far! My target audience will range from prion researchers to cattle ranchers…

July 16, 2009

2009-07-16T11:20:00.001-07:00

And finally my blog makes it on line! Better late than never... I was inspired to action by my first shipment of new lab items! Now my otherwise empty lab is full of boxes waiting to be opened. I'm not sure what it says about me, the fact that I am so excited about getting beakers, balances, tubes, etc, but there you go. You can also see my sporadic thought processes on Twitter (PrionGirl).

Currently on my plate:
1) reviewing a bunch of CVs from people who are applying to be my lab tech (hopefully this second round will prove successful)
2) planning my Alberta Heritage grant submission for September
3) analyzing data from the lab where I did my post-doc (in the hopes of writing another paper some day)

I also posted my blogs from the earlier days of my lab, and my first week on call, by date. I note, ironically, that my admin assistant STILL does not have a proper desk...

May 27, 2009, 8:50pm

2009-07-16T11:18:00.001-07:00

Is it just me, or is my blogging becoming less frequent? Perhaps I should call it a clog instead…

Ah well, I have been talking with plenty of product reps from various companies – who knew there were so many thermometers from which to choose? Now it is all in preparation for the CFI grant. This is my chance to get all the equipment I really need to get things going.

I received over thirty resumes for the lab tech position I posted. Unfortunately, they don’t all live in Edmonton. Hopefully I can interview some next week though. Wow – that’s June! For the last two weeks of June I’m off to Vancouver to learn all about 3D live cell imaging and confocal microscopy.

Oh, and I now have braces. Yes, on my teeth. Great weight loss strategy. I still can’t bite anything without pain and it has been over two weeks. Sushi is my friend… I was still able to enjoy food (and drink) in Las Vegas this past weekend though. It was my 10th wedding anniversary. Yep. 10 years. We got married one week after I wrote my LMCC (medical school licensing exam). Did I mention I thrive on stress?

I really want to write up this paper using data from my post-doc, but there have been changes to the machines on which I used to do the runs, and now a repeat of the experiment is giving weird results. It sounds like a calibration issue. I hope another repeat will clear things up. I would love to be able to submit an abstract to the PRION 2009 meeting in Greece this September. The deadline is now May 31 – 4 more days…

April 28, 2009

2009-07-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

We are still trying to get the prion centre up and running. Sigh. We are told “one more week” a lot. Maybe this time it will be true. Oh well, at least now I have access to start-up funds. Paperwork is still in process for the other two grants, and then I have to figure out how to “sub-grant” to my collaborators…

Protocols, protocols, protocols: Animals, ethics, and prions – oh my! And some committees are requesting 25 copies! All in the name of good science.

I did speak with a researcher who has used the same software that I hope to use (she is in McGill), and it was a helpful conversation. It is really great to be able to talk with other scientists in such an open and friendly manner, because we all get excited about each other’s projects and ideas. Plus, starting out can seem a bit daunting, so having a reassuring voice is nice too.

April 20, 2009

2009-07-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. So much for trying to keep up this blog thing regularly!

Well, I survived call. I was pretty nervous at first – couldn’t eat solid food, just milkshakes. But, by the end of the week I was eating and feeling much more confident. It was great to have another neurologist shadowing me for the week – someone to bounce ideas off, etc. I have a slightly better sense of where things are in the hospital now, although it took me several laps around the ER before I could find my way out at first! The residents were excellent too, which really helped. After all, residents really run the show.

It was “seizure” week for sure, with that being by far the most common reason for consultation. I had a few surprises when I found out I was expected at a meeting to discuss patient discharge planning, etc, and found out that I was the one running the meeting… Ah well, everyone was really very friendly and understanding.

I was still pretty zonked by the end of the week though, and still had to give that journal club presentation. All in all I think I gave a reasonable talk, but I was a bit aphasic at times (I had trouble with language – pronouncing complicated words, etc, because I was so tired).

But then it was done! And it was spring! So I got my hair cut nice and short! And then it snowed… I see that Edmonton weather is not so different from Calgary afterall…

Since then it has been back to organizing things at the lab. I just got access to start-up funds today, so I can finally begin to order stuff! My admin assistant has started (although we don’t actually have a desk for her yet…).

At the end of last week I went down to Calgary for a medical conference / curling bonspiel. Yep, I am definitely a curling geek. It was a lot of fun, but my triceps are still aching from all the sweeping. I haven’t curled for 5 years, so I was kinda rusty, and my muscles were taken by surprise.

But, now I have returned to clinical practice after a 5 year break, and to curling, after a similar break. So far so good!

April Fool's Day, 2009

2009-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

I can’t help but reflect on the irony of beginning my life as a PrioNet grant recipient on April Fool’s Day. Perhaps it is only fitting, as one of my grant reviewers described me as “peculiarly brilliant”. I am sure I have been referred to as both peculiar and brilliant at times in the past, but never in the same sentence.

Nevertheless, here I am, the Mad Cow Girl herself, about to embark on my latest adventure. After two months of swimming through the paperwork of moving, buying a house, getting a new lab building up and running (a work still in progress), navigating an ever restructuring University and Capital Health system (now Alberta Health Services), I think I may actually get to do some research! Oh wait – it looks like there is more paperwork in store first…

One thing about grants I am finding, is that everyone wants original signatures on pieces of paper, which often involves couriering these pages across the country so we can all sign the same thing. It looks like they will accept individual pages this time, so that will make things a bit easier.

Time for a to do list…
Sign and submit grant forms (so I can actually have access to the grant money).
Figure out how to hire a technician (emails sent – more forms to fill out).
Order required software for research project.
Order basic lab supplies (pipettes, culture dishes).
Order basic lab reagents (media,etc).

And just as I get revved up about doing research, I have a week of neurology call starting tomorrow – my first in quite a while and my first ever here in Edmonton…

Oh – and now I have to give journal club on the 9th, the day after I finish call… That’s going to be a good session…

Well, I’ve unpacked the boxes I brought from home. So many notes…

My flashlight and ophthalmoscope batteries seem to be in good shape. I am uncertain how many books to drag around with me on call. I hear the number carried is inversely proportional to your experience…