Academic Update

I'm two/three weeks into my second semester at UTMB. I finished my first semester with a couple of exams and the requisite stress fest. But I'm very happy to report that I received A's in both of my graded courses and I am now a 4.0 student! I don't think I've ever had a 4.0, so I'm kinda excited!

This semester I'm taking two half semester courses, Immunology (first 8 weeks) and Microbiology (2nd 8 weeks). I was going to take a Cancer class but not enough people signed up for the class, so I ended up in only Immunolgy this 8-weeks. I'm kind of loving only having one class!

I started my 1st lab rotation on the 4th. I'm in Dr. Boehning's lab, he is the Chair of the Department of Cell Biology. Here is his website: http://boehninglab.org/default.aspx
He does apoptosis research. Apoptosis is when a cell kills its self from the inside in a controlled manner. This happens normally in a lot of situations, but a lot of neurodegenerative diseases are caused by too much apoptosis, and tumors can grow when there isn't enough apoptosis. I am working on an ovarian cancer project, looking at BRCA1 mutant ovarian cells that are resistant to paclitaxel (the normally chemotherapeutic agent).

In March I will start in Dr. Pomila Singh's lab. http://hiss.utmb.edu/ncb/faculty/PomilaSingh.asp

Thats all for now!