Long awaited updates

by Austin Jelcick, Graduate Student

Considering a substantial piece of time has passed since my last and only other post, I figured now would be as good a time as any to kick down a new blog.

So, since the last update was back in October, I guess it warrants attention to discuss Fall Semester right? Right.

Classes are… well… classes. They take time and effort. Or rather, they take a certain amount of time and effort, and then when you’re reviewing for the exams you realize that they require just a bit more energy than you thought and had been putting into them.

Gone are the days of attending lectures and then cramming a few days in advance. That doesnt work very well when there are over 200 pages of lecture notes and you are required to virtually regurgitate the knowledge from those powerpoint slides similar to how a seagull regurgitates its meal when its young peck at its beak.

So how to study then? Well, there is the 1.5-2 week in advance cram session which becomes daunting at best. But so far it seems the best way to keep up with the material is to do just that; study your notes each day for an hour or two. It’s amazing what you learn and don’t even realize.

Now for an individual like myself who has self diagnosed ADD and ADHD and has “shiny object” syndrome when studying, I find it easiest to get my hour or two of studying each day at the gym. It forces you to study while you’re chugging away on the eliptical trainer, treadmill or bicycle and at the same time, an hour of cardio does you worlds of good. Much better than slowly developing the “cubicle gut” as I like to call it resulting from lack o activity and coupled with all of that free pizza and cookies you recieve at seminars and luncheons.

But classes are good, you get through with them, achieve your B or A, and move on to the next round. Much like a very drawn out and tiresome boxing match. Round two, start. It’s the grad school version of that old Nintendo game Super Punch Out! Entertaining but at the same time you stop every now and then and question your will to continue playing, lol.

And what’s better than classes and exams? Well, exams that are right after spring break of course. That adds a whole new edge to the conundrum of studying and motivation, lol.

And in the meantime, you do your rotations, which can become quite complicated when you have your car broken into and have your computer mishandled by FedEx and have to go through a month and a half long ordreal involving insurance agencies, junkyards, computer repair shops, and many many sleepless nights.

All in all though, life goes on. Lab continues. As it approaches the end of first year rotations and that process of picking a lab that everyone around you describes similar to marriage and hoping you pick a healthy relationship.

I’l update more as the spring semster nears its end; or if something crazy occurs. I swear.

And now your moment of zen:

“Karma is as karma does”

GSA Workshop - Grammar Hammer

Dr. Myron Toews, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neurosciences, was kind enough to give his popular seminar “Grammar Hammer: Common Mistakes in Scientific Writing.”

As part of our workshop series last year, the Graduate Student Association hosted Dr. Angie Rizzino, Professor at the Eppley Institute, to give us some tips as to how to construct and write a grant. This year we decided to complement that seminar by having Dr. Toews tell us what the most common grammatical mistakes are while writing grants.

Dr. Toews has a “Top 10″ list of Common Complaints and Corrections that he encounters when he is reviewing a grant or a student’s thesis. He addressed each one and provided feedback as to how to avoid these mistakes. They are:

1. Hyphens in compound words
2. Space between numbers and units
3. Proper plurals
4. Abbreviations
5. Person, voice and tense
6. Commas in parenthetical statements
7. Commas in long and/or compound sentences
8. Inappropriate use of “time” words
9. Which/that
10. “A number of…”

For a complete copy of his power point presentation, go to Dr. Toews’ webpage.

GSA Social Event - Halloween Party

The Graduate Student Association is always looking for ways to provide the graduate students at UNMC with opportunities to leave the lab, put some of their work aside, and unwind. We decided to host a Halloween Party. Students were encouraged to dress up. At the end of the night we named the best costume. The party was held at Barrett’s.

We are not done by any means with our social events. This February or March look out for our next social event, which will be either ice skating or wall climbing. This year we are also planning on bringing back “Bowling Night,” which is scheduled for sometime in April (depends on exam schedules).

The winner of the costume contest was Agnes Constantino (picture on the left).

For more pictures of the event go to our website at www.unmc.edu/dept/gsa.

GSA is hosting the author of the PHD Comic Strip, Jorge Cham

On Thursday, November 1st, the Graduate Student Association will be hosting the author of Piled Higher and Deeper, Dr. Jorge Cham. His comic strip focuses on the life (or lack thereof) of academia, specifically from the graduate student’s point of view.

We hope that you can attend the seminar for a few laughs by poking fun at graduate students, research, and procrastination.

Santa Cruzin

by Austin Jelcick, graduate student

So with October 20th here I have now officially been in Omaha Nebraska for approximately two and half months, considering I moved her at the very beginning of August.

I like to think of it as an experiment in adaptability considering I did my undergrad in the desert-ish once riparian brush now agricultural wasteland also known as the central valley of california. Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton… you get the idea.

Impressions of Omaha? Well to be blunt, the city atmosphere has made all the difference.  As for UNMC… the BRTP program is full of good people. Classes are interesting, the professors are by far some of the best I’ve encountered when compared to those at my undergrad, and the pace isn’t too bad. As for the exams… well I don’t think I’ve ever studied as hard as I do now out of necessity, nor have I had to cram more material into what little space there is in my brain. I think somewhere along the line I need to find an injection or pill that will spontaneously generate more dendrites.

Life in the lab? I’ll get back to you on that once I start my second rotation and have more than one experience and group of people to compare, contrast and comment upon.

So as I sit here over fall break at home in lovely Soquel, CA enjoying the few days I have back at home, enjoying the sun, the weather, and the fantastic northwest swell thats ripping through the ocean at the moment beconing me to don my wetsuit and leap into the sea, I wish you all well, and hope that you will enjoy the rantings, comments, and experiences of a liberal California kid transplanted into Omaha Nebraska to attend UNMC.

At least I have my incense and reggae music in my apartment…the scents and sounds of home

Song of the day for you to hear/obtain/download:

“Over My Head” by Lit, off the album Atomic

Your daily moment of zen:

GSA welcomes new graduate students at its annual Fall BBQ

For the past three years the GSA has welcomed the new graduate students at UNMC by sponsoring a BBQ. It was held on Friday, August 24th at the Swanson Hall Green Space. Current and new graduate students had the opportunity to complement their diet with hamburgers, hot dogs, and a veggie lasagna. (Some of you will learn that “free food” is one of the basic food groups for graduate students). Some students took the opportunity to learn to play bocce. Over 100 graduate students attended, along with a few faculty members.

The GSA will hold three more social events later this year. These events will be a great opportunity for all students to come together and take away some of the stress of lab work, classes, or the ever complicated comprehensive exam. I hope to see you at these events, and thank you for attending the BBQ.

For more details about GSA please visit http://www.unmc.edu/dept/gsa

Science for “Praise, Prize and Price”

by Anguraj Sadanandam, Ph.D.

I am surprised by the French novelist, playwright, existentialist philosopher, and literary critic, Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined the Nobel Prize in literature awarded during1964. I read that he even consistently declined many awards in his life. As I was searching, the refusal of awards by winners is relatively rare in science. This reminds me the wordings of one of my friend saying almost every person in the world, one way or the other, works for “Price, Prize and Praise” in an order. Most of the graduate students while choosing a lab or career, we set out in a research area, which will fetch us more money (price). Then, we will think if that area will give us awards (prize) and later, look for recognition (praise) from advisor, peer and friends. But the order in which it works may change for some people desperate for award or recognition than money as “Prize, Praise and Price” or “Praise, Prize and Price”.

But sometimes even if we work hard, we may not get all the three in order and as well as not when we expect. I usually console myself saying that the award goes to students, who have accomplished earlier than I have. However, last year I attended a lecture by Nobel Laureate, Dr. Irwin Rose. He started his presentation saying “Work to solve problems, not to win Nobel Prize”. I am realizing from his lecture that none of the Nobel Prizes were given to people who worked towards the award. Most of the discoveries in science are by chance and so do the Nobel Prize. At the same time, I remember the first few words of Dr. Robert Weinberg in one of his excellent award lecture in AACR-2006 that “It is always nice to be recognized by your peers and friends”. Therefore, I learned that it is nice to get appreciation from peers and friends for the work we have done, but the priority should not be just recognition alone.

Great Summer!!

by Miriam Rose Menezes

Summer surely is the best part of the year and I am certain every graduate student greets summer with great joy and anticipation. I am especially relaxed right now because I don’t have to take any classes and can concentrate only on lab work.

My search for a lab has ended and I have joined Dr. Youri Pavlov’s lab. I have great respect for my mentor and am truly privileged to get this fabulous opportunity to work with him and the fellow members of the lab. The main focus of the lab is to study DNA replication, DNA damage and DNA repair. These factors affect genetic stability, which in turn, play a role in the onset of diseases like Cancer.

My project seeks to understand the role of enzymes which bring about detoxification of incorrect nucleotides in human cell lines. Bacteria and yeasts have a variety of enzymes that can clean up the nucleotide pool and this enables the correct nucleotides to be incorporated into the genome during DNA replication, ensuring genomic stability. These enzymes have homologs in human cells too and I seek to study the role of these enzymes and further understand the mechanism of detoxification of the nucleotide pool in human cells. It is very challenging to initiate a new project. However, I am enjoying my work. Since this is a new project, often things I try don’t work. Then it’s back to the drawing board to figure out a new strategy. Slowly but surely, things are moving along. However, when an experiment works, the feeling of immense satisfaction is indescribable. These little triumphs are rare but precious!!!!

Another hallmark of summer is that the city of Omaha is brimming with events. Gone are those dreary, cold winder days. In stark contrast, the weather is glorious and there is so much to do!! I enjoyed the time I went swimming with my friends. The summer arts festival took place in the last week of June. It was great opportunity to get a flavor of the local arts scene. I personally enjoyed the jazz and the world music showcase. Then for Shakespeare fans, the “Shakespeare on the Green” at Elmwood park is unmissable. My personal favourite was the Omaha Jazz and Blues Festival at the Riverfront. I love Jazz music and nothing can beat hearing the live sounds of the Saxophone, Drums, Guitar and Double base coupled with the relaxing environment of the the Riverfront. I wish I had more time to spend here.

Alas, lab work beckons!!! Things are starting to get a little hectic now since we are nearing the beginning of the Fall term. It’s hard to imagine that a year has passed since I arrived in Omaha. I am now going to be a second year student!!! I am eagerly awaiting to meet the new students and make new friends. Right now, however, I am taking in the warm sunshine and enjoying the remainder of a truly relaxed and eventful summer.

Ph.D. pursuit

by Anguraj Sadanandam, Ph.D. candidate

I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha. I am defending my thesis by July 9, 2007 and expect to complete my degree in pathology and microbiology with a speciality track in bioinformatics. I am working under the supervision of Dr. Rakesh K. Singh at the Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment, Immunology and in silico Cancer Biology.

I will take this opportunity to summarize my cancer research focus and accomplishments. Though I was trained in different background, it is worth mentioning that I always had an interest in cancer biology. My research thesis was identified and designed by myself under the esteem guidance of Dr. Rakesh K. Singh. I am working on a project to identify and characterize tumor/tissue specific metastatic markers. Identifying such unique markers will help in understanding the mechanism of distant metastasis and targeting therapeutics. Our laboratory identified organ-specific 7-amino acid peptides using an in vivo phage display peptide library. I designed a high-throughput strategy based on the mouse genome and proteome to predict Semaphorin 5A (SEMA5A) and Plexin B3 as molecules involved in pancreatic and prostate cancer metastasis.

I am examining the functional significance of SEMA5A expression in human pancreatic cancer, and have determined SEMA5A interacting proteins. Very little is known about the role of SEMA5A in tumor growth and metastasis. Recently, I observed that SEMA5A is expressed only in metastatic pancreatic tumors and not in primary tumors or normal tissues. Overexpression of SEMA5A shows increase in tumorigenic and metastatic potential of pancreatic cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro. However, knock-down experiments for SEMA5A demonstrate its role in mesenchymal-epithelial transition during latter stages of pancreatic cancer metastasis. Furthermore, my experiments revealed the secretion of membrane bound SEMA5A and its role in pancreatic cancer metastasis. In addition, for first time my studies demonstrated the proangiogenic role of SEMA5A and the mechanism of action. As a part of my Ph.D. thesis, I have developed a database for cell adhesion molecules, and is available online at http://app1.unmc.edu/mcam

During my leisure time, I play badminton and roller and ice skating. I like long drives during the summer.

Summer Time!

by Suzanne Clabaugh

So it’s summer time, the weather is awesome, the College World Series just got done, my birthday is coming up…….this is my favorite time of year. I just finished up my two summer classes, which probably wasn’t the greatest idea to take them in the same session, but I made it work so I can graduate this December. However, those were some looooooong weeks, since I would work a full day in lab, then have night class from 5:30 to 9 pm Monday through Thursday. Then usually weekends were spent in the lab or in the library studying and working on projects. Needless to say, it got pretty stressful, but I made it through! And I am so ready to be done with this master’s degree! Speaking of which, I’ve had a lot of people asking me questions about my experiences doing both degrees, so I’m going to address some of the most common ones I’ve gotten.

So I decided to do both at the same time because I am a little crazy. Ok, not really, but I think you kind of have to be a little nuts in order to not go completely insane from all the work that it is. I knew I wanted to get my Ph.D., but I also knew that I didn’t want to be sitting on a lab bench the rest of my life, so I thought about what I enjoy, which is managing people, and decided to pursue the MBA. It was really hard at first because I had never had any business classes before this, so there was a definite learning curve going into it. Most programs will require that you have certain classes as background before starting the MBA classes, and I took these the summer before I started. But usually you don’t need to have a business B.S. Also, I started both programs at the same time, which I think wasn’t the best idea. If you are interested in doing this, I would recommend waiting a year before starting the MBA classes. Or just take one class a semester, instead of two.

There are a couple programs that are offered online, and that probably would have helped things a lot, but if you decide to go this route, make absolutely sure that the program you do choose is accredited. There are several national ones that are, but I’m not sure if the locally offered ones are. I chose UNO because that’s where I did my undergrad and their business program is starting to gain some national recognition. Plus they have a great history of placing graduates.

As far as balancing both programs, I placed the Ph.D. program on top priority, and the MBA came second. Always. I have a very understanding lab, but I did not allow my lab work or class work at UNMC to fall behind or suffer in any way because of the MBA classes. I guess I kind of thought of it as just something I did on the side, maybe like dance classes or cooking lessons or something like that. Maybe you can work out something with your mentor about doing everything a little slower, but you really need an understanding mentor.

So to sum it up, you do not need to have a business degree to do an MBA, usually just a few specific classes. You will need to take the GMAT, as most schools won’t accept the GRE for business, although the tests are similar. You don’t need any previous internships or anything at UNO, though I’m not sure about other schools. I would recommend waiting a year before starting the classes, or only taking one at a time, unless you don’t want to have a life and you have no patience, like me. Most of the classes have some sort of group project, so you do spend a fair amount of time working with other people, but the rest of it can be done on your own, on your own time. At UNO, you build a business case as you progress, doing one part of the case in many of your classes, then you have the capstone class as your last one in which you complete your case, that’s kind of like your dissertation, although you have an option of doing a thesis as well. I think graduate courses at UNO are somewhere around $160 a credit hour now, but you can look that up on their website.

Overall, the classes are tough, especially if you’ve never had any business classes or experience. I was fortunate in that I was in management at UPS for four years during my undergrad, so I had a lot of real world experience that I could relate stuff in class to, and really understand it. But mainly you learn about how to run a business, how to manage people, how to be a leader. So if you want your own lab someday, or want to work in private industry or for big pharma, this is a great option for you, but be aware, it is a LOT of hard, hard, hard work. If you are interested and want more info, the website for UNO’s program is mba.unomaha.edu and I’m more than happy to talk to anyone, or set up a time for you to speak with someone at UNO, I’ve gotten to know a lot of them quite well.