would you like to share your research?

[uproarhz]

I was actually thinking it would be a cool idea for people who are on this forum to give everyone a little short snipit of their research. I think it's a good idea because 1) we can educate each other on different fields and the types of research that are going on, and 2) once we get into our grad schools or for those who are currently in their grad years, it would be cool to have a variety of resources to go to outside our immediate school. Think of it as the feeding grounds for potential future collaboration

I would feel awkward being the first, and possibly the only one if this thread doesn't catch on , to post my research, but if any one is interested then I will definitely post mine too.

Anyone brave enough to start this?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[xanthines]

I feel like this is only a good idea for those that want to remain relatively anonymous. Seeing as how research is supposed to be relatively anonymous, this may narrow down the options on who and where you are. That being said, I'll just cut and paste a paragraph from my MSTP personal statement:

...[I have] made significant contributions to a project investigating the structure and function of intercellular junctions in epithelial cells known as tight junctions. The overall protein organization in tight junctions serves to draw together plasma membranes from adjoining cells into such close proximity so as to restrict paracellular transport of small solutes and ions. Over the past three years, my experiments have focused on elucidating functions of the two extracellular loops of claudin-1 and occludin (both tight junction proteins) using a novel ?bait? peptide approach that allows for covalent attachment to and capture of potential interaction partners. A series of peptides emulating various segments of these presumed extracellular loops were generated and I used them to determine their role in tight junction structure and function. I examined the physical properties of these peptides, determined their ability to self-associate and interact with other proteins, and how they affect tight junction function. Using this approach I obtained the first direct evidence for homotypic and heterotypic binding interactions. I also found the peptides act in a specific, selective, and reversible manner when applied to live cells. Additionally I used fluorescent and electron microscopy to find that a claudin-1 peptide associates strongly to the plasma membrane but without affecting the structures directly below it, the adherens junction. These results have been incorporated into two manuscripts in which I am a co-author and have been submitted for peer-reviewed publication. I feel gratified that this work contributes to our overall knowledge of tight junctions which may lead to better drug delivery systems as tight junctions exist both in intestinal epithelia as well as the blood-brain barrier...

If you have any questions, throw down.

-X

I was actually thinking it would be a cool idea for people who are on this forum to give everyone a little short snipit of their research. I think it's a good idea because 1) we can educate each other on different fields and the types of research that are going on, and 2) once we get into our grad schools or for those who are currently in their grad years, it would be cool to have a variety of resources to go to outside our immediate school. Think of it as the feeding grounds for potential future collaboration

I would feel awkward being the first, and possibly the only one if this thread doesn't catch on , to post my research, but if any one is interested then I will definitely post mine too.

Anyone brave enough to start this?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I think research descriptions preserve anonymity as long as the readers aren't really involved in the work in the particular area. Regardless, it's still a relatively small world we live in

Of course, there are the powers of PubMed...but being a member of the tight junction research community myself, I could come up with a few guesses of who your PI might be...but I won't.

Your research sounds cool BTW. Has your work appeared in print yet? I wonder since I think I read a paper or two that is highly reminiscent of the research you describe. Cheers.

 

[uproarhz]

I think research descriptions preserve anonymity as long as the readers aren't really involved in the work in the particular area. Regardless, it's still a relatively small world we live in

I guess when I was writing this, I wasn't thinking of the anonymity issues. But then again, I wasn't thinking of such a detailed description of the projects either. I was thinking something like "my research is in the area of tight juntion protein crystollography." I think something as broad as that would preserve anonymity while it would give others an idea of who is doing what. But my hat off to Xanthine for being the brave and courageous one!!!

Since I promised I would add, if anyone dared to start, here is my area of research:

Right now I am doing research in mechanisms of DNA repair and adaptive response to ionizing radiation. We use mostly cell culture, biochemical, and cytometry techniques. In the past I have worked on breast cancer and signal transduction pathways.

Anyone else?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I guess when I was writing this, I wasn't thinking of the anonymity issues. But then again, I wasn't thinking of such a detailed description of the projects either. I was thinking something like "my research is in the area of tight juntion protein crystollography." I think something as broad as that would preserve anonymity while it would give others an idea of who is doing what. But my hat off to Xanthine for being the brave and courageous one!!!

Since I promised I would add, if anyone dared to start, here is my area of research:

Right now I am doing research in mechanisms of DNA repair and adaptive response to ionizing radiation. We use mostly cell culture, biochemical, and cytometry techniques. In the past I have worked on breast cancer and signal transduction pathways.

Anyone else?

It's all good uproarhz. As a fellow SDN poster told me in joking fashion, anonymity is overrated anyway. The more and more I post here, sometimes sober, sometimes a bit tipsy, I realize this more and more and care about this less and less (plus, people could probably figure who I am anyway if they were bored and had lots of time to read through my 1000+ posts).

Anyway, to follow suit, I finished my PhD a little over a year ago. My thesis involved studying epithelial cell polarity and tight junction formation.

Chime in everyone! Join the fun!

 

[uproarhz]

It's all good uproarhz. As a fellow SDN poster told me in joking fashion, anonymity is overrated anyway. The more and more I post here, sometimes sober, sometimes a bit tipsy, I realize this more and more and care about this less and less (plus, people could probably figure who I am anyway if they were bored and had lots of time to read through my 1000+ posts).

Anyway, to follow suit, I finished my PhD a little over a year ago. My thesis involved studying epithelial cell polarity and tight junction formation.

Chime in everyone! Join the fun!

Thanks for posting. And yes, I agree anonymity is overrated. Especially when you aren't the type of person who would take advantage of anonymity and post things that you wouldn't post otherwise, like some of the really rude and ridicilous comments that I have seen on some of the boards. Fortunately, less of that goes on here on the MSTP forum, but there are some really angry and negative people on these boards.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Thanks for posting. And yes, I agree anonymity is overrated. Especially when you aren't the type of person who would take advantage of anonymity and post things that you wouldn't post otherwise, like some of the really rude and ridicilous comments that I have seen on some of the boards. Fortunately, less of that goes on here on the MSTP forum, but there are some really angry and negative people on these boards.

I agree that there are some angry and negative people. I think true and honestly stated negative sentiments are not such a bad thing (I mean there ARE things that get me hot and bothered sometimes ). But some do take it way too far to try to ruin things for others. Face it, you got cool people and uncool people...and members of both groups aren't perfect.

 

[fyli260]

I'm not sure if this would serve as grounds for future collaboration since it's hard to say what kind of research we'll be doing 10-15 years from now. But just to share, I have done research in several different labs, but most of them involved studying cancer-relevant proteins through biochemistry and structural biology. I don't think any details would matter here since my future research interests are somewhat different. I'm very interested in pursuing research in virology and immunology (and possibly oncology as well) even though I have very little research experience in those fields. I'm hoping to study infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis, etc. If this is what I end up studying and you're interested in these fields as well, feel free to contact me to collaborate.

 

[uproarhz]

I'm not sure if this would serve as grounds for future collaboration since it's hard to say what kind of research we'll be doing 10-15 years from now. But just to share, I have done research in several different labs, but most of them involved studying cancer-relevant proteins through biochemistry and structural biology. I don't think any details would matter here since my future research interests are somewhat different. I'm very interested in pursuing research in virology and immunology (and possibly oncology as well) even though I have very little research experience in those fields. I'm hoping to study infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis, etc. If this is what I end up studying and you're interested in these fields as well, feel free to contact me to collaborate.

Sounds good, just make sure you update us once you figure out what exactly you're gonna do!

 

[BDavis]

1) we can educate each other on different fields and the types of research that are going on, and 2) once we get into our grad schools or for those who are currently in their grad years, it would be cool to have a variety of resources to go to outside our immediate school.

My research is on RNA splicing defects in a genetic disease called myotonic dystrophy. Typically when one thinks of genetic disease, we usually think of inborn errors of metabolism where mutations in DNA lead to defects in the protein product (or lack thereof). For myotonic dystrophy, the cause of the disease is a RNA gain of function mechanism in which these long expanded repeats cause disease by altering the activity of RNA binding proteins.

Summary:
expanded RNA repeats->altered activity of RNA binding proteins->myotonic dystrophy

 

[Alexs42]

Good thread idea. Probably should have more of these things.
And now for something a little different.
Research in the area of innate-adaptive immunity and its overlap. Mostly
natural killer T cells (NKT) biology i.e. biochemical aspects of NKT cell antigen synthesis, bioch. aspects of NKT T cell receptor antigen recognition, and last two years, NF-kB signaling in NKT cell development and function (disc. it is essential for their development).
good luck to all of you who are picking your projects.
Aleks

 

[fyli260]

Good thread idea. Probably should have more of these things.
And now for something a little different.
Research in the area of innate-adaptive immunity and its overlap. Mostly
natural killer T cells (NKT) biology i.e. biochemical aspects of NKT cell antigen synthesis, bioch. aspects of NKT T cell receptor antigen recognition, and last two years, NF-kB signaling in NKT cell development and function (disc. it is essential for their development).
good luck to all of you who are picking your projects.
Aleks

What does disc. stand for?

 

[xanthines]

Ha ha! I think not! It's just that I have no shame!

For the angry people who come looking for me: For some odd reason my PI likes tall people. No one in my lab is under 6 feet tall and I'm the biggest!

-X

But my hat off to Xanthine for being the brave and courageous one!!!

 

[tedrik]

Great thread idea, now I feel like I'm actually getting to know you people!

For the past two years I have been working in an academic lab that also has close ties to industry. My PI invented a class of cognitive enhancers that are currently being tested in several ongoing clinical trials. My project involves several types of electrophysiology and biochemistry techniques to identify the molecular mechanisms by which these drugs work. Specifically, I am interested in whether these drugs alter the available or active levels of a subunit of the AMPA-type glutamate receptor that is known to be crutial to the overall regulation of the receptor. Altough our major biotech collaborator works with human subjects, our lab (headed by a PhD) works only with the animal models.

By the way, I would also like to know what "disc." stands for...

 

[Gfunk6]

My research blurb:

"The long-term goal of this project is to investigate the function of the MDM2 oncogene in glioblastoma multiforme (glioma) [also known as grade IV astrocytomas, malignant brain tumors with a < 12 month survival] and the potential value of MDM2 as a target for glioma therapy. MDM2 is over-expressed in gliomas and epidemiological studies have strongly implicated MDM2 as being a significant negative prognostic marker in patients. To that end, we propose to use antisense knockout technology to specifically inhibit MDM2 expression. In preliminary studies, we have identified anti-MDM2 antisense oligonucleotides (oligos) as effective inhibitors of MDM2 gene expression. We propose to use the oligos as a research tool to investigate the role of MDM2 in the development and therapy of gliomas, alone and in combination with chemo- and radio-therapeutic treatment modalities."

 

[Alexs42]

whoops, sorry. i've been writing in shorthand too much these days (surg rotation). disc.=discovered
Aleks

 

[Treg]

Hey guys I am one of those crazy finishing up my PhD before med school types. My research involves preserving b-cell mass in islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes. I use gene therapy approaches in mouse and primary human tissue.

Treg

 

[Caesars0331]

Neuroprotective effects of minocycline in experimental hydrocephalus.