Work

I am doing my internship at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) which is associated with UBC. Its a few miles away from campus but it takes about 25 minutes to drive there because of the crazy traffic and parking around CMMT is impossible. The bus takes about the same amount of time and it drops me off just a few blocks away so now I take the bus to work.
I am working for Dr. Michael Hayden on Huntington's disease, and the lab has about a dozen people working on HD which is a pretty large group. The first few days in the lab were definitely the most exciting, and it feels almost surreal to be apart of this! One of the first articles I ever read about HD research was about a "cure" found in mice that my Grandma Lael sent to me years ago ( http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/45435.php ) and the first author on this paper was Rona Graham. Well, she was the first person I talked to Monday morning, and she explained this groundbreaking paper to me and some of the other research going on the in the lab. It was incredible! As in, I have known who she was for years and here she is, sitting at a table with me explaining the paper that was my first exposure to research. Surreal!
On Monday, I also went to lunch with a researcher named Jeff Caroll who I heard about before I came ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article787356.ece ). He is a Huntington's disease researcher who has tested positive for Huntington's disease, although right now he is 30 and presymptomatic. He is very open about his situation, so we talked over lunch and shared our family disease stories. His mother (who died from HD) actually was devoutly LDS, so we have several strange connections and he understands my lifestyle and background. Crazy coincidence! Anyways, talking to him was fascinating, to be able to hear his opinion on his situation and the research that he is doing right now. He is rather brilliant (as well as most people in the lab), very articulate and laidback and funny.
I spent the next few days talking to everyone in the lab who does HD research, which was absolutely amazing for me. The fact that I could understand most of what everyone was doing is a huge jump from last summer where I started off completely clueless, and although it is humbling to be around such smart people, I was able to hold my own! I am so grateful that I have been following whats going on in the field, it has helped me tremendously. Anyways, I spent a few days talking to people and trying to find my niche in the lab, the project that I could work on. I finally settled down on Friday and I have a good idea of what I'm doing. I will be working with a Chinese postdoc named Kun; she is trying to finish up and write a paper to be published before she leaves for medical school in August. Kun is very bright and dedicated, she spends all her time working in the lab, from 7:30 am to bedtime (I hope to not keep such a schedule). She actually reminds me a lot of Isa, my postdoc mentor from last summer, in that she explains things quickly and expects a lot from me (learn fast!). I am helping her finish up before she leaves and we are researching GLT-1, a glutamate reuptake transporter that has reduced activity in HD.
As far as the actual benchwork, a lot of it will be similar to techniques I learned last summer. One of the things I am doing now is working with HD mice and dissecting brains. The hardest part for me is grabbing the mice and giving them a shot. Mice squirm and I can't ever seem to get a good grip on them so they won't bite when I stab them with a needle! Poor mice!