So, my grad student and I just had a conversation about Daylight Saving Time. I noticed that here, the sun sets about 7:30 PM, whereas back home in Michigan, it sets at about 8:30 or 9...
So I ask her if she turns her clock forward in the spring and back in the fall, and she just looks at me in half disbelief and half amusement and is like, No, why would I do that?
We then had a conversation about Benjamin Franklin and how he came up with the idea of DST and what its purpose was, and how there's actually different time zones in the U.S. (All of China is under Beijing time, even though the sun sets at different times in different places.)
I love cultural exchange :)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Research!
Today’s been a pretty slow day in the lab, so I thought I would blog about the research I’ve been doing! I’m working with a grad student, Cui Yi Xian, on the role that a couple of genes play in copper-induced apoptosis. One of these genes was previously found to confer resistance to apoptosis in knockout mutants, so now I am doing an over-expression construct and examining the phenotype of the mutant. (This has actually been a big headache to me for the past 3 weeks; I keep on having to repeat things over, because it doesn’t work the first time. Ah, such is the life of a biological researcher though…) But, I’m waiting on some sequencing results that should be in today – I hope it’s the right one :)
Other things I’ve gradually started noticing about the lab that’s different from back home: we only have one PCR machine available for use! I think we originally had two, but then one of them broke :( It’s also a much smaller lab, about 10 people who come in everyday. There’s also a lot of undergraduates, because the bio department at Tsinghua is pretty small, so there aren’t many labs that the undergraduates can work in. Edit to my last post: So, I’ve started realizing that some of the safety procedures that are in the U.S. just kind of don’t exist here… Such as not being able to wear flip flops into the lab – my toes are out in the open here! Haha.
My grad student is also mentoring 3 other students, so she’s really busy all of the time. However, I think we’re going to get haircuts together this weekend. I’m pretty glad she’s coming with me, I shudder to think of what could happen if I went all by myself…
I also went out to dinner last night with my labmates to celebrate the graduation of someone in our lab. We went to the third floor of Wan Ren, which actually has a really nice sit-down restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious, as some of the people had a little experience with ordering there. Haha. At one point, my grad student suggested drinking…but then remembered she had experiments to finish later! :)
One thing about the dinner: I wish I understood more Chinese – I feel that my listening ability is enough to almost always understand the topic of the conversation, but it’s very hard for me to pick up on jokes and such. It’s actually a little awkward, because everybody will be laughing heartily and I’ll be sitting there with a polite smile on my face. Hahaha.
Other things I’ve gradually started noticing about the lab that’s different from back home: we only have one PCR machine available for use! I think we originally had two, but then one of them broke :( It’s also a much smaller lab, about 10 people who come in everyday. There’s also a lot of undergraduates, because the bio department at Tsinghua is pretty small, so there aren’t many labs that the undergraduates can work in. Edit to my last post: So, I’ve started realizing that some of the safety procedures that are in the U.S. just kind of don’t exist here… Such as not being able to wear flip flops into the lab – my toes are out in the open here! Haha.
My grad student is also mentoring 3 other students, so she’s really busy all of the time. However, I think we’re going to get haircuts together this weekend. I’m pretty glad she’s coming with me, I shudder to think of what could happen if I went all by myself…
I also went out to dinner last night with my labmates to celebrate the graduation of someone in our lab. We went to the third floor of Wan Ren, which actually has a really nice sit-down restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious, as some of the people had a little experience with ordering there. Haha. At one point, my grad student suggested drinking…but then remembered she had experiments to finish later! :)
One thing about the dinner: I wish I understood more Chinese – I feel that my listening ability is enough to almost always understand the topic of the conversation, but it’s very hard for me to pick up on jokes and such. It’s actually a little awkward, because everybody will be laughing heartily and I’ll be sitting there with a polite smile on my face. Hahaha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
