Hi Everyone!
I’m back after a relaxing long weekend, spent at home in York with my family! There were lots of opportunities for photography, chilling out and I also picked some fruit! But back to business today.
Degree
#PhDaily Day 11 24/08/2015
Hi everyone,
I’m back for a 3rd week of #PhDaily!
Considering the failure of last weeks ITC experiment, this week (and in the short term at least), I have decided to focus on my NMR experiments, as (fingers crossed) these are still working. I got into work at around 10 am, and set up my computer (a linux system), before being joined by my guide and NMR wizard Andrea.
Previously, I have looked at the backbone structure of the protein i am looking at (essentially a chain of carbon and nitrogen atoms). Now i am looking at the two other parts of the puzzle needed to get a protein structure, the side chains and the spacial analysis. Amino acids – the building blocks of proteins are varied, and some have different side chains which can affect the overall structure of a protein. The spacial analysis allows me to determine where the different amino acids are relative to each other in 3D space, which is crucial to produce a 3D structure of a protein.
There are two stages to each part of the NMR process, running the NMR scans, then processing the data. I am currently processing the side chain data, which like all NMR data, is like a giant confusing jigsaw puzzle!
The NMR data processing screen. Certain peaks (the white circles) have to match up with certain other ones in each of these windows. From that i can tell the amino acid sequence, where all the side chains are, and where each amino acid is in relation to its neighbours.
I worked until 1pm, when i went for lunch and a sit outside, then back at 2pm for more data processing! I get my head around some difficult concepts to do with all of the different types of scan we have done, just in time to go home at 5.
Thanks for reading,
Microbe Stew
#PhDaily Day 8 19/08/2015
Hi everyone,
Well the ‘big experiment’ today turned out to be the ‘big anti-climax’… In work at 8 am to start preparing for the experiment – using a technique called Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) to look at the change in heat caused by the binding of a protein to another structure or ligand.
#PhDaily Day 6 17/08/2015
Hi everyone!
It’s Monday (Boo!), but the return of #PhDaily for its second week, yay! (I hope!). If you missed out on the first week, here is a link to my #PhDaily archive.
#PhDaily Day 4 13/08/2015
Wow i’m tired writing this, had a few things to sort out when i got home, and here i am, its gone midnight and I’ve just sat down to write!
Today I got into work around 9.30, and headed straight to the office, knowing my lab work would be minimal today (it’s really not been a good week for lab work!). I answer an email to our Bioscience PhD forum account about PhD funding for international students. This should have been a quick task, but I ended up going way over the top researching different ways that international students can study in the UK. But at least I felt I had done my good deed for the day.
#PhDaily Day 3 12/08/2015
Hi everyone!
It’s Wednesday night, so we’re officially over the hump! While i love my job and my work, that doesn’t stop me actively looking forward to the weekend! I try not to do any uni work over the weekend (to give myself a break!) although that doesn’t stop me working on my photography or on social media.
#PhDaily Day 2 11/08/2015
Hi everyone,
A slightly earlier start this morning of 9.30, after a shorter but seemingly better night’s sleep! Shortly after submitting last night’s post, a fuse tripped in my house and wouldn’t come back on. After eventually fixing it (somehow!), it was quite late, so I had a late night.
#PhDaily Day 1 10/08/2015
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the first (hopefully of many!) #PhDaily posts! This aims to be an honest insight into the day to day life of a PhD student.
Back after a break… (AKA don’t leave your work until the last minute)
Hi everyone, I hope you are all well!
First of all, i would like to apologise for not posting a blog article since April (i think!). Due to a number of reasons, including my health, but mainly due to an immense amount of stress over my first year PhD report, i have just not found the time to write.
PhD – Fight or Flight
Hi everyone! Welcome to my latest article. I am very lucky and grateful to be collaborating with Jennifer Polk: Academic, Career, and Life Coach, who has an amazing blog – From PhD to Life. Also check out #withaPhD. Here I am going to discuss my difficulties with an academic career, and over uncertainties over my future career. Jennifer offers advice on how to plan for the future and expand your career options. Make sure you look at our resource list at the end of the article, for a tonne of advice!
Microbe Stew 