Second-year PhD student Jeffrey Margolis - A Week in the Life - Stanford University School of Medicine

Wednesday, May 10, 2006
How are we 4-0?

Ah, the guilty pleasure of sleeping in. After a whirlwind week of jet setting and early mornings, I decided I was going to sleep until 7 am today. I know what you're saying, that's not sleeping in.

Up until this year I would have agreed with you, too. Adjusting to Lacey's regular work schedule, rather than the work hard/play hard life I had last year, has been interesting. I used to think that going to bed before 11 pm was a sign of being old and now its a necessity. Now that I've adapted my schedule, its become second nature, however. It's worth it to spend time with Lacey in the morning and help her get out the door on time. Luckily, she too wanted some extra time this morning, giving me the perfect excuse to catch some extra Z's.

Today in lab was competent cell day. Competent cells are bacteria that are prepared in a special way so that genes we are interested in can be inserted into them.

Because the bacteria replicate very rapidly, this method, is a form of cloning and allows us to make many copies the gene we're interested in. The procedure for making these cells isn't very exciting, but the last step makes the several hours it takes worth while.

After the cells are made, they are flash frozen in little tubes using liquid nitrogen. In order to get them out of the liquid nitrogen, we have to pour the -320 degree liquid across the floor. It's really cool to watch the liquid nitrogen dance in little beads across the room. I know it sounds nerdy, but hey I'm a scientist.

Here are photos of Annie and I making the competent cells. Annie is a fourth-year grad student who shares my Chicago-centric views. She agrees that no matter what Californians say, its "pop" not "soda". I can always count on her to crack me up in lab.

The rest of my day in lab was working on a poster presentation I'm giving on Friday. For most (if not all) of the Biosciences departments at Stanford, every grad student is funded by one of several National Institutes of Health training grants. At most schools, these slots are very competitive and highly coveted but Stanford has enough for everyone to get one (not a bad deal).

The training grant which funded me during my first year, was the Cellular and Molecular Biology grant. Everyone who has received this funding at any point is required to either present a poster or give a talk at an annual symposium. Even though I am now funded by the Department of Homeland Security due to the bioterrorism potential of the pathogen I work on and next year will switch to a National Science Foundation fellowship, I will continue to participate in this meeting until I graduate.

Although it's extra work, I've learned that any opportunity to practice presenting research and to get feedback is a good thing. I'm happy to report that I managed to finish all of the parts of my poster minus the introduction and conclusion. With the actual data put together and formatted all nice and pretty, the rest shouldn't take very long.



Mickey dribbling the ball up the field.

The highlight of the day was the Microbiology & Immunology IM soccer team victory this afternoon. I still don't know how we can possibly be 4-0 for the season, considering only a few people on the team have ever played before (definitely not me). Last year, we went 0 for the season and only had one or two close games.

Our strategy this year was to field a large team and out run our opponents with all of our subs. We play on a regulation soccer field, but with only 7 players playing per team so everyone gets winded very quickly.

Our strategy seems to be working because, other than the first week, the teams we've played have clearly been more skilled than us. Including today, the last three games have gone to a shootout. Pat, our goalie, has been a stud and pulled us through each time.

My role on the team is defense. I can't kick particularly well, but I'm good at getting between the other team and the ball so that's good enough to put me in the starting line up. And since I'm not that skilled, I'm not tempted to push up leaving the other defenders short-handed. Luckily, the strategy and positioning of 7 on 7 soccer is similar to hockey, a sport I've played since I was 5.

Even though I'm not very good, I enjoy playing because its an opportunity to get out of lab for an hour, clear my head, and enjoy the beautiful California weather. The games have also become a department event for the grad students. Besides the 15 people on the team, we have always had the support of a handful of fans from our classes who come out to cheer us on. My adviser, Denise, even came out to play with us today. Now, that's a cool boss!

I'm hoping our success during the soccer season carries over to softball this summer (we had a decent season last year) and football next fall (one victory last season). I'm confident that last year was a rebuilding year and this year will be the emergence of the M&I dynasty :)