Victory is mine
I don't often talk about my work because, well, it's Isaac's blog. But today was a particularly fabulous day for my Ph.D. research. So indulge me.
My Ph.D. research project is on understanding the chemistry performed by cholera toxin upon our bodies when we become infected with cholera bacteria. This particular chemical reaction makes people extremely sick with diarrhea. You can literally poop, like, a gallon of water in an hour, and from this you become dehydrated and die. It is not good. Fortunately, we Americans have such luxuries as water and sewer treatment and modern plumbing and such that results in basically zero cases of cholera in the US each year. In third-world countries, they are not so lucky, and whole communities can contract this disease quite easily.
So, cholera = death by poop. But back to my Ph.D. -- I look at cholera toxin using protein crystallography. Cholera toxin is a protein, and I grow crystals of it, similarly to how you can grow crystals of salt or sugar in your kitchen from a solution full of salt or sugar. You shoot x-rays at these protein crystals, and they produce beautiful patterns because the crystals are made of a regular lattice that pings the x-rays off in predictable directions. It's all horribly complicated and I doubt I will understand it all in my lifetime, but it's fun because, before I got preggers, I got to go to national labs in Chicago and Berkeley on a regular basis with my crystals to shoot them with x-rays. I got a fat per diem, I ate well, I racked up frequent flier miles, and, oh yeah, I furthered my Ph.D. research as well. Obviously when I was pregnant with Isaac, I did not want to a) fly or b) go places that involved x-rays, so I stayed home and had other members of my lab shoot my crystals for me. A spectacularly successful example of this was when my buddy George collected a data set for me -- of some crystals I had grown of cholera toxin in complex with a human protein -- the Thursday before I had Isaac. I stayed in the lab until 10pm that night looking at my beautiful new protein structure, and my boss was so pleased that Isaac held off long enough for me to get these results.
Our lab had some more time scheduled at the lab in Chicago this past weekend, and I still got to beg off, being a nursing mother and all. So I sent my crystals in care of my darling friend Jan. Here is a picture of Jan riding a tricycle at the lab in Chicago:
I sent with Jan some crystals that I hoped would give me data that marked the 3rd and final segment of my dissertation. This segment = putting small molecules (in my case, an NAD) in the chemistry-working site of cholera toxin, something that I had tried to do many times before and failed. However, this time, and these crystals, were different. They made such beautiful spots and held their NAD so tightly for their momma so that she could see it in all its glory when she sat down at the computer screen this morning. Since 2001 I have been working on this crazy little project, and today it all came full circle and bent down and whispered in my ear "DOCTOR Claire....DOCTOR Claire..." I screamed and jumped up and down when I saw this NAD, and my boss patted me on the back. For TWENTY years, he has been waiting to see this. He was almost as happy as I.
My Ph.D. research project is on understanding the chemistry performed by cholera toxin upon our bodies when we become infected with cholera bacteria. This particular chemical reaction makes people extremely sick with diarrhea. You can literally poop, like, a gallon of water in an hour, and from this you become dehydrated and die. It is not good. Fortunately, we Americans have such luxuries as water and sewer treatment and modern plumbing and such that results in basically zero cases of cholera in the US each year. In third-world countries, they are not so lucky, and whole communities can contract this disease quite easily.
So, cholera = death by poop. But back to my Ph.D. -- I look at cholera toxin using protein crystallography. Cholera toxin is a protein, and I grow crystals of it, similarly to how you can grow crystals of salt or sugar in your kitchen from a solution full of salt or sugar. You shoot x-rays at these protein crystals, and they produce beautiful patterns because the crystals are made of a regular lattice that pings the x-rays off in predictable directions. It's all horribly complicated and I doubt I will understand it all in my lifetime, but it's fun because, before I got preggers, I got to go to national labs in Chicago and Berkeley on a regular basis with my crystals to shoot them with x-rays. I got a fat per diem, I ate well, I racked up frequent flier miles, and, oh yeah, I furthered my Ph.D. research as well. Obviously when I was pregnant with Isaac, I did not want to a) fly or b) go places that involved x-rays, so I stayed home and had other members of my lab shoot my crystals for me. A spectacularly successful example of this was when my buddy George collected a data set for me -- of some crystals I had grown of cholera toxin in complex with a human protein -- the Thursday before I had Isaac. I stayed in the lab until 10pm that night looking at my beautiful new protein structure, and my boss was so pleased that Isaac held off long enough for me to get these results.
Our lab had some more time scheduled at the lab in Chicago this past weekend, and I still got to beg off, being a nursing mother and all. So I sent my crystals in care of my darling friend Jan. Here is a picture of Jan riding a tricycle at the lab in Chicago:
I sent with Jan some crystals that I hoped would give me data that marked the 3rd and final segment of my dissertation. This segment = putting small molecules (in my case, an NAD) in the chemistry-working site of cholera toxin, something that I had tried to do many times before and failed. However, this time, and these crystals, were different. They made such beautiful spots and held their NAD so tightly for their momma so that she could see it in all its glory when she sat down at the computer screen this morning. Since 2001 I have been working on this crazy little project, and today it all came full circle and bent down and whispered in my ear "DOCTOR Claire....DOCTOR Claire..." I screamed and jumped up and down when I saw this NAD, and my boss patted me on the back. For TWENTY years, he has been waiting to see this. He was almost as happy as I.
posted by Claire at 8:03 PM
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