Enough already!  I do NOT look like Sarah Palin!  Please, everyone, stop!  I know I have dark hair, wear glasses and can fire a gun (but I don't hunt, because if dissecting a little mouse makes me cranky, I can only imagine what killing a deer or moose would do to my day).  Like Sarah Palin, though, I was also in a beauty pageant--for some difficult to articulate reasons (Miss Guam World 1983--in 1980, our girl actually won the World pageant, after Miss Belgium had to step down after 18 hours--nude pics, as you can guess.).  Here is the embarrassing proof of my stint as a contestant, wearing the ugliest dress on the planet (not my choice, aka grace under adverse conditions.  I only put here the swimsuit picture to redeem the dress picture):
          

I was a finalist and Most Photogenic, and apparently just shy of Miss Congeniality.  I guess it was just something to experience. So now when I begin my political career, no one will be able to blackmail me with embarrassing information...it's already out there.  Wait.  I know I did not say political career, I take that back, immediately, I mean TV career.  I must admit, I don't much enjoy politics and would be horrible at it. And, I really do prefer tropical weather to Alaskan weather. I'd be happy to visit Alaska, but don't think I'd make it home.  

Now everyone can go to the stem cells and tissue engineering page if you have a bit of time.  You will need it to download the film of the presentation I gave for the World of Science series.  Then it will take you about an hour to watch it. 

I really like writing.  That's because I would never choose to write "uh" and "um" every few minutes.  Looks like a habit I need to break when I lecture.  Apparently it hasn't driven anyone to distraction to the best of my knowledge, but now I really know what I sound like.  Hmmmm.

    And finally, I choose Leonardo DiCaprio to play Paul Langerhans in a movie.  It might be a short movie, underfunded and sparsely attended...but I'd go see it! Check out my posts on September 23 and 10th to see what I am talking about.

Until next time,

Kindly, Joanne

So apparently I don't know how to delete a post once it is entered....for some reason the formatting when I actually posted on the 8th was pretty bizarre (I am now reposting on the 10th). I was quite excited about the Nobel prize in chemistry going to two Americans and one Japanese for their parts in the discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as an extraordinarily useful tool for cell biologists to use. 

GFP is  a protein isolated from a glowing jellyfish.  Once the DNA sequence coding for this protein was determined, plasmids (small circular pieces of DNA that can be inserted into cells) were created that could transfect mammalian cells, and even entire organisms, making them glow.  Before this, we could not visualize and track living cells in organisms.  This concept is so important and useful that I teach the technique to use it in the GAMES camp and also in my course.  In fact, you can learn more by going to the ppt lecture on the GAMES page called "Transfection of DNA into Eukaryotes".  In a picture I also included in my stem cell talk (on the Stem Cells & Tissue Engineering page), here is the picture of a cat made to glow using a very similar technique.  The red cat was genetically modified to do so and the other cat is a normal white cat but appears green because it is a green wavelength of light shining on both cats.  This wavelength activates the red glowing in the other cat.

I received a lovely thank you letter from the coordinator of the "World of Science" lecture series, David Leake.  Patting myself on the back here, I will put a quote from his note.  "You have a wonderful ability to be able to take a complicated topic and make it available to all.  That is a gift!  Your talk on stem cells was wonderful, and even yours truly (the physics guy) could easily follow it!"

That is my goal everyday when I come in to work, and even when I am NOT at work.  You don't have to love science, but it would be nice if you understood some of it, right?

Thanks, Dave! I will hopefully get the lecture posted on this site and maybe even take pieces of the talk and put them on youtube for the heck of it, so some proper information about stem cells makes it out to the general public.

I'm exhausted and even the coffee smell permeating my clothes from a spectacular coffee spill by someone 8 feet away from me this morning is not helping.  A nap is in order!

Until next time, 

Kindly,  Joanne

I love Nobel prize time (besides the fact that it's near my birthday!).  Knowing that someone, somewhere in the world will be woken up at 4am with the announcement that they won is just so exciting!! Today was the announcement in physics.

To Yoichiro Nambu from the USA "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"

On a separate note, I keep promising myself that I will get out to Vermont one year for my birthday because I hear the changing of the leaves are quite spectacular precisely at this time.  Maybe next year, but this year, in what may be the most interesting thing I've ever done for my birthday, my brother took me to an "action shoot" at a shooting range.  A couple of fellows designed scenarios where multiple assailants, cut out of brown cardboard, must be taken down by your pistol.  Of course, real pistols and real bullets.  A bit of overkill, to be sure. Luckily we also had some cardboard walls for cover to keep us safe!

Tsk! Naturally, I can handle guns, and I'm a little insulted that you think I couldn't/wouldn't. 

I was pretty happy with myself because I was quite accurate, although slow.  If they were moving, I might not do so well. If my recyclable enemies had guns, I'd be dead.  Running would be the superior option in that case.  Since I used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, I had to follow the maxim: "If they are worth shooting once, they're worth shooting twice!" and double tap them all, and some we had to go back and hit in the head, too.  I hit some dead center, which is good except I really, really hope I never need to do this in real life. Plus you can't carry a weapon in Illinois, so it's moot anyway, I guess.  Regardless, lots of praise from the guys: "Good shootin', girl!"

My brother caught it on his camera phone, and if he remembers, he will send it to me and perhaps I will upload it onto the site.

Finally, if you are a professor, read this (from a former student) before you write your next boring lecture:

"I read the slides you sent after we talked, and they are absolutely hilarious.  I loved the introduction
of the razor...ha.  The Johnny Depp and Pierce Brosnan pictures were also pretty funny.  I miss having professors who go to the trouble of making the lectures funny and entertaining."

(Thanks, M!) And, believe me, it is no trouble at all!  I don't think I could do it any other way! Shoot me if I do. (uh, figuratively, that is)

Until next time, 

Kindly,

Joanne

I would like to thank those of you who came out to my talk at Parkland Planetarium last night about stem cells.  You were a great audience, laughing at the right places and seemingly engaged in the topic. I appreciate your kind attentiveness. If you are visiting my site because you wanted to take a look at the powerpoint presentation I gave, you will find it on the stem cell/tissue engineering page.  It is the only thing there for now.  I have so much info on these topics that I could share that I'm never sure where to start, so that page has been quiet--for now.  With any luck, I will try to videostream the talk on this site.  No guarantees, but thanks to Marina Miletic (my Chemical Engineering counterpart for the GAMES camp) for filming it for me last night!

And, I think I inadvertently signed up to be cloned!  I have oocytes (eggs), skin cells, and an adventurous spirit! Surely there is an easier way to have another generation with someone who loves science as much as I do!!!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions. Thanks to David Leake at Parkland for inviting me out to talk.  I had a wonderful time!

Kindly, Joanne

In the ultimate in procrastination, I should be working on my stem cell talk for Friday or studying for my French quiz, but I'm not.  I'm reading science stories! And, so many thanks to all of you who have told me how much you like my email note announcing the talk. Hopefully I can make the talk as enjoyable as the note.  I was challenged to deliver the talk while hula-hooping, but I think I just couldn't do it, although that might increase the crowd size a bit.

Take a look at this histological image: It comes from my favorite text and atlas, Wheater's Functional Histology.  What this image shows is tendon inserting into bone.  The bone is the dark pink in the lower portion of the image (it's pink because acid was used to get rid of the calcified matrix so it could be sectioned...this acid attracts the pink stain to it.) The tendon is the lighter pink fibrous material at the top (that's pink because collagen fibers also attract the same stain).  The other end of the tendon is then inserted into a muscle (not shown).  If you note, the tendon has little insertions INTO the bone, it is not just sitting on top of it, making for a more stable structure.  (SF= sharpey's fibers--check out my Eponymously Yours ppt on the Famous Scientists page if you want to know more).

Until recently, tissue engineers have not really been able to create a bone replacement that allows for tendon to grow into it.  Finally, someone has jumped that hurdle.  Science Daily reports that researchers at Georgia Tech (they do lots of tissue engineering there) have been able to create a blend of cells that mimic this type of interface.

   Ah, us scientists love glowing things! Blue are skin cells and the green is a protein added to collagen to help them stick. (poly-D-lysine, for those who know what this is.) 

From one of the researchers: “One of the biggest challenges in regenerative medicine is to have a graded continuous interface, because anatomically that’s how the majority of tissues appear and there are studies that strongly suggest that the graded interface provides better integration and load transfer,” said Andres Garcia, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

I am continually amazed at how complex we really are and how difficult it is to engineer exact replacements! Then I am pleased at how clever we are at coming up with solutions!

And, for the squirrels.  We all know that squirrel fatalities are a pressing issue.  Mostly because we are the main cause of squirrel deaths, except for maybe these guys making the internet and chain email rounds...they seem fairly savvy.

We run them over with our cars, feel guilty for a while and then drive past the road kill for days, reminding us of what cruel creatures we are for smooshing cute, furry mammals. (Some of us, anyway).  Why don't they know better in order to get out of the way?  Think of it this way.  Normal squirrel predators do not approach them at 35-40 mph...well, I haven't seen a dog or a cat who can do that, nor are they a ton or two in weight. Our only hope is to provide these squirrels a safe path to cross the roads.  I've seen them use electrical wires, but in the UK, wildlife conservationists have built rope bridges for the squirrels to use in order to cross, and they have data to prove the squirrels use them!  See Science Daily for the full story. And, in Spain, they have set up special road crossing to reduce other types of road kill.  This story from just about two weeks ago, again from Science Daily.

I'm sure these animals appreciate that we think of them!

Kindly, Joanne

I'm taking a break from preparing a stem cell presentation that I will give in just a week (October 3--just shy of my birthday--no better way to celebrate than to talk about science ) to the general community. This should be enjoyable.  If you are in town it will be at the Parkland Community College Planetarium at 7pm--here is a link to the World of Science lectures. I believe it will set you back a whole dollar for admittance.  Basically, it will be a more comprehensive discussion about stem cells than what appeared on the Surrounded by Science program I filmed in May.

Three reports from April of this year by NSF indicate that the job market for scientists and engineers looks really good.  I will direct you to the story on ScienceDaily to read more!

Additionally, there is another brief story from February indicating that we need to train more scientists and engineers, and we are not doing a good enough job at this. From Science Daily again  John Brooks Slaughter, Ph.D., P.E., President and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME) noted last year that, ".... It is estimated that more than a half million engineers will be needed over the next decade to replace those who retire and that at least that many new engineers will be needed to fill the demand that will exist at the end of that period. We find ourselves importing talent and exporting jobs, not just because it is less expensive to have the work performed by lower-wage skilled workers in developing countries but also because we do not produce enough native-born, well-qualified scientists and engineers in our nation's colleges and universities."

And finally, from June of this year, a report was released by the National Academy of Engineering called "Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering" on the best way to convince young people to go into engineering: tell them that they will make a difference.  The four most effective statements they tested were:

• Engineers make a world of difference.
• Engineers are creative problem-solvers.
• Engineers help shape the future.
• Engineering is essential to our health, happiness, and safety.

One would think that it is the nerdy stereotype that is keeping young people from pursuing science, yet those conducting this story found that students just don't enjoy math and science nearly enough. Read more at ScienceDaily  Now what could we do about this?? I think more outreach by scientists who enjoy their work and some extra support to teachers in the schools in these fields might help. If the teacher is enthusiastic, then the students get excited about science. I believe I'm a little on the enthusiastic side, or so say my student evals each semester.

Come to think of it, I can hardly remember much of my elementary school science, except for burning some hair, talking about why shower curtains blow in toward you and an egg drop contest.  In middle school I remember cooking (and eating) some run of the mill Guam snails and....hmm, not much else.  I had a cool chemistry teacher in high school, a nice enough biology teacher and very hard to understand Indian teacher for physics. Now, my 8th grade math teacher, oh my!  She was scary and memorable, but I really learned a lot! She owned only three dresses, always drawled exaggeratively and nasally "Everyone's afraid of Fraaaaaaaactions!", stood in such a way in those hot Guam classrooms so the fan would blow up her skirt to cool herself off (eewww!) and, on the day when there were apples for lunch, if you were in her afternoon class, there would easily be more than a dozen apples on her desk!

My science path would probably be considered unusual since I always KNEW I would do something with science.  It is almost as if my path was laid out in metal and I was born with magnetic boots on my feet!  The lack of exciting science opportunities in my school couldn't stop me. Even modeling wasn't a digression since I learned some valuable things from it that I have been able to integrate into the way I conduct my life. Whatever I do, it will always have science associated with it!

OK, back to work! Until next time...

Kindly, Joanne

I FINALLY completed the histological eponyms powerpoint presentation I was working on!  I am very pleased with the final result.  I love that I pursued a personal approach to these scientific discoveries and learned more about the scientists who made them, as well as other things they had accomplished, besides, say, finding the Fallopian tube or a layer of the cornea or that tiny little duct in the liver!

You will find both parts to the presentation on the Famous Scientists page.  Please enjoy!!  Hopefully you will giggle as well as learn something.  I do my best to add a little humor to all of my presentations.  Science is way too fun to make it boring!

If you read my post from September 10 , you will find Paul Langerhans in the second part of the presentation.  He was responsible for finding the endocrine portions of the pancreas (secreting insulin and other hormones), although had no idea what he was looking at and guessed they were lymph nodes.  He also found certain cells in the skin which he thought were neurons but were actually macrophages (cells that eat other "objects" and present antigens to the rest of the immune system). More interestingly, however, he ran a clinic for TB (tuberculosis) patients and he had TB himself.  Lucky for him that he was able to marry the widow of one of his patients and enjoyed her company for three wonderful years before he himself succumbed to the disease.

Until next time....

Kindly, Joanne

I have a tendency to keep several books going at once.  Right now I have Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, by Mary Roach, almost finished. Once again, very funny!   I also am reading The Duchess by Amanda Foreman which is about the great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales.  It is a biography although it reads a bit like exciting historical fiction (without, as the critic from the Chicago Tribune says, "....the bodice-ripping details..." and believe me, bodice ripping was an expensive endeavor back then, all those intricate details on the clothes made BY HAND--that guy would truly have to be worth it!!).  I sometimes read fiction but only do so upon high, high praise of the book.  I also have waiting in the wings a book by theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind called The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics which I suspect will not tell me anything new about quantum mechanics, but will put a human face on the controversy surrounding Stephen Hawking's bold proclamations.

And finally, for my french translation course (French to English only--not quite ready for the other way around), I am reading Morts pour la science: Avertissement: La Science nuit gravement à la santé or Deaths for Science with the caution "Warning! Science is hazardous to your health".  It talks about murders, suicides and accidents related to scientific discoveries.  I need to translate a good 60 pages for the final in the course.  Once again, putting a human face on scientific discoveries in a slightly unconventional way. This class is pretty fun, because with what I've learned up to now, I can get on the Metro in Paris and carry on a conversation, in French, about cats being sent up in rockets (les fusées) to measure, during the course of the flight, a certain number of spontaneous or ellicited physiological and neurophysiological effects.  Indeed. I can't wait! 

(The other french class I am in is also enjoyable because it is phonetics, which is basically scientifically dissecting the auditory sounds and vocalizations of the language.  I might get better at listening and pronunciation--I hope, at least.  I decided I was burned out on grammar, so took a break from it this semester.)

If you happen to like your science in story form, might I suggest a series of books by the author (Joy Hakim) of the series on American history A History of US called The Story of Science. Overall, I enjoy the books as they are an easy way to read science (middle to high school level) with many pictures, tables, quotes from the scientists as well as a discussion of their discoveries in a historical flow.  My only complaint is that these books only cover the physical and chemical sciences, not life sciences, so don't expect all four years of high school science to be found in them.  

Until next time.

Kindly,

Joanne

Finally, the Large Hadron Collider is up and running and smashing atoms today!  Please, someone send me there, invite me there....something!  Is there a lottery where a lucky nerd/geek/science goddess can win a chance to visit?  A vacation of dreams....sigh....I would LOVE to see this! Visit WIRED blog to see more.

And, I'm smitten with Paul Langerhans....and it's not the beard or bowtie that made my heart skip a beat, I'm sure of that.

  ....more on him in a few days when I finish my massive powerpoint presentation of histological eponyms.In the meantime, go visit whonamedit.com . My powerpoint, while not as comprehensive as the whonamedit website, will be superior because it has pictures of the scientists AND the structures.  I am having way too much fun!

Until I finish my powerpoint...

Kindly,

Joanne

During the camp, I passed out an article from US News and World Report about lab-grown meat.  We happened to look at forming in vitro (on a petri dish) muscle during the camp, but that barely begins the process of making something we recognize as meat.  Check out the link here.

I assure you that your daughters were all quite safe!  And remember, Jenna, us Libras disarm our enemies (the few we have) with much more subtlety, grace and charm than this. I love this picture, Katie and Jenna are great actresses!  Thanks, Jess, for taking this picture.

Hope you all caught the red food coloring here.  Katie is not really bleeding, obviously.  Jenna and I talked about astrological signs for half a lunch, ultimately deciding that while astrology was a curiosity, it was still unscientific. But....if you have to be an astrological sign, we're pretty sure that Libra is probably a good one to be! Regardless, variety is the spice of life, so I guess the others are worth having around. 

My assistants Sarah, Jess, Jenna, Kate, Katie and Kristen, all worked extra hard for the girls today. And, we have a very promising engineer amongst our young ladies....

More

....and THAT room had the radiation."

oh.

Tell me that BEFORE I open the door next time.  I am not interested in being "hot" like Marie Curie undoubtedly was.

Jenna, a former student from my courses and helper for her second year with the GAMES camp, and I had to go find the storage room holding supplies for the camp.  After a few weeks of chasing down the key and coordinating schedules, we finally went to lunch together and ventured to the basement of the Materials Science Engineering Building in search of these boxes.  A young man was in the elevator with us, probably wondering what two pretty gals were doing going to this pit of a basement. As we exited, he gave the directions listed in the title, either being witty or chivalrous, I'm not sure. 

We didn't know where this room was so we went on an adventure.  Attractive women plus a creepy, dirty, dark and dank basement (no spiders or rodents....that I could see...too bad, actually). Somehow it had all the ingredients of a horror movie.  But, Jenna and I, being of the curious science persuasion, explored every corner looking for the room, with me trying the key in every door possible. We came back to where we started and looked over to a very open door into a room with boxes.  Lo and behold, there they were!  I put the key in the open door, just to be certain.  Yep.  What can I say?  It was the only lit, well kept place in that basement and we ignored it for 20 minutes.

I think I don't really have a point to this note except to point out that my job is quite varied!  For instance, I'm trying to reconstruct a skeleton.  While you might think it is the ultimate tissue engineering project (ascorbic acid and beta glycerol phosphate, anyone?), it's not.  It is actually made out of card stock. Med school anatomy pays off?  I cut, folded and glued for more hours than I can guess and made a very nice full size articulated skeleton, which has fallen in disrepair in the nine years that have lapsed since then.  It needs to be re-articulated.  Check it out...my deadline is by August 3, the start of GAMES. Maybe the girls can be photographed with it....we'll give it some top model's name, I can even let it wear my fake ponytail; if I decide not to wear it, that is.

            

I finished Stiff last night at Aroma Café, trying not to disturb other patrons with my giggling, and most certainly trying not to snort iced tea out of my nose.  Her sense of humor just floors me!  I can be one of those obnoxious people who barges in and reads aloud the parts of books that are hilarious to me, so it was best that I stayed away from people I know otherwise I would've probably wore them out.  I thought briefly about vlogging myself reading her stuff, but that probably requires special permission and seems incredibly self centered...but then again, some of you may never pick up her books, so I might be doing you a favor.  Send me a note an let me know if you'd be interested in seeing me read her stuff!

Pioneering heart surgeon Michael DeBakey from Houston passed away yesterday (at age 99!).  He performed the first coronary bypass surgery and some of the first heart transplants. It is pretty easy to segue into tissue engineering at this point as there is strong interest in creating the vessels for bypass surgery so we don't need to use the saphenous vein from the thigh (which lasts only about 10-12 years--requiring more surgery eventually), and interest in artificial hearts is of importance as donors are in lower supply than those requiring them.

If you catch this post before I finish about the blood vessels, check back later...I'm going to help a friend film something for a potential job.....