The First Week of my PhD...

Lauren and I are mostly settled into our apartment now. Last Sunday we watched the city fireworks from the stairwell window on the opposite side of the apartment and then the next day I began my PhD (Monday, July 6th 2009...a day to certainly be remembered in infamy!!!). Everything went pretty smoothly receiving a welcome meeting with the Dean and finishing paperwork. By lunchtime I met my summer-lab-rotation PI (principal investigator) who I'll be working with over the Summer.

I toured our lab, which was huge! It was an integrative group with 4 different PI's, two of whom are married and pull in the largest amount of cancer research funds for the university. My PI hadn't quite decided what my project should be and the technician I was supposed to shadow this week was on vacation....so....this week I've had some "freedom." Basically I've just been meeting people, organizing my lab bench and reading papers. I have learned a few things about cell culture this week: basically spray everything down with ethanol before and after you use it and while you're using it don't let anything touch anything else.

I'm hoping that I'll find a few more things to do this next week...but on the other hand, perhaps I should relish in this 'nothing to do' feeling which I do not anticipate to last...

- James