Spring Semester

Time to talk about my spring classes! First up is BBMB 405. That's the second semester of biochemistry. I don't know about this one. The professor seems good and all, but I've heard the tests are insanely hard. So we'll see how that goes. I'm really just trying to pass with a C or better, so as long as I can do that I'll be okay. Then I have the rest of the Micro core classes. There's Fungal biology, Virology, and then Environmental Ecology. Fungal biology is first, which I call Mushroom Class because it's funny to me for some reason. So Mushroom Class will be really easy, because the tests are open book. And it should be interesting too since I don't know anything about fungi. Last is seminar, which is the same as last time and is pass/fail only so I barely even count it as a class.
I also talked to Dr. Zhang today about my rotation. I'm starting next week. His lab has a particularly pathogenic strain of Campylobacter jejuni and it has some unique genes that they think contribute to its pathogenicity. I'm going to be trying to knock out one of those genes, characterize it, and then complement the mutant strains and knock it back in. It might be difficult because C. jejuni  is kind of a pain to work with, but I'll get to learn a bunch of new techniques that I've never done before, and that will be pretty cool! I'm looking forward to it. I do have to get a temporary pass into the Vet Med building though, because they're on lockdown and being protected by the FBI. Apparently there's a pretty large threat from animal rights crazies right now, so they have to keep everything locked down so these crazy people don't come in and release all the lab animals, some of which have various diseases you really don't want getting out into the environment. It's awkward but at least I'll be able to come and go as I please once I have the pass, unlike my last lab rotation where the lab was locked down due to select agents.