Hi again everyone! So week 3 passed by so quickly that I didn’t even get a chance to write my blog post on time, so I’m just going to combine week 3 and 4. These weeks were action packed and full of fun things both inside and out of the lab. Research-wise, I ran polyalalanine computer simulations on the GROMACS computer program. As I explained in my previous posts, I first observed the reaction of alanine in a urea-water solution and in a urea-water-TMAO solution. I then calculated the radial distribution functions for each reaction. The results from the first two simulations gave us information on how alanine reacts with the two osmolytes, so it was then time to investigate how polyalanine (a chain if alanine) reacts with the osmolytes. I ran a simulation of polyalanine in urea-water and in urea-water-TMAO. Next week, I will calculate the RDFs and the radius of gyration of the polyalanine simulations. Then it’s time to compare all the data, write an abstract, and make a poster!
Santa Cruz Island
Outside of the lab, I had a thrilling couple of weeks. I attended many science seminars ranging from how to give a PowerPoint presentation to Diabetes to self-replicating RNA to how to use LinkedIn. I’m learning important science communication skills which are necessary if I want to share my work with the world. I’m competing in an elevator pitch contest next week, where you have to present an overview of your research to an audience in less than a minute. For fun, I’ve been working out a lot at the amazing rec center on campus and eating delicious food all the time. I ate at The Habit in Isla Vista, which is ranked the number 1 fast food restaurant in the US, and tried many other delicious restaurants as well. Santa Barbara food is seriously the best! I also got to tour a company called Horny Toad with Mikaela, the other Pinhead intern. The company started in Telluride and sells mountain-y clothes. Horny Toad seems like a really fun environment to work in. I also went to the beach with a group of other interns. We went in the water which was freezing and oily and full of tar, but I had a blast!!
The highlight of my 2 weeks was Saturday, when 8 other interns and I went to Santa Cruz island! We woke up at 6AM to make the drive to Ventura, and we took a boat from there to get to the island. On the way, we saw about 10 sea lions and 40 dolphins which was the cutest thing ever! The dolphins were following our boat which was super exciting. When we got there, we hiked to the top of the island and had a picnic. We also stopped to have mini photo shoots along the way. Santa Cruz is a beautiful island to visit. It is so isolated and peaceful. Then we went snorkeling, but the water was too cold to stay in long. While we were sitting around singing to someone’s iPod, we saw 2 foxes! We left the island around 5, just as it started raining. Perfect timing and an extremely perfect day in general!
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