Standardization of production and purification of Manduca hemolymph JHBP (Abstract)

The abstract of my research project for applying the Hilldale award (my project hasn't have a result and conclusion). Many students have attempted on this project and didn't work out a desirable yield of rJHBP. If my future work is anything useful, the results will contribute to the scientific community. It's kind of hard to believe I'm doing it.

The hemolymph juvenile hormone binding protein (hJHBP) is a specific Lepidopteran protein that binds and transports juvenile hormone (JH). JH plays a number of crucial roles in the regulation of insect development and reproduction. This project will employ a transformed E. coli cell line to express recombinant JHBP (rJHBP). Immunological analysis, cell preparation, and protein purification will be explored to produce and purify rJHBP of optimal quantity and quality. Binding studies will confirm the functionality of rJHBP. The results will provide a stable supply of JHBP for future studies on the binding and target cell docking mechanisms and contribute to increasing our knowledge of insect physiology and pest control.

History Professor

Just thought of how long I haven't been doodling in class. My history of science professor.

好幸福之火腿蛋炒飯

這禮拜每天睡眠不足，上統計學課一直打瞌睡。我想可能是拿到$3000的獎學金的希望讓我撐著，哈！
在Facebook上看到以前的一個高中同學居然晚餐吃電鍋蒸一整顆花菜加三粒魚丸和白飯加鹽；據她本人說不是人吃的。回家做了高麗菜火腿蛋炒飯，把冰箱裡放了一星期快凍成冰米磚的飯用掉，果然飯(美國米比較乾)炒一炒又復活了。一邊吃著這道簡單的家常菜一邊覺得自己好幸福。
今天在廁所撿到某人遺失的學生證和駕照。在用iPad通信的幫助之下，兩小時內順利將證件交還給主人。我想她一定很著急，幫助同學找回遺失的東西感覺真好。
話說學校報社的漫畫版編輯姓Moriarty，每次他寄信來，寄件者都是Moriarty。雖然前面的名字不一樣，我每次看到還是很想笑。

Student Organizations

I'm excited! There are some student organizations that sound very interesting. Some of them are old; some are new. I'll try my best to see which ones I could continue participating.

Besides continuing going to AHA and oSTEM, there's a new group called electronic music production. The group leader is a DJ and people there are all EDM lovers, who may or may not know how to produce music on a computer. Though the majority are male. I don't know how much time I could actually devote into trying the sound manipulation software, but I go there to make friends (lots of dubstep, house, and trance-lovers), and at least learn about the terminology, so I can understand people's conversation on electronic music production.

There is another group that doesn't have meetings, but the leader will arrange you to pair up with a woman in Kenya. Those women are poor people who are learning sewing as a living and English as the second language. Their English might be good or very elementary. If just writing a letter to a person once every few days or few weeks is helping a poor person with limited resources to learn, that sounds like something I'd love to do.

I visited the International Socialist Organization's meeting today. I was curious, and people there seemed to have some interesting ideas and debates. They were friendly too. I might stop by some time during the semester.

There's a Cheese Club that meets every three weeks. They teach you about cheese varieties and let you taste samples. Sadly it conflicts with my other meetings. Oh and the Cyclist Club. It sounds awesome to ride bike with people around Madison for the sake of exercising and relaxing. I could get to know some other parts of Madison too. Of course, we'll have to wait until the weather gets better.

Crazy Start

It's the second week of school. I already have homework piled up and a bunch of books to read. Isn't that crazy? I slept too less last night, spent the free period between classes to read The Origin of Species, got back home and insisted not to sleep until midnight.

I'm happy with the history of science and philosophy biology classes I chose. Although they require more readings than straight science classes, the content is interesting and the instructors are knowledgeable and friendly. I've got an official reason to read The Origin of Species.

I haven't got exercise so I'm stiff, but I'm so tired that I don't feel anything. I want ice-cream and going to sleep. A paper is due after tomorrow. At least I have ice-cream now.

(Surprisingly, it has been raining heavily at night in Madison in the past two days. The snow has melted because of the rain.)

The Opioids

I thought I was going to draw more psychedelic molecules during the vacation, but ended up finishing the four opium analgesic molecules I planned to draw.

Morphine and Heroin are in that position because they were lying in the original pictures.
I thought depressants would be boring but the opioids were not so bad.
The original drawings and their bios can be found on my deviantART website.

I don't know when I'll have time to draw again. I have to apply for research funding before the mid-February and adjusting into school life again will keep me busy. Right before the vacation ended I completed a two-paged comic involving LSD and DMT, my male protagonists:
I Hallucinate Therefore I Am Page 1
I Hallucinate Therefore I Am Page 2

The Passport

I thought my passport was totally okay, but the people of the Customs, both in Taiwan and in the US,  stopped me to examine my passport. Because there were some wrinkles on it, they thought it was fake and kept asking if I was the person in the picture. They asked me to offer another ID. The Taiwanese Customs never heard of UW-Madison, so they didn't find my student ID useful. Eventually they let me pass but it was very annoying. Well, what should I do?

賣腳酸

我去查了Mescaline的中文譯名是什麼：仙人球毒。Mescaline英文明明聽起來很帥，為什麼中文名字就那麼蠢？

我在搜尋上打LSD的中文譯名，麥角酸二乙胺，輸入法自動選字居然給我拼成「賣腳酸」，笑死我了！

Ded Moroz

Ded Moroz, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus. SO COOL!

有關鹹魚飯的笑話

上英文課時，小明坐在老師面前第一個位置。 
當老師教到：“Suspect，嫌犯”，小明立刻在筆記上寫上“咸飯”。
 老師不小心瞄到小明的筆記，但又不想讓他難堪，就提高聲量：“Suspect，嫌疑犯！
”只見小明遲疑了一秒後，便將“咸飯”改成“鹹魚飯”。
 於是老師再提高聲量說：“是“犯人的嫌疑犯！””
 小明聽了之後便再加了三個字，便成了“飯冷的鹹魚飯”。
 老師看到後，再大聲地對小明說：“我是說有一位嫌疑犯！” 
小明又再改成“魷魚味鹹魚飯”。 
老師只好走到小明旁邊，然後用手大力地拍打小明的肩膀說：“是那種“罪大惡極要死的嫌疑犯”啦!" 
小明只好又改成“嘴大餓極要食的鹹魚飯”。

不知是老師發音太不標準還是小明太餓。XDDD