Visit to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Hello fellows, what's new on this special 29th Feb? Did anyone of you just get engaged? Hmmmm, I didn't. Well, this time I'd like to share something related to my own research, and this exciting journey to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

I am currently looking into how Amyloid beta peptides (25-35) interact with membrane, and I use this monolayer made of pure lipids as a membrane model. In order to "see" what's actually happening to the membrane resulting from the interaction, we need some special instruments, or "eyes". Brewster angle microscope is one of them.

So we were heading to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to use this microscope to have a look at the surface of our membrane. The pic shows how the surface looks like when it's not disturbed. Cool huh?

See, one of the many( well, maybe not many :p) great things about being a phd is that you get the chance to learn the very developed tech, and to know people who are really good in your research area, eg. how they do their research, how they manage to keep a balance on work and life, how they think. I am really happy to see and learn from the top people from this trip. They really love what they do, they really know how to deal with difficulties in both research and life, and most important, they really believe in themselves. All those inspire me!

I hope you enjoy your life and work, either as a phd student or not. Smile!

Holiday

Happy Chinese new year everyone! Greetings from China!

I'm currently away from Edinburgh for a holiday. Yeah, holiday!!! It's -26 outside and I'm sitting in the living room of my parents' place, cozy and warm. Holiday to me is all about sitting around my dear parents or grandparents, keeping them company. I've been away from home for 16 months. But to me, it seems like I never went away. I mean, when i got off the train, my hometown was exactly the same as what it looked like 16 months ago. Everything was familiar. And I picked up the famous northeast accent soon after I arrived. (ask a Chinese what that is, I'm quite sure you will be amused.)

I am very happy to spend time with family. I thought I would complain, given the fact that I used to prefer to stay with friends rather than relatives, and that the old me went after fun and didn't care too much about others. But i complaint nothing. I guess I just knew something about responsibility, and figured out what is most precious in my life. My grandparents were really thrilled to see me (and of cousr the presents i brought back). Likewise. I talked to them about every details of my life in UK, in a really patient way. Well honestly, that is new.

I think I learnt a lot during the time when I lived in UK all by myself. One thing is that, I start to appreciate, my friends, my lovers, and my family. Without them, I'm nothing. So i need to, and I'm willing to show my appreciation. Now I'm gonna come back to them, making them happy, and enjoy as much as I can... when I still can.

I hope everything goes on well, dear you. Don't forget to say I love you next time you call your family. Smile!

Best HALLOWEEN

The night is coming, corpse bride is looking for her groom in the dark. Watch out, she can be really angry if she fails to find him...

Yea, that is one of my favorite Tim Burton's movies, full of musical, scary, romantic elements, which meat all I expect from a movie. Besides, I kind of enjoy the sad ending. A girl, alive or dead, always wants to be loved, and more, a marriage. Sadly, our corpse bride always lives in girls' worst nightmare...

See, the best part of halloween is not about the party, but it is that you can be everyone, anything at that night. You can live in other's life, like it is real. Well, I know at halloween you are supposed to scare others, as much as you can, but I choose to amuse people, in a way I want.

I was in Teviot, the library bar of our uni last night. The party there was amazing; karaoke, jazz music, silent disco (which was my favorite part), and really funny people wow!!!!! You should have a look next year, and probably you will meet me, princess frog!!! Errr, but prebook before.

Hey, come to celebrate our Bonfire night at 5th Nov. I will let you know what happens that day, and probably tell you some great stories.

Smile, enjoy your day!

Shiny Edinburgh

Everyone is surprised of the amazingly extremely good weather in Edinburgh recently. To those who just arrived, don't get to used to it, cause it is very unusual! But enjoy it when you can! I had a very busy month, since I moved to a new place to live, with two nice girls; and also, I finally moved to my second year phd study.

I took this picture not long time ago. It's the view of a corner of the garden, from my new living room. I have two little gardens at front and back yards, where I see cats and squirrels sometimes. Those creatures are always bad mannerd- they don't ask permissions to get in, and they never say hi.

Tomorrow is China National Day. In China it is big! People usually have a 7 days holiday- 3 official, and previous and next weekends swapped to the holiday. Originally, I was not a big fan of it. Although as students we didn't have to go to school during the holiday, but we had a lot of homework. Disaster~ But things changed after I went into uni. Besides the 7 days, we could manage to take off additional 2 or 3 days, which means more time spending with parents- I got homesick more often before.

Opps, I just check BBC weather report. It seems a lot of rain tomorrow. It's time for everything to get back to normal! Don't forget smile!

9 months look back, part 2

Greetings from France!

Sorry, I've gone for a while. July was a very busy month for me. I spend a lot of time with my parents, who came to Edinburgh to see me. And then, I was preparing to go to Grenoble, France, for a 9-day scientific visit.

Now, enough of the excuses. :p

I've seen a lot in Scotland during the past 9 month, I mean, as a foreigner. And, of course, as a Phd student, I've known a lot. I wasn't trained as a researcher when I was at college, but a vet. Clearly, my supervisor figured it out very soon :(. Being a Phd could be hard, if only you see it that way. I admit you have to be very determined and diligent to work it out, and yeah, with good attitude. That's all. I do the Alzheimer stuff and biophysical thing, which I absolutely had no idea at all, so I started from all the beginning. I'm not a quick learner, but I knew I had to learn by heart, or I wouldn't get through the Phd life. At the start, it was difficult, since you had to be an active learner. No one force you to do anything, neither do you get any pressure from the exams. You are alone! But, if you don't behave yourself, you know what happens next- no Phd degree. So, to me, after months of struggling, I started to know what to learn and how to learn things by myself- either to ask people, your supervisor, your colleague, anyone handy; or, to look into literature. That worked pretty well on me. So if you ask me what I am doing right now, I can talk about it for several hours. That's what I'm supposed to learn at the first year of my Phd, to know how to be one.

So friends, Phd life can be dull and Phds can be nerts. But it all depends on what you want from your life, and how you live it. I will talk to you later about the motto I have about life. Bye for now! Big smile!

a 9 months look back, part 1

It’s early in the morning. I just handed in the final version of my first year report to my supervisor. Last Wednesday when he looked into the drafts, he said Bob (head of my thesis committee) would be happy with it. I was suddenly relieved.

It has been 9 months since I first landed on this place, a city with a reputation of its beauty, history, and seafood. I spent most of the time exploring this old city, finding it gloomy, but stunning in good weather; windy, but lovely in summer. I hadn’t heard too much about Edinburgh before I came here, however, it satisfies all my expectations. To a foreigner, life is not easy here. You have to understand the famous Scottish accent, but now, the once most annoying thing becomes one of the reasons why I’m fond of this city. Kilts are usual here. It used to surprise me when I saw men in “skirts”, but not anymore. Trust me, as it’s been said, men wear nothing beneath it. I’ll talk to you later about how I discovered it. It’s another story.

I was a rookie in my research area. I mean, as a vet, I study Alzheimer’s Diseases. Time changes me, and increase my knowledge. Now I can talk about fibrils assembles, CD, BAM, etc. confidently. Work and life, people must maintain a balance between them. To me, that means half of the time working, and half entertaining. This works well for me. I hope to know more about this country and people; and discover more in the research. We’ll see. Light goes through my window. It’s 4:18am, not perfect time to have a beauty sleep, but not too bad. Have a good morning. Smile!