Monday 31 March 2008

BB0333 revision

Today protein folding has officially become my favourite protein topic and i bloody well hope it comes up this summer!!



Although i've always done well in protein modules, attaining at least a high 2.1 in protein related modules during both years, its definately one of my least favourite modules, and indeed it sometimes makes me question whether i should have stuck with medical biochemistry which has a great immunology component (and no protein !!)... but then again immunology is very very hard.. and if i ever get into medical school, i know its the topic i'd be dreading most!

Today, after almost 3 years of studying biochemistry, i sat down and had a good chew through protein folding, and i'm starting to appreciate protein structure a lot more. I guess in the past years i literally passed exams by regurgitating a lot of facts and notes (i have a very good short term memory), and then forgetting it after the exams; but i think today i managed to grasp the key concepts of protein folding, and now thinking back, i regret not prioritising "learning" over "remembering facts" during the past 2 years.

though when it comes to looking up answers, i go back to my lazy way of researching online.

whilst having a dig about online for "Anfinsen's Dogma", i found a fun and interesting blog of a biochemistry lecturer i'd like to reccomend:
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/

Thursday 27 March 2008

Revision Day 1

Lab project was due yesterday, i was quite happy with it ..up until i saw the other projects... some student even found photos of amsterdam to stick on her front cover .. i did ask her why she had decided to stick a photo on her project cover... only to hear her tell me "i thought the photo looked quite nice".. her project was on air pollutants...



if only i knew other people were going to make fancy title pages.. i would have stuck homer simpson and a mouse on the front of mine! well.. ok perhaps just the mouse.. i don't think the examiner would have appreciated my take on "homer 1b/c" protein expression in the brain.




Final Year Revision ~!


The perfect student would have written their notes after each lecture, and have a full set of notes, articles and journals this late into the academic year... but i am not (far from) the perfect student.. in fact if making notes classifies a student...then ..well i've only become a sudent today.


The exam timetable is quite revision friendly this year, theres biology of cancer on the 8th, biology of ageing on the 13th, protein structure and design on the 15th, and a nice week before free radical in health and disease on the 22nd... so theoretically with the time left i have about a week to revise for each module during april, and then have a relax-ish may inbetween exams.. well so i hope!!

Sunday 16 March 2008

10 days 9 hours and 13 minutes remaining!

Theoretically it's only the 1 day 19 hours and 57 minutes till my last ever lecture at KCL (!!!), and although im quite excited to finish the lectures, im not too pleased with the measly 10 days 9 hours and 13 minutes left until my dissertation is due in.

I do wonder why the biochemistry students have such an early dissertation deadline.. whilst the other biomedical health sciences have until mid-april !!

That said... i am just over half way with my dissertation now, the materials and method section was quite a nice part to write up, as i literally described the experimental procedures...BUT..the introduction was HELL! its only just over 2000 words..but it has taken every last bit of my patience, and my forehead has suffered immensly - thre are 4 visible red bumps where clear skin used to be !

A little off track, i've signed up for the Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK, on the 19th of july..which should hopefully give me enough time to get into shape and adequate fitness to face the 5km run. Admittedly 5km is quite a wimpy distance, but im not exactly the fittest of people out there!... and so hopefully i'll find some time in between revision to go for a few jogs in the park.


Not heard from any post-grad applications yet, though at the moment, its on the bottum of my list, where as the long awaited exam timetable is right at the top!

2 days 17 hours 56 minutes until the exam timetable is posted

and just the...

50 days 17 hours and 55 minutes until the start of exam season !

Sunday 9 March 2008

No more western blotting!!

After the past 3 grueling weeks of early starts and late finishes at the Wolfson CARD, i can finally say after over 100+ western blots... i have finally finished the lab based component of the project, and can sit down and work on the write up..!!

Though... after all the hard work and effort.. i managed to prove my hypothesis doesn't work.. and my experiment showed no difference what-so-ever... so im going to have to spend the next 17days writing up my 10k paper and explain and back-up why it did not work.. ! >.<

The weather picked up a few days ago, so i decided to have a walk along the river after i finished my last experiment.. well it was more a walk to visit someone.. and walking there seemed like a good idea as i had an hour to spare, but a little stroll ended up as a walking tour between the 3 main campuses at kings.

Started my walk at New Hunt's House (Guy's Campus, london bridge), made a quick stop at borough market to pick up a sarnie, then headed off along the river side, past the tate modern, then on to the royal festival hall where i got a peek at the Franklin Wilkins Builing (waterloo campus, waterloo), and finally up and across waterloo bridge where i caught sight of the london eye, big ben and the houses of parliament. At the other end of the bridge was the Strand campus (Strand)..and from then i gave up and jumped onto a bus to get to my destination..

if you are un/lucky enough to come to kcl and so happen to be an international student turning up to the induction day..this will be a walk you'll be taken on..so remember to wear comfortable shoes ^^

sorry the photos are taken with my phone..so they are a bit out of focus >.<



Post-grad applications are sent now, so its just going to be a long wait (hopefully not toooo long) before i hear back..

17 days left until dissertation deadline.. and only 9 more days until my final lecture at KCL ..!! Graduation date has also been set for the 23rd-july-2008 ..with the new very snazzy KCL vivienne westwood designed gowns and the new kcl certificates... even though the gown sounds very nice.. i really can't imagine a gown looking any different..and if it did look very different from what gowns traditionally look like.. i may not like it.. even if it is supposidly "designer".... however.. i think i should be worrying about the final exams (less than 60 days away!) as opposed to the design of the gown!!

As for medicine application 2009.. anyone up for taking part in a BMAT revision class in london?? .. i guess its going to be quite unlikely seeing as most people taking it will already be doing 3 sciences at alevel.. whilst i'll be stuck with questions on basic gcse physics!!