tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2013:/blogs/alumni//14 2013-01-31T23:56:26Z Alumni of UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources share their stories Movable Type 3.38 tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2013:/blogs/alumni//14.3752 2013-01-31T23:50:50Z 2013-01-31T23:56:26Z

By Sarah Yang, UC Berkeley Media Relations A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, represents a major advance in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind aging while providing new hope for the development of...

Ann Guy By Sarah Yang, UC Berkeley Media Relations A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, represents a major advance in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind aging while providing new hope for the development of targeted treatments for age-related degenerative diseases. Researchers were able to turn back the molecular clock by infusing the blood stem cells of old mice with a longevity gene and rejuvenating the aged stem cells’ regenerative potential. The findings were published online today (Thursday, Jan. 31), in the journal Cell Reports. The biologists found that SIRT3, one among a class of proteins known as sirtuins, plays an important role in helping aged blood stem cells cope with stress. When they infused the blood stem cells of old mice with SIRT3, the treatment boosted the formation of new blood cells, evidence of a reversal in the age-related decline in the old stem cells’ function. ]]> Danica Chen, UC Berkeley assistant professor of nutritional science and toxicology. “This opens the door to potential treatments for age-related degenerative diseases.” Read the full story.]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2012:/blogs/alumni//14.3630 2012-08-03T19:36:11Z 2012-08-17T16:57:35Z

7.26.12 | Lolita & John Casazza School Gardens | No Comments » | ShareThis ORIGINALLY POST AT slowfoodsanfrancisco.com.blog As portrayed in the news, Honduras is a place of economic struggle and a challenged education system. Despite the country’s strife, Lolita...

As portrayed in the news, Honduras is a place of economic struggle and a challenged education system. Despite the country’s strife, Lolita and I decided to visit the area and were relieved to find evidence that efforts are being made to help the country’s children. Cerro Grande (the Big Hill) is a small elementary school located in a low income neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital. Incorporating entrepreneurship and small business management into the regular academic curriculum, this school is striving to change the outcome for its students. Under the leadership of the director, Professora Irma Lopez, the school staff has taken limited resources and a lot of creativity to develop school gardens and create workshops topics ranging from food preparation and manufacturing to carpentry and handicrafts for the home. Teachers work alongside students to produce goods for the local markets to earn money for the school’s needs while teaching reading, writing, mathematics, science, health and computer skills. The organization incorporates all grade levels, from first through sixth, and all students, boys and girls, into a comprehensive program recognized as a pioneer in elementary education.
We were met by Silvia Zavala, chief agriculture officer and head of the school garden program, and given a tour of the school’s facility. She took us around the workshops, school garden and to a couple of classrooms and introduced us to many of her colleagues and the students involved in the school’s activities.

School Garden
Situated on the steep hillside behind the school classrooms and assembly area are the terraces that contain the school garden. Soil is scarce atop the underlying rock base so used car tires are placed in rows and filled with soil and organic matter to serve as the substrate for the plantings of herbs and vegetables. Empty PET water and soda pop containers are trimmed and used for seedling trays or filled with water and used as boundaries for planting beds.
Drip irrigation is installed throughout the garden. It not only demonstrates a modern agriculture practice but teaches water conservation in a region subject to periods of drought. The school is able to partner with agriculture technicians supplied by iDE, an international NGO focused on establishing family gardens in Honduras. The group also built a large cistern to store water and installed mechanical pumps operated by the up-and-down action of the kids playing on a seesaw or on a modified step masters – providing both exercise and entertainment while filling an overhead container that gravity feeds water through the irrigation tubes.
The students study the soil and learn when they need to add compost or lime to fertilize the plants. They use worm bins to decompose the plant wastes and use vermicompost teas to supplement the natural fertilizers.
The lettuce, mustard, beets, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, chayotes, cilantro, parsley, squash, and beans are harvested throughout the year and sold in the local Saturday market outside the school grounds.

The School Kitchen
In this part of the school, the students learn the techniques of food preparation and food hygiene using produce from the school garden or from the local farmers market. The students learn how to elaborate products that are commonly consumed in the local households like jams made from tropical fruits such as pineapple, papaya, black berries and mango. Tortillas are eaten daily and the school produces their own value added version incorporating carrots and beets from the garden. Besides the corn base, the added vegetables enhance the nutrition and add color to the traditional staple. They taste great, too.
Silvia said that the program influences the children’s eating habits since the daily mid- morning snacks produced in the school kitchen may be the first meal for those not able to eat breakfast at home. She also went on to say that many students are now starting gardens in their homes. We were happy to see that Slow Food principles of good, clean and fair food are becoming part of the lifestyles of everybody connected to the Cerro Grande School.]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2012:/blogs/alumni//14.3613 2012-05-01T17:13:27Z 2012-05-01T17:47:02Z

By Ann Brody Guy When a 20-minute lecture about the economic supply chain goes viral, spawning a stunning 12 million views, a non-profit organization with a slate of multimedia offerings, and a vibrant online community of hundreds of thousands...

Ann Guy By Ann Brody Guy When a 20-minute lecture about the economic supply chain goes viral, spawning a stunning 12 million views, a non-profit organization with a slate of multimedia offerings, and a vibrant online community of hundreds of thousands of citizens eager to make the world a better place, one has to wonder: what secret force is behind it? The Story Of Stuff creator Annie Leonard is quick to tell you that a staff of six full-time people create the magic mixture of cartoons and intelligently and wryly distilled information, but it started with just her deep knowledge and commitment to the issue, and an infectious fire in the belly that jumps through the camera. Leonard will be on the UC Berkeley campus to give the keynote address for the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management’s (ESPM’s) annual Gradfest event, when graduating Ph.D.’s show off the department’s depth and diversity with spirited mini-talks on their dissertation research on topics, which this year include topics as wide-ranging as biodiversity in Caribbean coral, sudden oak death at Point Reyes National Seashore, and conservation policy in Bottswana. ]]> The Story of Stuff, Leonard is keenly aware of the need to keep learning. And a lot of the learning came from listening to her classmates, she said, whose various backgrounds included city and regional planning, business, and environmental science. “It helped me so much to think about how I frame my ideas, how other people are thinking and talking about these issues, most of which The Story of Stuff Project addresses every day.” Stepping back from the work also helped her clarify a few issues that she and her staff had been struggling with. “In many ways this class was like the grown-up academic explanation of my cartoon,” she said. For example, learning the term “non-informational barriers to change” gave her and her staff the language to address an issue they’d identified, but didn’t really know how to talk about. The past 40 years, Leonard says, the environmental movement has been operating on the assumption that if you educate people about an issue, like climate change or waste, then they will then change. “The theory of change was: give information; change will happen. It didn’t work.” Leonard says they had figured out that making change was more complex than just providing information, and the class helped her organization to articulate the question: what are the non-information barriers to change? “Is it that people have forgotten how to engage as citizens? Is it that people have no hope because they think corporations have taken over democracy? Is it that people are working too many hours in this country so they don’t have the leisure time to engage in civil society?” she asked. Before O’Rourke’s class The Story of Stuff Project of had already put out videos addressing these deeper drivers of society’s consumption issues—on the Citizens United Supreme Court decision about “corporate personhood,” and on cracking the illusion that that the government is broke. But the class gave them had a way to talk about it more directly. In addition to the classroom, Leonard thinks universities can play a role beyond just education, strengthening the ties between nonprofit and communities. ESPM professor Dara O’Rourke, known for his Good Guide website, is the model she thinks others should look to. O’Rourke has made himself available to advocacy groups and organizations for 20 years, she said. “A lot of academics I know think their value is in the production of knowledge abstractly, and he really sees his value is in producing knowledge that then can be used to help make the world better.” But scientists have to rise above partisanship and adhere to the to the highest academic standards, peer review processes, and objectivity, and acitvism can muddy those waters. Leonard agrees, but she thinks those reports and articles academics write do more in the hands of activists than sitting on a shelf. “The activists can change policies that will make children healthier and the environmental cleaner. The Story Stuff Project, once just a single passionate activist’s lecture, is now one of the activist groups with the community and visibility to create change. “We absolutely believe we can turn things around in this country and globally,’ Leonard said. “And we absolutely believe that we can have an economy that is healthy and sustainable and fair. It’s totally possible—there is no technical reason we cannot have that.” Annie Leonard’s talk and Q&A take place from 11 a.m. to noon in East Pauley Ballroom. All gradfest events are open to the campus community, but pre-registration is required, even if just attending Leonard’s talk.]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2011:/blogs/alumni//14.3325 2011-02-27T08:29:45Z 2011-02-27T09:13:41Z

It's been quite a while since I've updated, especially since I left off with talking about my musings about grad school. Since then, I've decided to create a separate blog just about my grad school musings; most of the posts...

Irene Liao Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History that I decided that the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) would be the perfect venue to volunteer for. ]]> pollination research project on Mo'orea), but I decided to stand in front of the leafcutter ants since Dr. Brain Fisher gave such a compelling talk about ants! Unfortunately, I didn't quite retain all of that information, so I really need to read up on them. Next time I won't be caught off guard (especially when asked about the queen ant), but it was really fascinating watching them and interacting with all kinds of people! Well, next time, I will decide to prepare a particular topic in whatever area I decide to do my shifts in. I'm pretty certain I'll try to incorporate some sort of plant in that topic, but I also want to be able to comfortably talk about every exhibit in African Hall and Islands of Evolution (and a select few in the rainforest and the living roof) so that I am not caught completely off guard. But it was really, really amazing fun, seeing people smiling and excited about exploring the natural world. ]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.3137 2010-09-21T23:20:17Z 2011-01-06T00:01:46Z

I finally had a conversation with my PI about graduate school and how I should approach it. I was becoming antsy about this topic because I had so many ideas or so many interests that I didn't know where to...

Irene Liao I finally had a conversation with my PI about graduate school and how I should approach it. I was becoming antsy about this topic because I had so many ideas or so many interests that I didn't know where to start looking. I have looked at some people and their research interests, but I haven't read their papers. Yet I wasn't entirely satisfied with where and what lab/program I should be looking at. So my conversation went in a roundabout way, starting from my interests in applying for some fellowships/scholarships in the UK. But we finally got to the main point, which was, basically, where do I start looking? I love getting lots of people's perspectives; some people start with reading papers and looking at what universities those people are associated with. Others look for a good general program. My previous PI gave me some names, some that resonated with me, some that took some time for me to warm up to. I guess in the end, I'm just really picky, and a bit selective. I know for sure I don't want to stay in California and would prefer the East Coast. My dream would be to study in NYC, which is one of the major cultural centers of the world. I know I want a great relationship with the PI and the lab because I've been incredibly lucky to have wonderful mentors and labs with amazing people. But in terms of what to study...well, that's the hard part. At least I've narrowed it to plant sciences of some form. My PI posed a question to me - what is my bigger picture? What is the motivation for all of my interests? For him, it was inheritance. And when he started talking about his experiences, I almost immediately thought, plant diversity. Diversity. It can be linked to evolutionary studies, conservation, genetics, etc. The complexity of everything in the natural world is just so incredibly amazing to me. And then he mentioned that I didn't really need to think of grad school as necessarily a stepping stone to everything I do later in my life. I don't need to study the same thing I do in grad school. I completely realize this, and there are so many examples of people like that in my lab: one person was an English major before becoming a plant geneticist, another did his PhD in plant genetics and is a postdoc in zebrafish development. My previous PI started with medicine, then ethnobotany, but ultimately did her PhD in plant systematics and evolution, my current PI did some work in poplar (not Drosophila epigenetics) and is currently working on maize genetics, an epigenetic phenomenon known as paramutation. I love hearing these stories because everyone has a different approach to where they are today. Plus, it'll be fun to see where their interests lead them next! So...I didn't get any names or program suggestions from my current PI. But I think I have a better idea of how to approach this grad school application process...well, hopefully. I wonder if I throw names at people if they will give me positive or negative feedback... tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.3101 2010-08-30T05:35:24Z 2010-08-30T05:58:11Z

It's been a while since I've written a blog for CNR! Most of all, it's a bit weird to say that I'm blogging as an alumni and not as a PAL anymore! I believe most of my blog posts are...

Irene Liao last post as a PAL needs to be updated slightly. Since then, I have found a job as a Laboratory Assistant in Jay Hollilck's lab in PMB. Although I seem to have quite an extensive range of research experiences, this one is quite different from anything I've done before. First of all, I'm working with maize constantly. I was incredibly afraid I was allergic to corn pollen (and I may be slightly), but so far, I've survived. However, the biggest difference from all of my other research experience is that I'm working more on genetics-based questions, trying to figure out how an epigenetic phenomenon called paramutation works in maize. It's really quite fascinating, and I'm enjoying my time working in the fields as well as in the lab.]]> Besides working, I have enjoyed going to seminars around campus, and I may sit in some of the classes periodically. I love stimulating my mind with seminars because they challenge me to think critically. Plus, I love learning and not being caught up in the stresses associated with being a student. I have different forms of stress these days! To keep this short, let me end with saying that I have finally made a decision in regards to my future studies. I am definitely going to be applying to graduate school in some plant biology related program, but really, in what specialization, I have no clue. I really enjoy the research I am doing now (even though I don't completely understand it), but I also love all of the various aspects of research I've done in the past. Since I won't be applying until next year, I'll definitely need to sit down with lots of professors and talk to them (or contact other professors by e-mail). But I'm excited that I finally decided on which type of studies I should be doing! Now the research for different programs begins! tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.3075 2010-07-14T13:07:42Z 2010-07-16T22:44:14Z

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to Max Auffhammer, a UC Berkeley Ag and Resource Economics professor (College of Natural Resources). His talk was entitled "Climate Change: One economists Perspective. I tend to avoid conversations about "climate change" because...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to Max Auffhammer, a UC Berkeley Ag and Resource Economics professor (College of Natural Resources). His talk was entitled "Climate Change: One economists Perspective. I tend to avoid conversations about "climate change" because it always seems to boil down to some argument over causation. Max did a great job of clarifying there is no way to determine "causation" unless we can create a second earth as a control and not have human activity and see what happens. He then said his department didn't have the budget for that experiment. It was quite a light moment. Anyway, through all his calculations studying all this data, his conclusions in accord with some of the scientific communities is the best guess for global climate change, with no changes to any circumstances and their expected growth, is a 2.5 degree C (4 degree F) by the year 2100. His work though, was not to calculate the climate change but to calculate "at what cost to society". In this case, his work produced a 1% loss to global GDP. He left it up to the individual to determine whether that was a lot or a little. Then he got to the fun part. He showed an image of Mission Control in Houston on July 20, 1969, the day we landed on the moon. At the time, few people knew anything about this scientific endeavor so NASA had hired many, many younger people in order to achieve the "within this decade" goal that JFK had set back in 1961. The point......the resulting average age in the room at Mission Control watching the moon landing was 28 years old. What that means is that when JFK set the goal, the average person who would see that goal achieved was only 20 years old!!! Climate change, figuring out what might be done and adjusting to the changes we will see this century will likely all be addressed by people who are just now in college. I know from my own studies at UC Berkeley almost 30 years ago, that we (society) have been pretty indifferent to any environmental compromises to the planet and always willing to write a check to cover it. By contrast, the air quality in Los Angeles is far, far, far better than 30 years ago. And, if a bunch of young people can put multiple men on the moon in less than a decade, then there is much hope. I left a pessimistic probability with an optimistic hopefulness. Maybe I'll even be willing to engage people on this subject now. That must be why Max won a "Distinguished Teaching Award" last year. tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.3068 2010-07-06T19:08:14Z 2010-07-09T22:15:41Z

UYAG Development Center (UDC) is an integrated and sustainable agroforestry project in Barrio Cebuano, province of South Cotobato on the island of Mindano in the Philippines. The purpose of the project is to use the facility and surrounding area...

UYAG Development Center (UDC) is an integrated and sustainable agroforestry project in Barrio Cebuano, province of South Cotobato on the island of Mindano in the Philippines. The purpose of the project is to use the facility and surrounding area as a demonstration farm and teaching center for agriculture students from Mindanao State University in General Santos and for local farmers cultivating similar land areas. The group emphasizes an agroforestry technique that incorporates Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) to stabilize the steep and easily erodible hillsides so they can eventually be farmed safely and productively. I had the opportunity to spend two days with the project leader, Mr. Craig Gustafson, and with the center director, Mr. Joseph Nerredo and lead technician, Mr. Daniel Gorzen. They openly shared what they knew about UDC while I learned about the installation, their strategy and mission, and discussed the operations. I also reviewed the infrastructure and water supply, and walked the highlands seeing SALT in practice and the affects of slash and burn agriculture on the quality of crop yields and on the soil erosion it caused. I then advised them on the agronomic aspects of the project and worked with them to improve the productivity of their vermiculture and horticulture operations. Phase one of the project incorporated SALT techniques planting hedgerows of four legume tree species along contours of the steep slopes at intervals of one meter drop in elevation. UDC staff hadn’t measured the actual slopes but they are estimated at up to 30% to 40% on most locations and higher in some locations. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Capability Classes of upland landscapes would classify them as VIIIe, having severe limitations of slope and susceptible to severe erosion. They can only be considered for use mainly as pasture or range, woodland, or wildlife food cover. SALT allows the above but with the stable soils; cereals and vegetables are also planted without severe consequences. The legume varieties planted for the hedgerows consist of species of Calliandra, Flemingia, Desmodium and Indigofera. Within a short period of time, mini terraces form behind the hedgerows from soil washing down within the contours and catching behind the base of the bushes in the branches and stems placed to act as an erosion barrier. The mini terraces later become the platform for the planting of various crops to be grown sustainably for food, fodder or fuel. Branches of the maturely growing legumes are high in protein and provide feed daily to a herd of Nubian goats. Because the steep slopes make it very difficult to transport the cut branches to the goat pens located on the more gentle downhill slopes, the workers use a zip line to move the feed from the highest points of the property to the goat complex below. The goats are caged in very high quality, covered bamboo structures with slatted floors where the manure and urine pass through the floors to the ground below. The goat manure and urine are collected and layered with banana stalks and leaves or with other green vegetation in two to three cubic meter bins and mixed with earthworms to make vermicompost. ]]> The resulting vermicast is used as a fertilizer or as a plant stimulant when processed into a vermicompost “tea”. They are applied to the permanent plantings of fruit trees and hardwood species, grasses and cereals and annual and perennial vegetables and flowering plants that are cultivated among the hedgerows or among the horticultural parcels around the main compound. I’ve spent many years farming in the same region on the downhill slopes and relatively flat lands for a large scale multinational agri-business firm. We regularly observed the status and changes occurring at the upland areas, the steeper slopes, the less accessible lands available to the native farmers. Deforestation and slash and burn agriculture contributed to the rock-laden and muddy runoff filling the gullies and waterways along the downhill slopes after any heavy tropical rain. The results of farming steep slopes resulted in heavier erosion, loss of topsoil, and subsequent crop loss and underperforming agriculture in the marginal areas where the farmers could ill afford a crop loss or low yield. But this is their only alternative. It’s what is left to farm since the better farmland was already occupied by larger landowners with greater capital resources. Farming the marginal lands provided a reduced subsistence income in some years and more so than not it produced well below the yields on the more fertile lowlands and alluvial plains. Even farming on the gentler, shallower slopes with properly installed drainage and water channeling techniques to move water laterally and towards the larger waterways eventually leads to erosion and soil degradation, too. The soils are loamy sands and in most cases have lost their top soil when cleared for continuous monoculture cropping. Worse yet is the impact of farming on the uplands. Without this type of technology transfer to the region, continuous faming without slope stabilization leads to severe erosion over time and to greater and more permanent environmental degradation. The need for training of the local farmers and for expansion of the sustainable farming practices is great and has to be encouraged by public and private entities with any stake in the long term environmental health of the region. The time to undertake such a project in the Philippines including the various watersheds originating near Mount Matutum is now. My complements go out to Craig Gustafson and his staff and all the people involved in conceptualizing the project, developing a project plan, working to get the infrastructure and components in place and implementing the different aspects of the project. tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.3063 2010-06-22T05:11:14Z 2010-06-22T05:19:11Z

It's almost been 12 months since I've started at UCLA's lab. I've learned so much from them. They taught me how to run Acid Fast Bacteria assays, allowed me to look into microscopes to see things like malaria (all 3...

Aimmee Chin http://nature.berkeley.edu/blogs/alumni It's almost been 12 months since I've started at UCLA's lab. I've learned so much from them. They taught me how to run Acid Fast Bacteria assays, allowed me to look into microscopes to see things like malaria (all 3 species!) and TB, and allowed me to become part of a research team that's working on anaerobe bacterial presence in Chrohn's Disease. The time's flown by, and I sure hope you stay with me despite my long hiatus. I promise I won't be gone for long. As soon as this MCAT thing is done, I'll post pictures of all the weird things a Clinical Lab Scientist gets to see in a microbiology lab. I've worked hard in gathering interesting pictures, so hang tight! :) tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2930 2010-02-24T16:39:12Z 2010-02-24T16:45:12Z

I don't do well with Latex. If I spend too much time standing next to someone with latex gloves, my throat starts to close up. Five years ago, it would have just given me a rash. I suppose the allergy...

Christina http://www.myspace.com/botanynerd Link - ]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2929 2010-02-23T22:13:06Z 2010-03-05T03:48:36Z

I am an Environmental Studies graduate from 1979 and have just completed a book available for free that addresses some of the important financial and valuation issues surrounding sustainable property investment.  The Green Building Finance Consortium (GBFC) announces the release...

 
The Green Building Finance Consortium (GBFC) announces the release of Value Beyond Cost Savings: How to Underwrite Sustainable Properties, the first book dedicated to
enabling private investors to integrate the value of sustainable property investment into their decision-making. The book and complementary resources are available on its website as a free public service of the Consortium. (http://www.greenbuildingfc.com/) A printed hard-copy book will be available for $35.00 in March 2010.

Rapid market change has significantly increased the demand for sustainable properties by tenants, investors, and regulators, but decision-making has not evolved, limiting investment to what can be justified based on operating cost savings alone. Value Beyond Cost Savings meets this challenge, providing a roadmap for integrating value and risk into sustainable property decision-making, enabling larger and more profitable levels of investment.

Sincerely,

Scott Muldavin
Executive Director, Green Building Finance Consortium
]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2884 2010-01-29T17:31:07Z 2010-01-29T18:51:03Z

I'm a graduate student in the Botany department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. My adviser is Dr. John Z. Kiss. You may remember the blurb I wrote about him as an undergraduate on the Fresh Faces blog. It's already...

Christina http://www.myspace.com/botanynerd Botany department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. My adviser is Dr. John Z. Kiss. You may remember the blurb I wrote about him as an undergraduate on the Fresh Faces blog. It's already pretty big news that our lab is sending another batch of plants to the International Space Station with TROPI 2. Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism (Tropi) will observe growth and collect samples from plants sprouted from seeds. By analyzing the samples at a molecular level, researchers expect to gain insight on what genes are responsible for successful plant growth in microgravity. Read more about this and the other spaceflight experiments taking place on STS-130 in the press kit. Here's a photo of my adviser John Kiss checking out his plants from the remote control center for the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) But there's an entirely new NASA project that we just landed on the very next shuttle mission STS-131 - and for this one, I get to play a big part. The study is entitled Investigations of the Plant Cytoskeleton in Microgravity with Gene Profiling and Cytochemistry. We will be using the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) system for this study. Several seeds will be planted on a petri plate with agar, which will fit into a dark canister. It's a 10-day study wherein the seeds will germinate in orbit, The plants will grow until we flood half the plates with fixative for microscope studies and the other half with RNAlater for gene profiling studies through microarray analysis. As a graduate researcher for this project, I will be traveling to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare my plants for flight. Launch is scheduled for March 18, 2010, 1:34 p.m. EDT. Here's the STS-131 mission patch:

In case you're curious which shuttle, Discovery is scheduled for the mission.
]]> tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2879 2010-01-26T15:09:42Z 2010-01-26T15:13:22Z

My professor Dr. Johnston constantly reminds us, "Medicine is an art. It's not black or white. It is an art." I used to think that medicine was like everything else. You stick in A+B+C and output = V. But it...

K. Lee My professor Dr. Johnston constantly reminds us, "Medicine is an art. It's not black or white. It is an art." I used to think that medicine was like everything else. You stick in A+B+C and output = V. But it isn't...it's A+B+Z+K-J = possible D or N or M+O tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2878 2010-01-23T17:39:18Z 2010-01-23T17:52:16Z

The old president/CEO of my old (1916) esteemed institute KCUMB, left and the current president is just awesome. In these past couple months, he's proved to be much more accessible than the previous president. He's had these morning breakfast Meet-the-President...

K. Lee The old president/CEO of my old (1916) esteemed institute KCUMB, left and the current president is just awesome. In these past couple months, he's proved to be much more accessible than the previous president. He's had these morning breakfast Meet-the-President events where students can go and have free yummy goodness breakfast and talk to him. I went to one of them on Thursday. Food; quiche, strawberries, donuts. That quiche was so crazy good. But more importantly, being able to talk to the President/CEO about what's going on with our program. He spent 20-30 min at my table of 10. We told him what we wanted, asked him about how certain things were going, and other. Most importantly, he told us that our tuition is going to stay the same or reduce for the next year. (Yes yes, the rest of you at Berkeley are in pain because of those 15% increases in tuition.) That was exciting news. The faculty have also been quite supportive too. Anyone (students or faculty), can just walk in and ask to talk to him. How cool is that? I've never tried it with the Cal Chancellor, but just being able to is awesome. =) tag:nature.berkeley.edu,2010:/blogs/alumni//14.2857 2010-01-15T01:20:23Z 2010-04-26T21:58:55Z

..the Umbilical Cord!!! At my school, KCUMB (Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences), they assign us to an Early Clinical Experience. I got an OB/GYN. I need to get back to studying, however, it was amazing!! I had always...

K. Lee ..the Umbilical Cord!!! At my school, KCUMB (Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences), they assign us to an Early Clinical Experience. I got an OB/GYN. I need to get back to studying, however, it was amazing!! I had always been scared off from OB/GYN due to the high malpractice rate, but seeing a kid pop out of the canal? Coolness extreme! And, this is the "reflection" that I wrote (Note, names have been replaced to maintain anonymity): Walking in, I did not know what to expect. My only previous knowledge of OB/GYNs was that they did women's health care and helped deliver babies. Dr. Young exposed me to an interesting and instructive experience about OB/GYN and about the practice management of medicine. When I first met Dr. Young, he was monitoring a woman in labor through his computer. She was 9.5 cm dilated at that point. He first brought me to see a post-op woman who's uterus he had removed from her navel with an endoscopic operation. The patient had brought the operation pictures that he had taken during the procedure and asked him to explain them. He went over the operation with her and addressed her concerns about regaining her life, including when she could have sex again. At KCUMB, I had been struggling on how to take the sexual history of patients. Professors had given examples on what to say, but no one had ever demonstrated it. Observing Dr. Young helped me on understand that just being direct about issues worked to assure patients. I did not need to smile, which had made me feel awkward previously. In fact, not smiling helped the patients more. When we went to the ward, the patient was dilated and had begun contractions. I had seen birthing on videos, but this was nothing like the chaos I had seen on videos. It was simple, and calm. I was amazed at the size of the uvula. There wasn't the screaming or the yelling. Dr. Young and the nurses guided the patients pushing to the contractions. I never got to ask how they knew the contraction was coming. The nurses helped me to gown up. As the lady pushed, Dr. Young deftly pulled down on her uvula and eased the baby's neck out. Once that was out, the body easily followed. I was astounded at how I could see the head expand after being released from the constrains of the cervix. It was like a balloon in the way that the body also unfolded. I was able to clip the umbilical cord and cut it. Dr. Young instructed me on how to pull out the placenta and the techniques to it. I applied pressure to the placenta, slowly the placenta released, and I clamped it. It looked like a deflated bloody football. What a miracle of birth. Back in the clinics, Dr. Young taught me how to tell if a baby was positioned breech or correctly just by palpating the mother's tummy. He allowed me to use a sound device to measure the fetus' heartrate. I was very grateful to have such a hands-on-experience. I had never thought that OB/GYNs could follow up on the lives of their patients. Yet, since they can continue to provide women's care after helping to deliver the patients babies, they have a long term relationship with the patients. I had not thought that OB/GYN required much patient education. However, Dr. Young was very involved in patient education by explaining to the patients how the procedures worked and the possible risks and other. He drew diagrams and took pictures during the procedures to help the patients understand. There are also downsides of OB/GYN, though no the actual doctoring, but the practice management of it. I learned that often times, women will just show up at the hospital to give birth and the OB/GYNs are required to assist them through delivery without compensation or ability to deny services. I learned as OB/GYNs get older, they like to restrict the numbers of deliveries they give and concentrate on obstetrics since those quick procedures pay better than deliveries. I learned that 10 year-olds giving birth is not rare—“old enough to bleed, old enough to deliver.” I learned that physicians much often cancel appointments and reschedule if there is a delivery on the way. Since they can only estimate the exact birth time up to 4 hours in advance, it means a lot of frustration on the patients part. Overall, I was quite impressed with OB/GYN. I had not thought of it was a good specialty for me, but the experience has provoked my further interest. The “miracle of birth” was long lasting love for Dr. Young. And, if seems for me, also to be so.