TODAY

I am now at the laboratory. I am currently reading some articles about peripheral nerve regeneration. This is an review article concerning about factors influencing the effect of remyelinating. This article suggested that several factors such as ECM(Extracellular Matrix) proteins,neurotrophic factors/receptors , intracellular regulators and hormones may play significant role in nerve remyelinating after nerve injury. This article also demonstrated several experimental facts about these effects. But so many pullzles still remain. We have to conduct research to solve these problems!

YA~~Summer vacation begins~~

A meaningless semester ended!! Now I can do what I want to do and what I should do !!!!!

Organic Chemistry Grade~

Though I didn't get the highest score , I believe that I gained a lot in this course !! Such things cannot be evaluated by scores~~~

I am very satisfied with this course~~ I hope that the courses I will take in the future are as good as this organic chemistry course!!!

The Organic Chemistry final was over~

Though I didn't get 100 , I still think that organic chemistry is pretty fascinating~~ What we learned is much more important than the scores !!
Maybe I will study more advanced organic chemistry in the summer vacation ~~

Night Of Organic Chemistry

I just studied the Hammett equation . Definitely it was an interesting topic.
I love organic chemistry but not the exams!!!
I want to sleep now~~~

Thank you~

The interesting organic chemistry class ended today . We will have the final next Monday. But let us not talk about the coming exam. I am very grateful to professor Luh for his instruction! He taught very well~ He let us realize the most important concepts in organic chemistry.Also , he often shared some stories with us that concerned about how to do research. To sum up , professor Luh helped me not only academically but also mentally . Though I don't major in chemistry and except biochemistry , I won't have courses about chemistry anymore , I will enhance my knowledge in chemistry continuously. I think that good chemical backgrounds are very crucial in next generation medical research . And I will keep in mind what professor Luh said!!

My own way~

I messed up my calculus exam again. But it was in my expectations. But how to say? Before the exam , I definitely realized that I had't prepared very well compared with previous experiences.I tried very hard to retrieve the situation, but It didn't work.The reason was that someone impeded me from carrying these plans. Usually, I can evaluate what I can achieve in a coming exam just by reviewing what I have worked already. For this time, I really knew that I needed more preparations . But I cannot put them into practices. The result is that I got a bad grade on the exam. I just want to do in my own way. I don't want anyone to interfere me , especially someone always talking in a high-sounding tone. I truly know what I want , and I will gain them no matter what!!!

TODAY

Well, today is pretty interesting. In the organic chemistry class,I learned some concepts about NMR spectroscopy. The mathematical and physical formula are not so easy to understand, so I want to review this subject some other day, maybe in the summer. In the afternoon, I went to the laboratory in medical college. I discussed my plan with Professor Hsieh. I learned a lot. For example, he told me that we should not always follow the trend. Instead, we should be unique and innovative. Whether a researcher can win Nobel Prize doesn't depend on how much money he spend and doesn't depend on how complicated the experiment is. The major concern is INNOVATION. In order to contribute to the whole scientific world, we must apply completely novel approaches which haven't been used by other people. Even a simple experiment can change the whole world to a great scale!! The most important thing is just HOW WE DEAL WITH A PROBLEM !!!

SUMMER RESEARCH TRAINING PLAN (a sketch)

The following is a rough description about what I plan to do in the laboratory this summer. It only contains the topic of neuroscience and not include the contents of interdisciplinary studies , which are also important parts supporting long-term and novel scientific research.
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This summer course will be made of two major parts. These parts will be integrated so that I can learn as many as possible in limited time. First of all, I will learn the techniques which are important in neuroscience research. At the same time, I will read more articles related to the fields that I am interested in. Through this process, I may find a topic with biological significance and investigate it vigorously and conscientiously.

The main techniques I will learn include Immunohistochemistry, quantitation of neurons/nerve fibers, morphometric studies, and animal surgical procedures. I will practice above-mentioned techniques and make myself be proficient at them. If there is a chance, I hope that I can also learn some techniques in cell biology. Maybe it is a good idea to combine experimental data both from molecular level and morphological level.

The major field that I am interested in is about the nerve degeneration, regeneration and nociception. Only limited time is available, so I will focus on the study in nerve degeneration and nociception. I will choose one factor that can cause nerve degeneration and evaluate its effects. According to previous studies, we can examine both temporal and spatial changes in skin innervation of the mouse footpad. For example, we can divide mouse into several groups. Then we sacrifice them in different time after the operation. In each group, we can use such as immunohistochemical techniques, fluorescence and electron microscopy to measure the changes in the areas we are concerned. If time is enough, maybe in the next semester, I want to investigate the nerve regeneration. We can continue the experiment which we have started, observing what will happen after the operation, maybe in a period of several months. Just like what previously described, we can use techniques such as immunohistochemistry to study the extent of regeneration. For example, we can study the reinnervation of skin. Also, we can measure the density and diameter of regenerating nerve and compare them with the control group. Electrophysiology is also fascinating, but it is much more complicated for me, so I think I need more time to study them.

Paralleling to the study of nerve degeneration, it is desirable to investigate the pain reaction. We can test the behavior of mouse in several ways. For example, we can measure how long a mouse will react to a stimulus which may be thermal, cold or mechanical.

For a beginner, it is urgent to absorb more knowledge on this field. This plan will be modified when I learn more things or when I come up some idea in the future.