Keep Going Steadily
Table of Contents
Sunday, February 9
163.6 lbs (Day 44, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (6/6) | ★★★★★
From now on, I will rate my day with a star rating system to measure my satisfaction. For example, if everything was good(I did what I planned to do), but if not optimal, then I would give ★★★★☆ (4.5/5). I know it is subjective, but I have recently been thinking that rating and looking back at my emotions can help me feel better. Sometimes, I felt I wasted my time on a certain day, and my mood was not good throughout and even the following day. If I rate my day and contemplate what I can do the next day to improve my mood, I would be better than yesterday (feel like intentionally taking the opportunity to think about the problem). So I decide to record this and my previous ones (weight, whether hitting the gym or not). I hope I get an average of 4/5 in my week⭐️
I hit the gym in the morning with fantastic weather. Because I am somewhat accustomed to this wonderful sky, I worry about next summer when I return to Korea☹️ Two weeks ago, I cut my hair (you might know it was a disaster). I also cut today to compensate for the part I mistakenly cut so short, making the other part evener. However, my hair hadn’t grown much in a week, so the part was still evident. But wearing a hat all day is too annoying, so I decided to take it off and just go for it.
Later, I went to a Superbowl-watching party at a friend’s house from my cohort. It was my second time there; he was so friendly and humorous, and I would love to go there. The house is so clean, and there are all the things we need! Some friends and I went to a Target near the house and bought some snacks and alcohol before heading there. My first time watching this event was great! To be honest, American football is not my style, but my friends explained it so well that I could understand the rules of the game roughly, and there was no difficulty in watching the game the whole time. And importantly, the atmosphere at the house was so warm. Everyone brought nice food(one brought Korean-style gochujang soy sauce fried chicken, and it was a banger!). Kendrick Lamar’s Superbowl halftime show was so nice. I don’t know much about rap songs in the U.S., but I do know Kendrick’s songs. Thank you to my friends for giving me such a great experience. It was a relaxed party🙂 After the show, I returned home and did laundry, cleaned my house, did meal prep, and went to bed. It was a great, productive day.
Monday, February 10
164.2 lbs (Day 45, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (1/6) | ★★★★
Outside of Work
I woke up around 7:00 a.m. since I went to bed at 1:30 a.m. Despite the late night, I wanted to start my Monday as fresh as possible. I managed to hit the gym for a quick push workout, then headed home, took a shower, ate breakfast, and left for the lab by 9:00 a.m. (So mundane)
In the morning, I had a lab meeting where a senior graduate student presented her project. She’s in the final stages, working toward publishing her findings and graduating. Her project seems incredibly challenging because proving its efficacy requires overcoming many obstacles. However, if she succeeds, her research could have a significant impact, especially since it offers a potential strategy for targeting traditionally undruggable proteins—those with short half-lives and no well-defined binding pockets for small molecules. Choosing a difficult thesis project feels like a double-edged sword🙏
Later, I attended my usual Reaction Mechanism class, which focused on peptide chemistry. During my master’s, I hadn’t synthesized peptides at all, so the lecture offered new insights and was both interesting and engaging. After class, I submitted my course list for the minicourses I plan to take in the spring quarter and spent some time rewriting part of a blog post. I’ve been postponing my blog updates lately, so I made an effort to get back on track.
Lab Work
Today was particularly busy; I managed to finish work at 9:00 p.m.🫠 Last Friday, I completed a reverse nickel column chromatography for my protein, which resulted in relatively pure fractions. To ensure maximum purity, we ran AKTA Protein Purification Systems, where the sample went through size exclusion chromatography (SEC). It was my first time using this type of chromatography, so I was excited.
I ran an SDS-PAGE to verify the protein, collected the desired fractions (look nice!), quickly froze them using liquid nitrogen, and stored them at -80°C. Tomorrow, I plan to check the LC-MS of the collected fractions and concentrate the sample to the required level for a labeling experiment with my synthesized warhead.
Tuesday, February 11
164.8 lbs (Day 46, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Rest (2/6) | ★★★
Outside of Work
Today is not unique. Due to the late work yesterday, I decided to skip today’s workout. I took a Journal Club class, and it was good. One of my cohorts presented “Automated Flow Synthesis of Artificial Heme Enzymes for Enantiodivergent Biocatalysis”. Making D-protein in a few days was so impressive.
I talked with my program manager in the afternoon about my scholarship extension. Fulbright is a maximum of two years (the second year should be extended via an additional process where I have to prove academic excellence, etc…), and my IIE advisor told me I needed to prepare some documents from my program, so my program manager and I had a meeting about this.
After I got off work, I literally crashed out. Today’s experiment result was somewhat disappointing. That may have made me feel more tired.
Lab Work
I checked the NMRs of two compounds (these were good). We finished protein purification yesterday, and we just did characterization today. First, we checked LC-MS, but we got an unexpected peak (+76Da to the desired protein) on top of our desired protein for a significant proportion. Before SEC, the ratio of side protein to desired one was relatively small, so my mentor and I were somewhat embarrassed. Even worse, significant absorbance at 260nm was observed by nanodrop. It typically indicates the impurity (other than protein, ex., nucleic acid). However, after we calculated protein concentration and volume, we tentatively concluded that a labeling experiment with this protein preparation was sufficient. We decided to move on to the next experiment without additional protein prep. So, I made protein aliquots stored at -80, and we planned to discuss the experiment design tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 12
165.0 lbs (Day 47, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (2/6) | ★★★★☆
Outside of Work
What a wonderful sky🙂 This morning, I went to the gym around 6:40 am. I did a workout focusing on my back, biceps, and shoulders. Afternoon, I attended my usual reaction mech class. I learned something new during class: many different protective groups for side-chain amino acids. This was fascinating because I had always only considered protecting the N- or C-terminus during amide coupling.
Around 3 pm, I attended a lab meeting. The presenter was a postdoc who will soon be an assistant professor at Caltech. His research has focused on expanding GTPase’s druggability other than KRAS using chemical genetic approaches. It was impressive to utilize so many novel drugs targeting KRAS mutants with different mechanisms in other GTPases. I think chemical genetics is quite labor-intensive but effective in developing probes and identifying the druggable targets.
After work, some colleagues and I headed to the gym to play basketball. We played half-court games, roughly four-on-four. We weren’t very competitive, so it was a great time to relax and enjoy the game. Basketball has been my hobby since middle and high school, even though these days there haven’t been many opportunities to play it.
I also spent some time playing chess. I recently started a game with a few colleagues, and time flies when I’m focused on chess. I highly recommend Chess.com for anyone interested in playing, learning strategies, solving puzzles, or analyzing their moves with the help of an AI-powered engine.
Lab Work
Yesterday, we found that our protein sample was somewhat impure. Despite this issue, we decided to move on to the next step: a labeling experiment. Today, before the labeling experiment with the molecules I synthesized, we decided to test iodoacetamide that could selectively label the protein at its cysteine residues. We discussed the experimental design and agreed to experiment tomorrow.
For chemistry, I ran a reaction to make another warhead. But when I checked LC-MS, I couldn’t find the desired M+H peak. However, the pattern was quite clear, so I purified the major peak and put the sample under lyophilization. I will check this via NMR, considering that my molecule might be unstable in LC-MS.
Thursday, February 13
165.4 lbs (Day 48, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (3/6) | ★★★
Outside of Work
I hit the gym in the morning, but the weather was not good😵 In the evening, I went to Pizza Talk. One of my cohorts and I ordered the food for the class(Mexican🌮). The food was delivered from the restaurant I tried before at New Student Orientation, and it was still good and yummy👍
Right after the class, I quickly went to Costco. Due to the problem with LC-MS, I wasn’t feeling great like I did on Tuesday. Maybe for that reason, I literally crashed out again. I think I wanted to escape or get rid of my bad feelings via sleep🛌
Lab Work
I did a labeling experiment with iodoacetamide, but today, LC-MS was too packed with people, and I barely used that whole day. I didn’t have anything to do except do this experiment, so I tried to read a paper I will present at my future journal club presentation between the usage. I felt like my day was not that efficient. So, I thought having multiple projects would improve this situation because I could do other things when a project is stuck.
Friday, February 14
165.8 lbs (Day 49, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (4/6) | ★★★★☆
Outside of Work
As always, I went to the gym in the morning. Later, I attended a Research in Progress class at 11. There were two presenters from the lab where I rotated during my first quarter. The session was solid and quite interesting, even though I couldn’t see a direct connection to my research interests. After class, I had lunch with my cohort. I also purchased a ski lift ticket and a rental ticket for next week’s Tahoe ski trip, which I’m really looking forward to.
In the afternoon, I attended a reaction mech class on peptide organic chemistry. This time, I learned chemical ligation, and it was great. I admired people who revolutionized science by developing novel, efficient methods to study that area. I got a Valentine’s present from my friend in the cohort. It is so cute☺️, I put it on my desk.
Around 4 PM, I participated in a seminar on RAS and RAF kinase pathways in cancer. The lecturer from Genentech explained how pharmaceutical companies leverage cutting-edge technology to study biology and chemistry. The talk focused on the structural biology of proteins involved in RAS, RAF, MAPK, and ERK pathways. I felt a bit overwhelmed by the complexity of the subject. While these topics are essential for oncology research, I’m not sure I want to dedicate my life to this area—it seems pretty saturated.
After finishing work at 6:30, I headed straight home and took a rest, though I couldn’t stop thinking that I was wasting time. I’d like to use my evenings better, so I’m considering scheduling my weekdays and weekends more effectively to improve my overall quality of life.
(+ great news: I have received all stipend postponed, and I could pay back emergency loans from the university)
Lab Work
I didn’t accomplish much today. I only checked the NMR of a molecule I had synthesized earlier. My mentor and I discussed our upcoming experiment schedule because yesterday’s results were inconclusive. Since I have about four weeks left in this rotation, I wanted to perform another protein purification and prepare another mutant protein as soon as possible. I also brought up several options I wanted to try. After discussing with my mentor, I’m determined to learn software for designing primers and keeping digital lab notes for biology. I plan to become proficient in designing primers for other mutants using Benchling. Oh, for +76 Da, I asked GPT, and it is likely from the -S-S- bond of cysteine and beta-mercaptoethanol (BME). So next time, I will use TCEP instead.
Saturday, February 15
166.1 lbs (Day 50, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (5/6) | ★★★★★
This morning, I checked my weight, and it was 166 pounds! It is the highest I’ve been since I arrived in the US. I have been looking forward to this, but this wasn’t a good sign because the speed of gaining weight is too fast. Maybe that came from the fact that I’ve been eating much outside my usual meal plan this week. So, I plan to cut some calories to manage my weight better.
Fortunately, I hit the gym at least five times a week these days, and that’s been working well for me. It’s better than doing nothing and just overeating, which would only lead to more weight gain. Today, I also succeeded in going to the gym and focused on working out my back, biceps, and abs.
This week, especially after dinner, I wasted a lot of time. I couldn’t concentrate on my tasks, leaving me feeling down. I realized I needed to change my habits to get back on track, so I wrote down everything I had to do throughout the day. I will try to check these detail lists and see whether I can observe them well the following week.
Later on, I headed to a local ceramic painting shop I mentioned before with my friend. It was a great experience. I got to paint a ceramic ball, and it turned out well(just my thought). If someone asks me what my favorite character is, I would say “Totoro” or “Snorlax”! They are so cute☺️ I found a nice Totoro reference for painting, so I chose that. I look forward to firing, making this ceramic bold and vivid. Firing will take at least a week, so I will visit again after a CCB Tahoe ski trip. I got candles as a present, which have a really good fragrance even before I light them. The pleasant scent stimulates my nose and relaxes me! I am excited to use that one in my cozy room(Thanks🥹). When I got home, I prepared meals for the upcoming week, cleaned the house, and rested well.
