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Tuesday, May 26

가족들과 정말 여러 곳을 잘 다녀오고 충전도 잘 한 뒤 하루를 시작! 가족들이 오는 동안 참 많은 걸 느꼈는데 (스스로 더 인격 수양이 필요할 것 같다는 점과 더불어 ㅎㅎ), 잘 보내고 가셨기를 바란다. 오랜만에 일하러 나가는 게 쉽지 않을 거라 생각했지만, 사실 일주일 넘는 시간 동안 조금씩 원격으로 일을 하기는 했어서 꽤나 많은 것들이 해결되었고 뭐 그다지 별 느낌은 없었다. 지금은 Patrick과 하는 cyclic peptide design side project의 첫 design result를 거의 얻어가고 있고, 잡다한 행정일도 드디어 해결했다! 오늘은 Kevan과 퀄 끝난 후 첫 미팅이었는데, 저번에 Bill과 얘기했던 것에서 조금 더 다른 쪽으로 생각해보는 것으로 결론이 났다 후우.. 모두가 마음에 들어 하는 중요한 문제를 설정하는 게 참 어렵지만 꼭 해야 하는 일이니 너무 빨리는 지치지 않으려고 한다. 이후에는 An과 qualifying exam에 대해 밥을 먹으며 얘기했고, 양도소득세 신고를 하고.. 하루를 너무 빡세지 않게 잘 마무리했다.

After traveling to so many places with my family and recharging well, I started the day! I felt many things while my family was here, including the fact that I probably need to work more on my own character. Still, I really hope they had a good time before leaving. I thought it would be difficult to go back to work after a while, but actually, I had been working remotely little by little for more than a week, so quite a few things had already been resolved, and it did not feel that strange. Right now, I am almost getting the first design results for the cyclic peptide design side project with Patrick, and I finally took care of some miscellaneous administrative tasks. Today was my first meeting with Kevan after the qual, and we concluded that I should think in a slightly different direction from what I had discussed with Bill last time, whew.. Setting up an important problem that everyone likes is really difficult, but it is something I must do, so I will try not to get too exhausted. After that, I had an early dinner with An and talked about the qualifying exam, filed my capital gains tax report, and wrapped up the day without pushing myself too hard.

Wednesday, May 27

오늘 오전에는 Nicholas Polizzi (Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)가 Shokat Lab에서 current work을 공유하고 collaboration 기회를 discussion하는 작은 세미나를 했다. 신기한 건 Nick은 DeGrado Lab postdoc이었고, Harvard로 간 지는 채 5년이 되지 않았다는 점이다 ㅎㅎ Bill에게는 연락을 한 것 같지 않던데, 뭔가 이런 식으로 만나는 게 신기했다. 아주아주 cool한 연구였고 (아직 publication이 되지는 않아서 말하기는 어렵다) 여러 영감을 받았다. 곧 이에 대해서 Kevan과도 얘기할 건데 새로운 side project가 더 생길 수도 ㅎㅎ.. 오후에는 Shokat Lab에서 새로 Kevan과 joint student로 들어오는 친구의 rotation exit talk이 있었고, 이것을 제외하고는 계속 아이디어를 생각해봤다. Qual 때 있었던 Aim 1을 쪼개서 2개의 다른 방향으로 만들어볼 것 같다. 얼른 정하고 싶구만!

This morning, Nicholas Polizzi, an Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, gave a small seminar at the Shokat Lab to share his current work and discuss collaboration opportunities. What was interesting is that Nick was a postdoc in the DeGrado Lab, and it has not even been five years since he moved to Harvard ㅎㅎ. It did not seem like he had contacted Bill, so it felt funny to meet him this way. His research was very, very cool, though it is hard to say much because it has not been published yet, and I got a lot of inspiration from it. I will talk about it with Kevan soon, and maybe another new side project will come out of it. In the afternoon, there was a rotation exit talk by a student who will newly join the Shokat Lab as a joint student with Kevin. Other than that, I kept thinking through ideas. I think I may split Aim 1 from my qual into two different directions. I really want to decide soon!

Thursday, May 28

이제는 정말 수업이 없어서, 오후에 있는 protein design seminar 이외에는 쭉 자료 조사를 했다. 내일 또 Bill과 미팅할 기회가 있어서, PI 두 분과 계속 아이디어를 구체화시킬 수 있어 다행이다.

Now that there are no classes, I spent the day doing background research except for the protein design seminar in the afternoon. I have another chance to meet with Bill tomorrow, so I am glad that I can keep refining my ideas with both PIs.

Friday, May 29

어제부터 새로운 아이디어를 얻어서 stapled helix(helicon)에 대해서 논문도 읽고 여러 공부를 하고 있다. 이제는 de novo로 디자인할 수 있는 게 상상 이상으로 많아져서, 예전에 했어야만 했던 지난한 스크리닝 과정을 대체할 수 있게 된 게 참 academia에서 활용할 수 있는 아주 강력한 부분이라고 생각한다 (물론 완벽하지는 않지만). 빨리 여러 in silico test를 해봐야겠다. 참 연구하기 좋은 시대인 건 확실한데, 경우의 수가 너무 많아지니 머리가 아프기도 하다… Bill이 학회에 가서 미팅이 취소되는 바람에 아이디어에 대한 피드백은 아직 못 받았지만, 내 선에서 할 수 있는 게 많으니 여러 가지 해보고 말씀드리려 한다.

Since yesterday, I have been reading papers and studying more about stapled helices, helicons, after getting a new idea. There are now so many things that can be designed de novo, far more than I had imagined, and I think one very powerful aspect of using this in academia is that it can replace some of the long and tedious screening processes that used to be necessary, though of course it is not perfect. I want to quickly run several in silico tests. It is definitely a great time to do research, but since there are so many possible directions now, it also makes my head hurt a bit… Since Bill went to a conference and our meeting was canceled, I have not received feedback on the idea yet, but there are many things I can do on my own first, so I plan to try several things and then discuss them with him.

Saturday, May 30

오늘은 정말 푹 쉬었는데, Marigold Café (2681 21st St, San Francisco, CA 94110)에서 따뜻한 라떼와 사워도우 + 리코타 + 꿀, 진리의 조합 토스트를 먹고 (너무 맛있어서 솔직히 많이 놀랐다) 편안하게 오전을 즐기다가 밀프렙도 하고 푹 쉬었다. 저녁에는 Coqueta (Pier 5 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111)에서 정말 좋은 날씨 속에 해질녘쯤 식사를 했다. 빠에야가 말이 안 되게 맛있는.. 나는 주말에 혼자 있으면 사실 그렇게 막 생산적인 일을 하지도 않고, 어떨 때는 일을 놓지 못해서 참 머리가 아파오는데, 이곳저곳을 잘 아는 여자친구 덕분에 밖에 많이 나가고 새로운 세계를 알게 되어 항상 고마운 마음이다! 다음 주도 열심히 일할 수 있는 긍정적인 기운을 충전하게 되는 것 같다 ㅎㅎ 다 잘 풀리길.

Today I really rested well. I went to Marigold Café, and had a warm latte and toast with sourdough, ricotta, and honey, truly a perfect combination. It was so delicious that I was honestly very surprised. I enjoyed a peaceful morning, did some meal prep, and rested well. In the evening, I had dinner around sunset at Coqueta in really beautiful weather. The paella was unbelievably good.. When I am alone on weekends, I honestly do not do anything that productive, and sometimes I cannot let go of work, so my head starts to hurt. But thanks to my girlfriend, who knows so many good places, I get to go out more and discover a new world, and I am always grateful for that! I feel like I have recharged with positive energy to work hard again next week ㅎㅎ. I hope everything goes well.