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Well, it's summer in Austin which means it's really heating up. Cara and I are busy as usual. Even though Cara has recently completed her second year as Assistant Band Director at Henry Middle School, she is still very busy teaching private lessons and counseling/teaching at UT and ECU band camps this month. In addition, she is already practicing her music for her performance with the UT Wind Ensemble at the festival del sole in Napa Valley California in July. We are both very excited about this event because neither of us has been to Napa Valley. I am excited to hear the Corigliano piece, again. It is the same piece that Cara and the UT Wind Ensemble performed in Carnegie Hall. As for me, I'm still working daily to finish my graduate research for my PhD. I know that I've been in Austin for a long time and I would love to be wrapping things up, but my project has proven to be a much bigger challenge than I originally anticipated. When I arrived at UT and began work on this project, there were only two people working on eukaryotic gene targeting in mammalian cells. Since I have been here, we have expanded our team to about 10 people including 2 Post-doctoral fellows, 5 graduate students, 2 technicians and undergrads. We have also expanded the scope of the project from only mammalian cell culture to mice, frogs, zebrafish, and fruit flies. I have shown that group II introns are capable of integrating into DNA targets in fruit flies and zebrafish and we have patented this discovery. However, our main goal of obtaining a living organism that possesses a disrupted gene via an integrated intron at a chosen target site has remained elusive. I have some data that suggests that I have successfully disrupted the CCR5 gene in human cells which would be a major breakthrough. The CCR5 gene encodes a cell membrane protein that is recognized by HIV to infect human T cells. Disrupting this gene makes cells resistant to HIV infection. Unfortunately, I have not been able to defintively confirm the integration, so I must trudge on. It is my full intention to see this project through to the end, but I fear that time is moving faster than my progress. Recently, I took on another project that is much more likely to lead to data that will allow me to graduate in a reasonable time-frame. This project involves studying a group II intron from E. coli that has been shown to have retargeting capabilities. We will be looking at the very basic mechanisms by which this intron targets DNA. I feel very comfortable with this project and if it proves to be productive, it will reduce some of the pressure that I put on myself to graduate. I believe that as I progress on this new project, I will be able to focus more on the eukaryotic gene targeting project without feeling like my life depends on the eukaryotic project. So, that's the most I've ever written about my graduate research on my blog. I think I'll leave that subject for now.
This summer for me will also be lots of fun. We just returned from a short trip to NC to get some much needed R&R. It was wonderful to see our friends and family in NC. And soon, Mom will be coming to visit with my niece, Emily. I'm really looking forward to their time in Austin. I can't wait to show Emily some of the really fun and cool places that we have here in Austin. In July, I'll be joining Cara at the festival del sole. That will be an amazing experience. I can't wait to hear her play again and I'm sure that we will visit some of the vineyards and wineries. I'm also excited to go to San Francisco. Cara's never been to S.F. but I have. I've learned so much about S.F. since my visit that I'm very excited to return to the Bay City. In August, we're planning to go to Cara's cousin, Angela's wedding and in the same week, I'm supposed to go to a Yankees/Red Sox baseball game. I'm hoping that Roger Clemens will be pitching. Well, that's the update for now. If you'd like to comment, please shoot me an email. I love hearing from family and friends.
Cheers!
Click on the picture to go to the Festival Del Sole website: