My Research

Hello everyone,

I went to California last weekend and had the most amazing time ever! We explored some Stanford landmarks:

This is called The Gates of Hell, and was sculpted by Rodin, himself. Stanford has a huge collection of his works. This was a very unsettling piece, especially considering we were there alone at night. The shadows of Adam and Eve on the wall make it even more so.

This is one of the older buildings and is a residence hall. Why take a picture with this building? Because President Herbert Hoover and even cooler, Mr. John Steinbeck both lived in this dorm while students at Stanford.

I was also very very excited to see family a few weeks ago even if for a sad occassion. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Other than that, not much is new here. I've just been working in the lab a lot. Since it's kind of consuming my life, I thought I might tell you briefly what my research and next few years will be all about. I give you full permission to skip over the next paragraph if you do not want a science overflow...
All actions in your cells are a result of signaling pathways. A signaling pathway consists of some factor that uniquely binds to a type of protein on the cell known as a receptor. The receptor is then activated, which can activate some other protein, which activates another one, etc. etc. until a cell response happens - cell growth, cell death, etc. I am studying a certain cellular pathway in ovarian cancer cells. I am trying to figure out which of these factors are present, which receptors they bind to, what happens next and how different pathways may be connected. Understanding this could help us formulate drugs that will better target ovarian cancer tumors and stop these pathways that cause the cancer cells to grow.

I think that's enough science for today. Miss you all.

Xoxo,
Danielle