>Get a clue

>Helloooo,

How are ya? Pretty stoked it’s almost Friday ova hurrr. The weather has been absolutely GORG so I’m looking to spend a little less time in my air conditioned lab and more time in the SUN (with spf of course)!

Speaking of sun, there was an interesting article posted in the National Cancer Institutes recent bulletin. For anyone interesed in cancer research but doesn’t necessarily have a strong science background, this bulletin is great. And for those with a science background it’s equally great because you can keep up-to-date with cancer research advances in a single manuscript. And the primary papers are always linked through the article.

I know you may be striving to look like Donatella:

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But please consider some excerpts from the article:

Did you know that “melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, increased among Caucasian women in the United States aged 15 to 39 by 50 percent between 1980 and 2004″????

“First exposure to sunbeds before 35 years of age significantly increased the risk of melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma showed an increased risk”

The evidence does not support a protective effect of the use of sunbeds against damage to the skin from subsequent sun exposure. Young adults should be discouraged from using indoor tanning equipment and restricted access to sunbeds by minors should be strongly considered. Source

^AKA It is NOT BETTER to go tanning before a vacation to get a “base tan”

Consider the 10% tax on indoor tanning signed by President Obama as part of the health care reform bill. Tanning is taxed so we can use that money to pay for your SKIN CANCER BILLS!!!! Seriously, take a hint!!!

And if that doesn’t scare you, did you know that the survival rate is 5-10% once the cancer spreads???!

Please consider investing in some tan from a can!!! It will save your life and prevent you from looking like a leather bag! 😉

OK, enough rant..

This morning I woke up and took the pup for a walk. Had to snap a pic because he was lookin extra cute:

After our lovely time together I headed out for a 5-mile run. Not gonna lie, it wasn’t the most pleasant run.

Perdy, yes:

Perdy painful, umm yup.

Miles 1-3 felt fine. Then I hit a wall. Not sure why (maybe not enough water???). So I took the last 2 miles easy peasy. I used to get all kinds of pissed off if I had a not so stellar run, but lately I’ve come to realize that the “bad” runs (even though the ability TO run should be good enough in itself) make the really great runs, that much better.

Shortly after returning I made a protein smoothie both me and the Manfriend:

^Adapted from Kristen‘s recipe: 1 cup frozen cherries, 1 scoop chocolate whey protein, 1 tsp flax seed oil, 1 tsp cocoa powder, almond milk

I’ve been craving chia oats during lunch lately so I made these to bring to Experimentland:

^1/4 oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1/2 scoop Vanilla protein powder, 1/8 cup nuked frozen berries, stevia, dash sea salt. YUM!

Well I’ve gotta get back to my experiment. Fingers crossed for some positive results!!

QUESTION: Are there any habits/activities people do that are completely uncomprehendable to you and literally drive you up a wall??? LOL For me, it’s tanning beds!!!

Have a good night!!!

-Lauren

>You do CLONING?

>Heyyy,

Happy NYE!! What are your plans tonight?! I’m staying local and hitting up a few friends’ parties because tomorrow I need to pack pack pack for the cruise!

What do you do to get ready for a vacation?? Saturday I’m planning to get a mani/pedi and my eye lashes died (ever done this? I love it). I’m also planning on gettin’ ma spray tan on:

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I was considering going tanning (UV) a few times to build up a “base” tan, but after taking with at least 3 oncologists in my lab, I decided not to. Apparently, new research has come out that a couple of tans in tanning beds are worse than a burn in the sun (both cancer-wise and ability to make you look like a leather bag by the time you’re 40). You should really check out this article.

NOTEWORTHY: “The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced today that it has moved UV tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category — “carcinogenic to humans. Prior to the move, the group had classified sun lamp and tanning bed use as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

(!!!)

Personally, I think spray tans are fantastic. Since I’m fair skinned I shower after 2-3hrs after getting sprayed (rather than 4 hours) so I don’t turn too dark. I also exfoliate the c-r-a-p out of my skin to avoid streaking. I recommend giving it a try if you haven’t before 🙂 I’ve also heard wonders about airbrush tanning!

Speaking of cancer, I’ve received a few e-mails asking what kind of “cloning” I’m doing. Just so ya know, when I refer to cloning, I am doing molecular cloning (aka shuffling around of genes) and not cloning people, animals, etc 🙂 I figured I’d try my best to explain this, as I think it’s perdy cool stuff.

DNA, our genetic material, is a looong sequence of 4 (nitrogenous bases) “letters”: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). It is the random order of these 4 letters that makes one gene different from the next, one person different from the next, etc.

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A gene is the “code” for a functional protein. I say “functional” because this is the final product conferring some sort of function. In my research, I am designing antibodies, a type of protein that can act as an anti-leukemia “drugs”, by killing cancer cells rather than healthy/normal cells.

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In order to create the antibody, I have to “clone” the DNA that codes for the protein. This means I’m doing several experiments to shuffle around those 4 letters (A,T,C, and G) to generate a meaningful gene sequence that will allow the production of my antibody. Think of a computer code. Programmers write computer code to allow for some computer function. In my case, molecular cloning is “writing” in DNA letters to make a functional protein. Neat, eh?

Alright, enough science for the day (you not me, I’m in lab til prob 6pm). Have a great night!!!!

Lauren