There are some rather exciting developments
going on at work right now, that’s for sure! This morning, Lindy and I had our
first meeting since she went on holiday at the beginning of December. When I
say holiday, I mean six weeks of exploring Iceland and the Bahamas and road-tripping down
America’s west coast; maybe I am in the right industry after all. I knew that
she would be expecting me to have used the six weeks wisely and, frankly, was a
little terrified that she would be less than impressed with my efforts. Though I
met all the necessary deadlines, others on my team agreed that it’s difficult
not to take things down a gear without supervision; “while the cat’s away” and
all that. However, after updating Lindy on my progress and presenting some of
data I collected before Christmas, I was pleasantly surprised with her
reaction. As well as telling me that she was very pleased with the amount of
work I’ve managed to churn out, she also mentioned that I now have plenty of data
to write my report and anything else I get done will be a bonus to bulk it out with. There are a
lot of interesting things to look forward to in the world of Team Fitzgerald:
- The calixarenes work I’ve done only needs a few graphs and a bit of statistical analysis doing before it’s ready to be put into a PowerPoint and sent to Lindy’s collaborator in Paris. If he thinks it’s relevant to the research he’s doing, it’ll be incorporated into one of his papers. Published author before I even graduate: Tick.
- Carole (English research assistant, lovely lady, all-round practical genius and currently the only person who knows how to do a lot of important tasks in the lab) is going on holiday in the middle of April and won’t return until I'm back in England. Members of the team doing ongoing research will need spinal cord slices, mixed retinal cells and samples of hippocampus and cerebellum, so guess who’s going to be trained up to perform all the surgeries? This is a dream come true for me and pretty much makes me a surgeon, right? Discounting the small matter of the animals in question being dead of course…
- As if all that wasn’t enough, here’s the big one: Because I’m missing the neuroscience conference in Adelaide next week (anyone below Honours level couldn’t apply for a grant and I don’t have the funds), Lindy wants to take me to the Australian Society of Medical Research (ASMR) conference in May so I get the opportunity to network and experience a big symposium. She wants me to present a poster of my research to everyone who’s anyone in the medical world, which is scary and exciting in equal measures. Oh, and did I mention it’s in Melbourne?
It’s safe to say that I’m pretty proud of
what I’ve accomplished thus far and the opportunities that are opening up for
me as a result. It’s days like this that make me believe that I could actually
do this for real.
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