Relationships

Was thinking some time ago (this happens rarely and usually occurs in the shower) Did I tell you about how I won a Scholarship while having a bath.... Mr. K V had asked me why India doesn't have information on Lifestyle diseases, during our dinner the day before the interview.
I really didnt think about it at all through dinner. I was having a bath in the rubbish youth hostel that T put me up in, which had cold water and I had forgotten my slippers, so had a very bad time. Anyway, while having a bath and obvioulsy attempting to avoid concentrating on the cold, my mind began to wander and the answer struck me. At the end of my interview, just before leaving, I told Mr. V that the reason might simply be the lack of National Health Programmes for these diseases. I do believe that might have tipped the scales in my favour.

Reminds me of Archimedes...

Back to my profound question on relationships. Why would anyone have a relationship?? What does either party stand to gain? The obvious motivations which come to mind are : social Status, Sex, companionship, security.. I have now begun to think hard for further reasons.
I can understand both sex and social status, and being selfish motives they confirm my belief that all humans are intrinsically selfish.
But, can't we have companionship without committment? Yes, friends provide such a feeling. Then why do we ever commit to spending the major part of our time with someone. What about security.. I dont think any two people either married or unmarried are secure. I believe that security in a relationship can occur only when both partners reach the age when they realise that each of them would find it hard to find someone else, and that they are comfortable in each others presence.
But, when you are young, career minded, ambitious and self-presevatory it is very easy to dump your partner and move on.

Part two next time... My pAd.METRAP seems to have finally worked. What perverse pleasure do I draw from a simple cloning experiment? I have finally plunged the depths of monotony and bordeom, when DNA being stuck together can provide me motivation to stay in a empty lab till 2am. What is about science that keeps anyone going?? I will never be able to understand the motivations and mind of a scientist. I think they must all be mad!!

THOUGHT FOR THE NIGHT :

The fabulous Wizard of Oz

Retired from his racket because,

What with up-to-date science,

To most of his clients

He wasn’t the Wizard he was.

Vaccines??

What do we need to do to develop a vaccine??
First, decide what sort of immunity you want to provoke. If the organism by itslef evokes a CMI or Ab response, the vaccine must attempt to mimic that, and also raise memory to it.
So, once we know what type of immunity we would like to produce, we need to find an antigen.How do we do that?? There must be certain characteristics which would make the antigen provoke an immune response. Surface presentation, conserved at all stages and within all strains of the organism. Is it very large?? smaller proteins would be easier to manufacture, does it have any biological activity which is vital for functioning of the organism?

Once we have identified an antigen,we look to mimic the response it causes. How?? The first step is to get it into an APC, then depending on whether it is recgonised and drives production of T cells or B cells.
Important questions which must be answered are :
1. How do immune cells recgonise antigens
2. How do different antigens drive different immune arms
3. Can we manipulate the direction of immune response? Can we skew the response in either direction
4. Can we increase the uptake of our protein/ vaccine by the cells we want??
5. How do we increase the number of cells taking part in the response??
6. How are memory cells produced, and can we replicate that?


Tomorrow, I shall try to answer the first question.

Malaria and Sport

Read this article on India's Olympic performance. I would have to agree with almost everything that Shekhar Gupta says, the only problem is that nothing he says is new. It has been repeated often enough, somehow the message is never taken.

Nature has published a Web Focus on Malaria.Its really interesting, and makes you understand and appreciate the enormity of the problem.
Thinking of Malaria... spoke to Chiea today in the lab...and he infused me a shot of vitality and enthusiasm.
Its really important that I start thinking for myself, and about my project. The only way that is going to happen is if I work really hard, and slog my butt off.


Adenoviruses is an exciting area to be working on, for the simple reason that not much work in the lab has been done on it. Important questions would be : Is it a good booster or primer?? Can it induce Memeory T cells?? How can I induce memory T cells?? What other parts of Adeno virus can I remove for it to hold more transgene?? Can I put in certain cytokines with it?? What cytokines?? Does it induce T cells, which T cells?? Is there some way to make it specific to move to a certain organ or region?? Is E3 vital or not?? Will it induce a immunogenic response or not??

So much work to be done, and here I am waiting for A to arrive as he can then help me with the animal work.

Thought for the day :

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. ...

Monsoons in Britain!!

Yesterday, we played a cricket match. LInacre vs SBS. It was a lovely day, sunny with blue skies... until we got onto the field. The clouds decided the cricket season had ended and that they had enough mediocre cricket to last them a season.

Mr. Cumulus Nimbus warned us with a few drizzles, but we heeded not such trivial warnings. The match was ghastly. Tom Wrobel who was captain is certainly the worst captain I have ever played under. Reasons : He is a over-rated player, he is too English i.e.he doesn't have a feel for the game, he is a pompous ass.

Anyway, we lost the match. I am becoming a better bowler than keeper. I really do not like keeping anymore. I wish I had started bowling earlier. I might have made my mark in an easier fashion. What I need to do, is to read some technical manuals on keeping. I can keep to the quicks, but somehow standing up is very difficult for me. Also, I have a feeling I have lost the quick hand-eye co-ordination I possesed in my YOUTH!!! So, It has become even more important for me to be techincally better. I aim to play either for the Rhodes team or at least at a higher level, next year.

I now am truly in awe of the International Cricketers. Never again shall I criticise a player for technical flaws. These guys are so much better than us, that it is shameful for us to criticize and analyse them. I remember playing this declaration game for Heratorai, a wandering cricket club of Old Oxonians, where I stood in the field and bowled for six and a half hours. It was tiring work. I truly believe that its only when you actually perform yourself and experience the fatigue of fielding for a day, that you stop begrudging sportsmen their salaries.

Back to the Monsoons. The match was finished in poor light and wet weather. Captain Tom made off with half the kit, while Richard and me helped Samit et al with the covers, during which we got soaked, Indian style. It poured and poured for almost four hours, and both Richard and me lamented our Good Samaritan personalities and acts.

Thought for the day :

That best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered acts

Of kindness and of love.

Lab days

I have decided to make this blog my lab diary, something on which I can base a book twenty years into the future.

So, today I reached the lab late, trying to read this paper by Adrian and Anne in Immunological Reviews. Its a useful paper because it outlines all the work and progress made by the lab.

Was hoping to do a lot of work in the lab, but the very thought of doing a Midiprep and a miniprep was too daunting. Finally did a lot of reading and finished the paper and the Miniprep. Am having some difficulty with cloning this CSO.METRAP and METRAP into Ad.

However on the other hand, reading has helped me understand where I am going and how slow I am moving. I have so much immunology to do. I can use Malaria as my model now, because I suspect that they have already sent out the 85A to him, Ian Orme. He will probably also have an idea about E3 and E1 before I do.

Anyway, lets see. Tomorrow is another day, and I have to get there early to set up some MVA titrations for Sarah and Graham Hatch. This has been a horrible experience, but useful as it has brought me into some sort of contact with both Helen and Adrian.

Olympic Shame

Antara wrote this to me in a mail
"sanamacha chanu has tested positive along with pratima kumari.since chanu finished fourth she would have been automatically tested.
now that paes-bhupathi lost easily....and with this latest scandal, ithink we've utterly disgraced ourselves. At the end of the day we send a tiny contingent to the games, by most standards and of that 2 get caught in a dope test"


Saranya

"I completely agree!! Although please don't blame only the stupidcontestants, but what about the IOC???You cant say its shameful and blame the sportsperson, if the people in charge of selecting our representatives cant be vigilant and forceful enough to undertake testing and ban such people before they set out. I am not as angry with the players as with our officials. Please note our lovely weightlifting coach, who washed his hands off the affair by blaming the foreign coach. If you doubt the legitimacy of a coach and players, then for God's sake bring it to the notice of officials and don't take such people to the games. Every weightlifter, I am sure takes drugs, but they aren't allowed by their country to participate. Please note the nationalities of the five weightlifters who were disqualified, i can bet that none of these countries have stringent drug testing measures in place. Morocco,Turkey, Moldavia.

Worse Shame than this lady, is the INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM!!! With 30 sec to go, you gift a goal.. these boys must truly be shamed in public. They are not even in for a chance of a bronze anymore. They dont deserve a medal. I cant say anything else. You fight back to reach 3 all and then give it away with 30 sec... 30 sec, I mean it isn't basketball with a 24 sec shotclock..Its a field large enough for you to waste 30 SEC. Sorry, I am so mad with them, its unbelievable. I mean seriously, we aren't that bad a team.
Why do we fail everytime? Why doesn't Dhanraj Pillay shut up and stop giving interviews during a tournament? Why doesn't our coach ever make the right decisions?? Why does KPS Gill get re-elected every year despite the fact that he retracts his statements every three days?? Its a shamble and this stupid,ever-hopeful, patriotic audience pay the price. I am not saying that the players don't feel bad, but I almost sense that they have got used to it by now. Its mentally ingrained that an Asian Games medal is glory enough.

Countries have manipulated the rules, changed the surface to astro, abolished the off-side, introduced the drag-flick,and clean stoppage of ball at penalty corners, in a clever attempt toneutralise the sensational ball-handling skills in our gifted andtalented sub-continental players.Wonder how suddenly S.Korea, Japan, China, Netherlands whose teams may showcase a single supremely talented player consistently thrash and beat India and often Pakistan in the dying moments of the game.Indians never learn long passes, its a European concept. The ability to produce turnovers, and move from one end to the other with a singlepass, seems to confound the basic inherent notions with which our players grow up. You will find when you watch domestic hockey, thatlike football the defenders move up in attack, and because opponents in domestic competition never move quickly upfield, defenders never have to face counter-attacks.Suddenly they move into international competition and every goalscored against India, comes in two ways, penalty corners given away bydefenders, or of the counterattack.Ok,enough of a rant.

I am appalled by the atrocious sporting conduct by our national "heroes". Paes and Bhupathi.. its the semi-finals for Gods sake. 6-3,6-2!!!"

Wimbledon 2004

Its been a fascinating and exciting wimbledon for me. I had tickets for First Monday, Court One and First Wednesday, Court Two thanks to OULTC. Cost me a fortune, but it was going to be worth it. Had just got back from Philadelphia on Monday 21st June, and Antara met me at Gatwick, from where we departed onto a long circuitous train journey to Wimbledon. First dropped off my luggage at Victoria, and then the tube to Wimbledon Station. Although the official site advises getting off at the Southfields Station, the tube was so crowded with everyone getting off at Southfields, that we decided it would be good to be able to sit for some time, and so stayed on the train till it reached its last stop - WIMBLEDON. Really excited, we ran to catch the shuttle bus to the All England Lawn Tennis and croquet Club.
We reached at about 12:30 pm for a 1 pm start for matches on the showcourts. But, we had to stand in a queue despite having tickets, which I thought very strange, until I realised that they sell almost 10,000 centre court, Court One tickets everyday, meaning lots of people!!


The order of play included : Hewitt vs Melzer, who won Junior Wimbledon as an unseeded player in 1999, however languishing as world no.42 at present.
It was a rather boring match, with a straight sets demolition 6-2,6-4,6-2. Hewitt has some great backhand returns. We had rather decent seats, about 25 rows back and slightly to the right of the court facing the scoreboard. But, it was exciting, with a lot of Aussie fans. We walked around a bit, had some strawberries and cream, and generally took a tour of the grounds. We saw Iva Karlovic, the 6'10" Croatian serving machine( must be something in Croatia that makes them tall and big servers... Goran, Ancic, Karlovic) out-serve Paradorn on court 18. This is a really cool court, as the seats are unreserved and its right behind the press boxes, which makes it a big show court. Iva Karlovic is a big server, with a reputation for scalping some big names. He beat Hewitt in 2003 at Wimbledon in the first Round, the first time since 1967 (Santana) that the defending champion lost in the 1st round. He has this huge serve, and Paradorn, incidentally Antara's heart throb, was clueless about returning the serve.

We then saw "Beautiful" Venus play, and she played some power tennis to blow away Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian of Switzerland, 6-3,6-0 in two rather boring sets. We didn't stay for the final set as it was just too boring. Ran to barely see eventual Champion Maria Sharapova, the latest Russian teen sensation(she is 6' tall and just really hot), beat a Ukrainian with an unpronounceable name.
Maria really hits the ball hard, and she played a great game and tournament to finally win. You only hope that she doesn't go the Anna way. The day was punctuated by showers and Wimbledon should really take a closer look at its rain policy. Also, Alan Mills while making public announcements at Wimbledon sort of omits certain important things, for instance on Wednesday which was a disaster as the whole day was washed out, we only learnt from RADIO WIMBLEDON 87.7 FM (Just goes to show how much time I have spent there) that he had cancelled all the Men's 2nd Round and Women's matches and was only going to hold the unfinished matches. IT was really stupid, because we must have stayed there at least an hour and a half extra hoping for play, while if dear Mr.Mills had announced the information, we would have left and not spent exorbitant amounts of money on horrible fish and chips.
We of course were witness to Coria's match which spanned the first three days of the tourney. Coria started his match against Wesley Moodie of South Africa, who had decent gorund strokes and a reasonable serve, on Monday only to finish his five-setter on Thursday. On Tuesday, he was two points away from winning the match when they suspended play.That is ridiculous!! Wimbledon needs some roofs and a better rain policy which sees them making some brave,risky but popular decisions. It seems absurd in this country to wait for a cloudless sky to begin or resume play. That is impossible, it always rains. On Wednesday they took the covers on and off three times. On Saturday when Bujul went, they took the covers off five times, before the groundstaff got so annoyed that they refused to obey orders on Court Seven, and just waited until the next shower five minutes later!!

The Weather in this country is truly unpredictable. While walking back from Wimbledon, we found that the city of Wimbledon, a fifteen minute walk from the grounds was dry while over the grounds it poured. Madness!! How could you ever live in a country where you have to always carry a raincoat or umbrella? Its just too cumbersome!
Anyway, for all my cribbing its just great to be at Wimbledon, and I would love to either umpire or play on those courts. Playing might be slightly out of the question, but I really must write to the LTA and ask them to allow me to umpire some matches.Also, remember to claim 56 pounds from the OULTC.