LA Part 2

What a short weekend in LA! I wish the conference could have been longer. The reason for these wishes may or may not be so that Amgen could have sponsored a trip to Disney, not that I don't love listening to speakers, or anything. 

Me all dressed up for the second day of conference!

Sunday morning started with select student speakers presenting the worth they've done this summer. I was naturally in the neuroscience group, and our two speakers talked about their research in bioengineering and endocrinology. I must say that at least for the bioengineering one, it was helpful to have known one of the scholars at Berkeley who was doing something (methodology wise) extremely similar, so I understood all of the engineering-y things that were going on. Having taken a Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior course last semester helped me to understand some of the things that were going on in the endocrinology project. Both very interesting talks. 

Next we had two sets of talks (we got to pick two out of a whole bunch to attend), about the heart and soul of Amgen - drug discovery. The first I attended was about drug design, and how Amgen discovered ways to improve drugs currently on the market to make them better for patient use - for example, less frequent doses. The second talk, very informative, was about phase 1 clinical trials and how drugs make it through the testing process. What I really liked about this one was that the speaker was very interested in incorporating lots of statistics into the talk, which is exactly why I signed up for it to begin with, so that I could look at it from a math standpoint instead of a biology one. I was very pleased. 

Our next talk, and by far my favorite of the day, was titled "Expanding Frontiers: Becoming a Scientist with a PhD," given by Dr. Charles Craik of UCSF. He discussed the traditional old-school view of getting a PhD, and the new current views on all of the different paths you can take as a scientist with a PhD. He was a very informative and engaging speaker, and I really loved the talk. He quoted the 1967 Nobel Laureate in Medicine, George Wald, who said (and I had to look this up on the internet just now, I didn't write down the quote but remembered the gist of it):

A scientist is in a sense a learned small boy. There is something of the scientist in every small boy. Others must outgrow it. Scientists can stay that way all their lives.

So very true. 

The rest of the day was a panel of "A Day in the Life" of various scientists, a grad school info session, and another panel about alternate career paths in science (law, policy, etc). 

That evening, Amgen threw us a BBQ, in which there was a giant inflatable slide:

lots of time to spend with gov loves!

PING PONG! Which I haven't played in forever. But apparently my motor memory is working well, because I was doing really well, and having so much fun! I need to find someone to be a ping pong buddy with me now. 

And finally, karaoke! I finally convinced some of my fellow scholars to sing with me, and we rocked out to "This Love" by Maroon 5. Great job to the ONLY group to be brave enough to represent Berkeley in karaoke. 

Then we played on the exercise/stretching machines on the way back to the dorms. 

Next morning, Monday, (don't ask me what possessed me to do this), I got up for a 7am walking tour of UCLA's campus. Here are some more photos I took of campus:

No college campus visit is complete without a hello
to the local squirrels! 

Our final keynote talk on Monday morning, once all of the normal people had woken up, was given by James Heath, who helped discover the much loved C(60) structure, more commonly known as the buckeyball, when he was a grad student. He was a wonderful speaker, and even though the talk was mostly chemistry based, he presented the material in such a way that was easy to follow and extremely engaging. Also, I always appreciate a good science joke, even if it's not in my field...:

During our free time before heading back to Berkeley, I wandered a bit into Westwood for a taste of the LA sweeteries. Diddy Riese is a place much like CREAM that specializes in ice cream sandwiches, and is supposed to be better than CREAM, and I fully intended to get one, but then everyone in the group I was with decided they didn't want them anymore, so I didn't. Probably a bad idea considering there was NO LINE, and supposedly the line is normally at least an hour long. 

Instead, we went to a place a little down the street, which had a much wider selection of ice cream flavors (ones beyond ordinary flavors like the ones found at CREAM or Diddy Riese). 

Also, ultra cheap. I got four scoops of ice cream (two scoops of pralines and cream, two of cotton candy) in a chocolate and sprinkles coated waffle cone for TWO DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

And then, back to work in not-warm-and-sunny Berkeley, where I spent my time finalizing data as well as finishing and printing my poster!!!!