Lab Diaries #Week1 :)

Hello everyone!

Yes, as you can understand from the title, our winter break has already begun and my lab days,too. :)

Honestly, it wasn't very easy to begin working in the lab because we couldn't meet with my lab professor to talk about my  position in the lab and about who will be the post-doc student that I'll work together, etc. because of the snowy weather!

Actually, I'm really in love with all the winter stuffs like snow, hot chocolate, sitting in front of the fireplace, etc. and I always feel better during these times. However, this time it was both: good and bad! Because, I was worried about my lab attendance!

To be honest, if I weren't in my first year at the university, I wouldn't be so worried about that, but it is obvious that I have no perfect skills to work at any lab(especially in a cancer/ gene regulation lab!) and I really don't know so much about my department,too. As a result, I always thought that what if the professor gives up from taking me to the lab..!

However, lucky me!, something like that didn't happened. In contrast, our professor was very interested about me and he talked about the future ( my future in the lab :D) very brightly! :) So, I'm very glad to say that : FINALLY, it has begun!

First thing I want to say about my first day in the lab is that I really didn't learn much during this semester! There are a lot of different things which I'm not familiar with and have to study for. Honestly, I even didn't know which machine using for what reason etc. Because of that, I took a lot of notes during the experiments and than I rewrite them to memorize what I've learned. After that, I decided to learn and read more about the machines and techniques which we are used during the lab and I'll share the articles that I read with you,too :)

In addition to that, my post-doc student (her name is Nalan and she is kind of a teacher for me too :) ) gave me some advice about what I should read and learn to be able to follow her experiments better. And during my first week I read one of the articles which she suggested to me. Here is the Link of the article : "The Hallmarks of Cancer". And I think that it was very useful to understand some basic structures of cancer! :)

In addition to read articles,of course I learned a lot during the experiments, too. Actually, the names of different enzymes, proteins and their effects etc. all the things that I saw, was completely new for me. Because of that I can make a huge list for what I've learned. However, as a summary maybe I can write some basic stuffs and procedures to see what I got from this experience, after my internship :

• What is PCR and how can it be used? (I'll share a post about the technique, too :) )
• Medium preparing for cell cultures
• Oligo Annealing Protocol and its steps. (Oligo is a desalted custom synthesized DNA)
• Different Buffers and how can they be prepared! (wash buffer, elution buffer, running buffer etc.)
• "DOX" ----> for using over expression
• Transformation - Step by step (with E.coli)
• Transaction - Step by step (with Lenti Virus)
• T4 Ligation
• RNA Isolation - Step by Step

Of course, there can be some other things that I forgot to write but the basic things were these! :)

Next week, we will start some different experiments about her main project and I think those will be more interesting than these! :) I'm very excited! :)

So, see you next week! :)

LOVE YOU <3 :)

Kumsal

Merry Christmas to you ALL :)

HELLO EVERYBODY!


I WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :)

I HOPE YOU'LL HAVE GOOD TIME WITH YOU FAMILIES, FRIENDS etc.

I LOVE YOU ALL! <3 :)

SEE YOU SOON! :)

Kumsal

Finals are COMING! :D :O

Hello everybody,

As you can see, my finals are coming and I'm very excited about them!(And a little bit terrified :D) 

Last week, I took my Physics and Maths finals and in this week, I'll take Chemistry, Chemistry Lab and Biology! 

Honestly, this semester I couldn't take what I expected before from Chemistry. Actually, the topics were interesting and at the beginning I was studying hard. However, after one month I lost my control over Chemistry and I didn't really catch up after that :D :/ To be honest, I know the topics and I studied for them before. But I have no practice and as a result, I cannot solve the problems during the exam! But, until Wednesday  I have 3 more days to study and I believe that I can figure out! :))

Actually, what I learned from this semester is that if I want to be a successful scientist and a successful student, I have to study regularly. Maybe not daily but weekly and for all subjects! Because it is obvious that I have to learn a lot of different things about different kind of subjects and this is the only way to learn all of them completely at the same time! :) As a result, I hope next semester I'll study and plan everything more carefully. :) To be honest, I HAVE TO :D

Because next semester I won't be free as much as this semester and it is possible that all my weekends will be completely full because of my debate tournaments! In addition to that, in January I'll begin to work in Lab and this will take time,too. And than, I want to study for Bridge,too. And of course I have to study for my lectures anyway :D So, if I cannot be planned as much as needed, it can be completely a disaster for me! :/ However, I cannot let that happen!! :)



So in the end, I have to go to study now! :D              

Take care of you! :)

And merry Christmas Eve to you ALL! :)

LOVE YOU! :) <3

Last Month of 2016 🎄🎁

Hello everyone :)

We are at the end of a huge year and I'm really excited about the next one!

However, I believe that if you don't write a summary of a year, you cannot be prepared for the next one as much as you need! Because, it is obvious that people like to see and read what they could do and what they achieved in last year before they say "GOOD BYE!" to that and they can actually feel stronger when they see that they can do what ever they want if they want it ENOUGH!

And it works for me,too! As a result, here is my summary of 2016! :)

To be honest, this year was a productive year for me. I gained new skills and new hobbies, I got new friends and met a lot of perfect people in different parts of the year.

At the beginning of this year, I was in prep class and all I need to study was English! As a result, I could gain different skills during a semester. I had enough time to do something new! So, I could be an active member of our debate society! :) I could attend 6 or 7 tournaments and during these tournaments I met a lot of different people from different universities and got a lot of amazing friends! :)

In addition to that, I learned C and C++ Programming in this year. I joined in a class in Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and I spent my free time to learn something new about computational biology! :) It was really entertaining and made a lot of fun! In addition, at the end of the semester, I made a project about protein interactions in different species and I learned so much about how should I prepare a project! It was perfect for me!

After that, I passed my proficiency test successfully! And this was very important for me, too ; because I really couldn't write or talk English more than some easy sentences! As a result, it is a success for me,too! :) And just before the test, we went our summer house in Bozcaada with my family for 4 days! :) It was a crazy and unplanned trip! However, it was completely amazing and relaxing!:)

After the second semester, my summer holiday was enough perfect for me,too. At the beginning, we organized a debate tournament in our Kilyos Campus (it is near the sea and perfect for a summer holiday!). It was really amazing and we spent great time together! :) After that, I went to Şile with my family to my uncles summer house! I was with my cousins and it was great,too.

In addition to that, I spent a lot of time with my best friends from my high school, because during the semester they weren't in Istanbul. One of them was in Germany, one of them was in Ankara and the other one was in Istanbul but we couldn't spend much time together because of our businesses! :D As a result, summer was a great opportunity for spending time together :)

At the beginning of this summer, we planned with my boyfriend to go on a vacation, However, we couldn't go :( Because his aunt and my brother got married in this summer! But we made some double dating stuffs with our friends, planned different things and could spend our summer holiday together perfect,too :D <3 :)

In addition to that, in summer I tried to join a Neurobiology Lab in Bahçeşehir University an for this purpose I made some very serious conversation first time in my life with different people. It was a successful meeting but the laboratory couldn't be opened, so I couldn't join to lab but; especially in this semester, I learned a lot from the professor in Bahçeşehir University. So, being able to meet him was a opportunity,too.

At the end of the summer, I made my very first class program in this year and it was completely excited! :D Even though, I didn't have any elective courses, it was something new :D

And than, this semester has begun!

To be honest, this semester was not perfect as I expected before, because the stuffs we learned were not very interesting as I wrote in another post and as a first year student, they were not easy,too!! As a result, I got some problems psychologically :( But I'm better now! :)

Besides the classes, I learned to play Bridge and joined the Bridge Club in this year and I found it really joyful! At the beginning, I just wanted to try how it works because my boyfriend loves this game! :) But now, I really love it,too. It's like chess with cards and makes me feel clever :D In addition, I believe it will be good for my CV and PhD application for universities in different countries in the future :)

As a success in this semester, I can say my lab attendance,too! In January, I'll begin to work in our "Cancer and Cell Regulation" Lab in our university and as a first year student, it is really an amazing chance for me!!! I'm very excited about that :)

So, this is my 2016! :) Of course I had bad things during the year,too.We all had them. But these are not important and talking about the good stuffs is always better! :)

I hope 2017 will be great as much as 2016 for all of us :)

Actually, writing all theses things makes me feel really better and you should try that,too! :) It is a good way to say good bye to 2016 :) LET'S TRY IT! :) MAKE YOUR OWN SUMMARY WITH PHOTOS :)

HAVE A NICE LAST MONTH :) <3

LOVE YOU! :) <3



Kumsal

Documentaries About Health and Medical Sciences! :)

Hi everyone! :)

How are you today? :) I hope you all have a great day and had a great weekend :)

In this morning, I made a documentary list for me which are about health and medical sciences, to watch in my free times! :)

To be honest, I really don't like this type of documentaries which only tells and gives some information about a topic and there is nothing different in it. Even though these topics are about my future job, I cannot learn anything from this kind of documentaries! (And to be honest again, they are mostly very boring!!! -_- )

As a result, I made a list from the documentaries which can be interesting and from which I get not only a piece of information but also gain different perspectives about the topic! :) And of course for having a great time!

Here is the list! :) I hope you enjoy with them and like them ,too.

Let's come and watch together!! :)

1) How does your memory work?
This one is about the mystery of our brain and its functions! :) (Especially for Neurobiology lovers!)
The LINK!!

2) Clone
As you can understand from the title, this one is about cloning and the new technologies about it!
Here is the Link! :)

3) Ghost in your genes
This documentary is about our genome and its role in determining out biological structure!
Watch Watch Watch

4) Panacea or Poison?
This one is for the people who want to learn deeply about genetically modified foods and their biological functions!
Watch it from here! :)

5) Why are we here?
This documentary is about the origins of life and about the ideas of Richard Dawkins! ( I'm really excited about this one!!)
Look at here :)

6) Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita

If you want to learn about stem cell researches, come closer! This one is for you!
This is HERE!

7) From butterflies to humans
A documentary about all the parts of evolution
The video link is HERE!

8) This is Coffee
This one is not about the biological sciences but I believe that this one can be interesting all of us, especially the students who have to study all day and all night! :D Here is the effects of coffee just in a 12-Minutes video! :)
Watch it! :)

9) 100 Greatest Discoveries : Biology
This one is the one of the popular documentaries of Discovery Channel.
Here is the LINK!

10) Mendel: From The Garden to The Genome
This documentary is about the life and researches of Mendel and explains the Mendel genetics which is the base of Human Genome Researches!
You can watch it easily from Here :)


11) Darwin's Secret Notebooks
One of the documentaries of National Geographic Channel! If you want to learn about Darwinism and Evolution deeply, this one is for you! :)
THE LINK!

12) Did Darwin Kill God?
This is an interesting BBC documentary about evolution and the Darwin theory!
Watch it NOW! :)

13) Human Cloning
Another BBC documentary about Cloning and its techniques! :)
TO WATCH!

14) The Genius Sperm Bank
It is about our genetic structure and the sperm bank idea! Watch and learn deeply!
Here is the link! :)

15) The Cell
This one is an introduction to cell biology with basic concepts. It can be interesting with its perfect pictures etc.
If you want to watch: HERE!

16) In The Womb
It is one of the most popular National Geographic documentaries! It is about "How we grow and be a human baby? :)"
THE LINK

17) 100 Greatest Discoveries : Genetics
Another Discovery Channel documentary! Short and perfect!
You can watch it from HERE!,

These are the documentaries which I find interesting! :) I hope you like them, too. And if you know or watched other documentaries about biological sciences, please share them with me, too :)

Till next time!

LOVE YOU :)

Kumsal

Turning Back Post! (Midterms Everywhere! :D)

Hello everyone!

I wasn't here about a month!
So, I have a lot to say about! :) Let's begin!

First of all, the last two weeks were my Midterm-Weeks (OMG!).. And I had Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics Midterms!
As you can understand,  I was completely excited about my VERY FIRST Midterms at the collage and to be honest, they were not as good as I expected before!
I think this is because that I chose a wrong study plan for the exams! Especially for Chemistry, it was a disaster, I thought that I would be able to remember the topics which I learned in high school and as a result, I didn't study much! On the other hand, I can say: "I couldn't study very well!" because on the same day I had Biology exam,too. As a Molecular Biology student, I preferred to study Biology -_- . However, it is not a valid excuse, because I had to learn and study for all the subjects not only the LAST day, but also planned and regularly!


So, in the end I've learned that University is not like high school. Honestly, REALLY NOT!!
Especially, I could see it yesterday very clearly.
Our last midterm was Physics and to be honest, I study for Physics not bad! I knew all the topics, I followed almost all the classes and took notes, and I solve the problems which are suggested by our professors. However, as you can expected, the questions in the exam were not the same with them! :D As a result, it was a disaster for me! -_- However, it won't be so bad next time!
Because I will change my study habits completely!

I don't want to say "I'll always study daily and I won't do anything else!"! OF COURSE NOT! However, I decided to choose 2 or 3 days for me to study all the topics that I learn in a week and as a result, I won't be behind the classes and I'll have 4 more days for me and my social program in a week :)

I hope that I can do it and I hope it will work as I expect, too! :)

So, one of my next posts will be about my 'exam - lecture - study days' planning! :)

Till next time! :)
Take care of you!

LOVE YOU <3

Kumsal

What Should You Do, If You Feel Depressed?

Hello everyone!

It has been a long week for me. And as you can understand from the title, I was feeling completely depressed and miserable.
To be honest, I don't know why I felt like that, however, it wasn't so easy to solve my problem.

But of course, first of all, I have to explain what my problem was, to you.
So, I believe that there were some days in your lives that you can't figure out what do you really want and for what purpose you study and struggle. These 2 or 3 days were like that for me.

I know that I'm at the beginning of my university education.
However, this department "MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS" has been my dream for almost 5 years. And I gave up different kind of things for this purpose during my life time. So, I was expecting that everything will be amazing! I don't try to say : easy! No! Not easy but different from high school. I don't know, maybe it is just because that I'm in my first semester at the university, but I really don't like much the classes that I have to get. What I mean is:  I get this semester :

Physics,
Physics Lab,
Chemistry
Chemistry Lab,
Mathematics,
Biology 101,
And Biology 111 (in which we discuss about the scientist and their researches who gain Nobel Price)

I know that if I want be a scientist - a good one - I have to know about every type of science. It is okay and I believe that so! As a result, I study for maths, physics and chemistry, too. But the problem that I have is about the biology classes! When I chose this department, I believed that biology classes would be different from the high school. I just thought that we wouldn't just memorize things and wouldn't learn just from different Power Point Presentations like in  high school. I don't know is that just because the first semester or not, but it is disgusting! I always study for maths and physics, and I don't really learn anything in my biology classes!!!
I HATE THAT! Because I love BIOLOGY so much and I really want to do something new in the future! But how can it be possible in this way? :S

I don't try to say that all my classes so easy etc.. NO! They are not easy. On the contrary, I really feel that I have to study all week to get a high GPA. But for what purpose?
And in addition to that, I don't believe that's because the topics in biology, too. Yes, I learned about these topics in high school and read a lot about them. However, it is not important. I didn't choose this department when I don't want to learn about these things more and more times! That was what I want actually!! I just wanted to learn about the topics that I knew before but in a different way. I hoped this time will be more complicated and not just memorizing or something! I JUST WANTED TO LEARN! Theoretically and Practically, too.

But it is not like that. I feel for the first time in my life, bored in biology classes. Because I can read all these stuffs at home from a Power Point Presentation. It is not very hard, isn't it?

So, that's my problem! Because I am afraid of what if it will be like that in the topics that I didn't know before?! I don't want to learn Biology in this way! It doesn't seem right and this way cannot help me to improve myself in the way that I planned for my future. Because of that I fell into depression.
I don't know is it abnormal or not but I felt that my dream never comes real because it doesn't even exist! (I don't know how could I say that but I said) I believed that I didn't like my department and all these things are because of that. And if you believe that your dream is not for you actually: That brings depression!

However, it is of course not true! Biology is my hobby, dream etc. And I can't give up my dream just because that I didn't like the teaching ways of it! MEH! And I believe I'm not alone!

So, as a result, I found a solution for myself! However, to be honest, it wasn't so easy! I talked with a lot of friends of mine to understand what I want and what makes me unhappy. And during this period, I lost my control a little bit. However. luckily I wasn't alone during this time and especially my boyfriend talked with me seriously to help me finding my way!

So, I'm okay now! If I didn't like the way of teaching Biology in this year, I'll teach and learn myself! I can do it!
Here are my solutions:

1) Of course I don't give up studying for my classes. Because I need a high GPA, too.

2) But in the same period , I will learn and study for cancer biology by myself!

3) I wrote e-mails two different professors in my department who study for cancer biology to ask help from them. After I talk and discuss with them, I will make a program for myself to read and study different things.

4) In addition to that, I'm trying to take part in a lab in my university. If I can join a cancer lab, it will be completely perfect for me, because I believe that I can learn a lot of different thing especially in a practical way. So, it will be perfect, I hope.

5) After my first Mid-Terms (in 20 days) I will look a summer internship in a lab for myself. I will prepare a CV and send it to different companies and labs! But for doing this I have to learn how can I prepare a good CV. So, after I make a search for that, I will share the tips with you.too.

6) I will take time for my hobbies to be relief! And I'm serious for that because I understand -in these 3 weeks- academic career means making stress and always trying to be successful! So, I need a way to calm myself to keep going! If I don't feel well psychologically , I cannot study enough and I cannot concentrate on my business. So, I need my hobbies and actually I really don't want to give up from them :) Who wants? :)

So, my next post will be about my hobbies and why they make me relief :)

See you soon, and thanks for reading! :)

LOVE YOU <3