Today's Lab Meeting

Ok so today there is a lab meeting at 3:00. I cant wait for lab meeting. YAY lab meetings!! Ok no. Lab meeting for many of you (and many more of us) is so boring, prolonged exposure can lead to epileptic seizures (believe me I know). The syndrome is called SABS (Sudden Acute Boredom Syndrome). Symptoms can be very mild or it can be quite acute. There are four classes of symptoms that accompany the spectrum of the phenotypes associated with disease.

Phase I
1. Detachment from immediate surroundings
2.Persisten yawning
3. Sudden urge to get up and start walking towards the nearest exit
4. Anxiety

Phase II
1. Sharp fidgetation of the limbs and trunk
2. occasional screams and shrieks for help
3. Bloody eyes
4. Convulsions followed by withdrawal

Phase III
1. Decreased Heart Rate
2. Loss of control of the bowels, bladder and other muscles
3. Coma
4. Failure of vital organs, brain damage, renal, cardiac and liver failure

Phase IV
1. Muscular and connective tissue peeling off of bone
2. Denaturing of proteins in the body
3. Degradation of keratin and collagen
4. Death by the fact that there are still thirty minutes left for the meeting.

There are many steps that can be taken to avoid this truly preventable yet widespread disease. First, individuals should take a personal interest to the topic at hand and ask questions. Second, make sure you change your field of vision as to not fall prey to SABS. Lastly crack a quiet joke with a cordial colleague. These and other steps are the key to safely attending lab meetings. Of course prevention is the best medicine, but you and I know very well there is no avoiding lab meetings.
Cheers!

Hello

Hello everyone

Nice to see you that people are enjoying the blogging :)

For those of you who took Bio121

Who ever gets these answers correct, is a true immunology student.

enjoy


http://www.studystack.com/matching-26066

Announcing Undergrad of the Month Award

In the spirit of encouraging our undergraduate students of always reaching farther and deeper in their research work and acheivements, the Casali lab will be holding a "Undergrad of the Month Award". This award will be bestowed upon those undergraduates who exhibit deep committment to research and scientific intuition. These students are nominated by a panel of objective judges comprising the supervisors and research leaders whom the students work directly under in research. Here are some of the ways that students exhibit the committment:

1. Independent reading of papers and exhibiting knowledge of the material
2. Leadership in lab by taking charge of tasks
3. Correct interpretation of data
4. Adequate investment of time and energy at work
5. Well rounded knowledge of general lab duties
6. Excellent team player
7. Applying for research funding, presenting research and actively pursuing research

Good luck everyone, given the caliber of people currently competing, the competition is already quite fierce.

Happy Ramadan

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone in the lab a happy and blessed month of Ramadan. For the Muslims, Ramadan is a month of spiritual reflection through fasting and worship (praying and reading the Holy Quran). Muslims fast to relate to those who are less fortunate as well as truly feeling thankful and content for the things they have and never taking them for granted. It is also the month of spiritual revival when new resolutions are made and personal betterment is sought. So with the coming of a new crescent and the start of this beautiful month, may it bring with it peace tranquility, blessings and happiness for this lab, our university, our country and the whole of humanity.

Have You Seen Me??

I hate to be the one to break the news to everyone. Do you guys know anything about the whereabouts of two fourteen well thick gels combs. Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of these two is urged to contact the local lab personnel. They were last seen stuck in a drying agarose gel. Local reports have confirmed that the gel was either 1.5% or 1.0%, which narrows down the list of suspects to...well everybody...but the point is these gel combs need to be found before its too late. Who knows what possible catastrophes the lab might go through with these combs missing. Lab personnell are already gathering ransom money in the event of their comb-napping. The funds have been donated by the local Bad-Mouth Bank which has donated one day's proceeds ($100,000). In this case, the perpetrators are being urged to open lines of communication to begin negotiating the safe realease of these combs. "I think whoever did this obviously needed them badly, only a desperate lab tech bent on finishing their screening/genotyping/digestions could be emboldened to carry out this operation", says one of the lab workers whose identity was concealed for fear of losing popularity.

Looking forward to the new year

Thanks for making the exquisite website, Ahmed. I'll see you and all the Casali lab members in lab.

Celebrating Diversity in Our Lab

One of the qualities that we enjoy here in the lab is the diversity of the people. Above is a geographical representation of the backgrounds of the lab team. With each different background comes new experiences, perspectives, ideas and of course while people are waiting for their PCR's or gels, interesting conversations. Who said labs are anti-social environments anyway? Have a happy Friday everyone!

Launching the Lab Blog

So our team has finally made it to the inner recesses of the blogosphere! Before we blog away let me just set some ground rules:

1. If you intend to post please post something that is relevant to lab, research, or immunology in general, even if it is remotely relavant.

2. You are deeply encouraged to be constructively critical of anything about the lab or any lab experiences you may have that you would like to share. Your reccomendations makes us work better together as a team and it helps make your experience more wholesome.

3. Use of profanity, or slurs of any kind is absolutely prohibited.

4. Finally have fun, express yourself. It is always wonderful hearing from all of you!