I figured it was time to write this, although I will be travelling back in time slightly.

Friday, October 13

Neurobiology of Disease: So, my alarm didn’t work. Surprisingly I was still up by 8 AM. This didn’t cut it for making it to the workshop on time, however. After figuring out the MARTA system I arrived late and walked in just as an ALS patient was describing her condition. Unfortunately I missed the patient with SMA. The overall tone of the workshop was technical and given my background is heavily weighted to neuroimaging, all the signaling pathways tended to go over my head.

I was particularly bad and started to put the finishing touches on my NSERC application during the workshop. The plan was to dine and dash during the lunch and get everything finished, but the arrangement of the tables were so pretty and we had the chance to sit with lecturers who were running mini-talks after the lunch, so I headed to the table with Dr. Jeremy Shefner from New York and Dr. Martin Turner from Oxford.

Both Dr. Shefner and Martin lead the discussion wonderfully and although the emphasis was on the physiology of ALS, there was some neuroimaging. I mentioned people (read: superiors whose projects I’m quite removed from) at my lab are working on DTI of the spinal cord. This looks to be a very interesting field, and as Dr. Martin mentioned, a biomarker for ALS is need. DTI could be the answer. It might just be, as these things tend to go, that an accident in the lab yields something to this effect, much like the current drug Rilutek was discovered when some floor cleaner was walloped and contaminated a chemical sample lying on the bench.

Naturally I asked Dr. Martin about Oxford. He said Worcester College is beautiful and that I should go even if the Rhodes drops away. Damnit! Why do you have to be so inspiring and yet so debt-inducing!

I skipped out on the second talk and reception to finish my NSERC application for graduate neuroscience. Unfortunately the Kinkos/FedEx was closed by the time I wrapped things up. I sent the package the following morning, but it will only be arriving in Ottawa Monday morning, a day after the deadline. I’m hoping the online application is counted as meeting the deadline, while the paper is just a required hard copy. But it can’t help my application. Regardless, thanks to Dr. Martin I don’t care as much if the application doesn’t go through. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Saturday, October 14

The day started off late. I had made plans to meet Shelley by the giant peach, but phone problems and rail connections promptly snuffed that plan out. I spent a lot of time wandering around, staring aimlessly at the massive crowds. Frank Gehry’s talk was the first lecture of the day that I attended. The thing is, I’m a fan of architecture discussions, provided it isn’t too post-modern, and although Gehry’s work is weird, I kind of like it. So, whatever came out of the man’s mouth, I was going to enjoy it. I had seen snippets of the documentary on Frank Gehry before leaving Winnipeg, so it felt somewhat homely walking in the massive B1 Exhibit hall and seeing the documentary being played on massive screens. Somewhat. Gehry went through his buildings, giving the audience a photo tour of his work and the process that gets him there. I was taken aback though at the lack of neuroscience in the talk. There was tremendous opportunity to touch on perception, on acoustics, on geometry, and the only major questions coming from the audience and Rusty Gage were about creativity.

I headed to the International symposium on Neuroethics after Gehry’s talk. After being squeezed through the doors of B1 like a sardine, of course. The attendance at the symposium was a lot lower than I had expected, but I found it fascinating nonetheless.

More to come, but I must prepare to present my poster tomorrow and get ready for the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Social.

And sleep. Yes, that too.