CCR3, GATA-1, Blah blah blaaaaaAAAAHHH!!

This post is seriously for my own good - I honestly can't find anyone interested in reading what I'm about to write, I know how people spazz out when they start reading scientific jargon...just want to keep a brief record of what I'm learning in these articles.

Latest article was entitled Analysis of the CCR3 promoter reveals a regulatory region in exon 1 that binds GATA-1...told you it's a bit on the drier side of biomed articles. Actually, it's not that it's boring, I just hate reading these articles based heavily on molecular biology and genetics that don't explicitly tie into some pathology. I mean, the article delves into analyzing the regulation and expression of the CCR3 gene among various cell lineages, but doesn't go one step further into hypothesizing implications in a real world context (i.e. the role of CCR3 in HIV-1 infection), leaving me thirsty for a little bit more...

So yeah, the article starts by stating that while many cells in our bodies express CCR3, the main ones that accumulate after administration of eotaxin are namely eosinophils. This is somewhat unexpected, as one would expect that all cells expressing this receptor would bind to the specified ligand. Logically, one would suspect that there is some sort of differential regulation occurring, where eosinophils are expressing CCR3 and for some reason these other cells aren't, right? In short, researchers found that TFs, namely GATA-1, bind to exon 1 in the gene, thus regulating its transcription. Findings were reinforced using transgenic mice.

Fun, fun, fun. I've been working on annotating this one article for the past 2 weeks. Thankfully, the next one looks a bit more interesting. The first set of articles dealt extensively with research in arthritis using mice models of AA to relate to RA in humans. This next set of articles seems to deal with different features of HIV infection - yay! I think HIV infection and progression of the disease is genetically and cellularly fascinating! Yes, I admit I have transformed into a huge nerd.

Detroit Bailout

I have been meaning to talk about this for quite a while. Now that I've finally mastered the art of providing myself "me time," by turning off electronic devices, sitting in my big over-sized chair and meditating, I find that there are plenty of hours in the day to get all accomplished that I need to...including blogging more regularly.

Now, back to this Bailout and my related thoughts. It is said repeatedly in the Bible that "...visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations..." I know that US motor companies, particularly Ford, stand as icons in American history as a testament to the ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and foresight that characterizes the American people. The publicized history of these corporations is a testament to "The American Dream" and the greatness one can achieve with a vision and hard work.

Beyond the inherent fallacies underlying the ease of pursuing "The American Dream," is there is much to be said about the untold history of these American motor companies. My maternal family is from the Detroit metro area. Generations of my family have worked for Ford Motor Company at some point in their lives and so I have been told a history of the company that many others don't know about.

My grandparents both moved up to the Detroit area from the South during the whole industrial revolution we read about in US History II back in high school. My grandfather worked hard at multiple jobs to provide for his wife and children, as well as to help his many brothers and sisters at home back in North Carolina. One of the jobs he worked was on the Ford assembly line - working hard, long hours doing the same job as his white co-workers, but being paid less than 25% of the pay they received. At the time of my mom's birth, the suburb my grandparents lived in was a shanty town of cardboard homes, setup by Ford - that's right, by Ford! Granted, the town has developed since then, and hopefully employees are being paid equally, regardless of race, but Ford literally built their empire on racist practices. They saved a ton of money by hiring numerous poor Blacks who were willing to take any job they could find in order to support their families (think US sweatshops full of Blacks).

Is it any surprise that a company built on a history of such racism is finally starting to feel the consequences of their actions? Do I think the current Ford owners, CEOs, top brass are racist or prejudice? I have no idea. I really wouldn't be surprised, but in all fairness, I have no data to make a claim either way. I'm sure many don't see what has happened in Motor City quite the way I view it, but this is my page to rant. I don't believe God honors a company based initially on such horrid practices, much the way I foresee a downfall of America in the near future. [aside: interestingly, when I discuss this notion of the sins of the fathers visiting the sons, people scoff, but when I use the term karma, everyone seems to agree...hmmm....]

Despite all this, I still have mixed feelings on The Bailout. I feel bad for the hundreds that have been laid off or who live in fear that they might lose their jobs at any moment. The ramifications of this economic crisis still astounds and saddens me. I know I should never take pleasure in another's misfortune, but I can't help but grin just a little bit and the shame brought up the heads of US Motor companies in the recent past. It's about time their shady selfish practices have been brought to light.

New Job!

As if it has not been said before, GOD IS GOOD! After months of searching for a full-time job, I have finally been hired. In addition to finally having an income, I have been blessed with a job related to the biomedical field and which enables me to telecommute (thus, saving on rent and/or substantial gas money). Through the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania, I work doing biomedical text annotations for a much larger project being conducted at the University of Wisconsin.

My primary functions consist of reading through biomedical research articles from various sources and dissecting them word by word, clause by clause. The main focus of my position is syntax. In doing so, I note explicit relationships and infer implicit relationships between words and clauses, thoughts and concepts. As an annotator, I have mastery of graduate level English and grammatical structure, as well as an understanding of biomedical terminology, concepts in immunology, cell biology, and other advanced biological studies.

The purpose of the work we are doing is to further progress stores of knowledge that will make artificial intelligence, now called natural language processing (NLP), a reality. We are in the process of creating a database of information about the syntax of words, in the hopes that in the future, it will be possible to have a conversation with a computer operated machine. As of now, automated services exist by a series of prompts. We hope that our efforts will push computer interaction towards conversation mimicking real conversations; based on the words strung together in your sentences, the computer can use our syntax database to construct a probabilistic model to determine what you are saying and how best to respond.
Sounds fun, right? Today was Day One, and I absolutely loved it! It is such a random, nerdy job and I love it! Apparently, it takes 3, 8-hour days of work to fully analyze an article. I think I am going to use this blog to help me keep track of what I am learning in each article, and to help me better prepare for future interview questions pertaining to my work.

What are we studying today? Article title: Resistance to IL-10 inhibition of interferon gamma production and expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 in CD4+ T cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. So far, I know that CD4+ cells play an integral role in the development of RA in humans. I will update as we get further through the article.

I could not have dreamt of a better, more perfectly suited one-year job for me. I am just praying that the health insurance dilemma gets worked out. Once again, God is Good.