Out of Exile

Self-imposed as it was. Its over. Back-to-back grant applications to two different government organizations, via two different sets of US government approved red tape networks. Not to mention collaborating with a colleague on another, and putting together a graphical depiction of our recent results concerning how human lung cancer cells cope with a loss of glucose as a cellular fuel. Good thing I lack ambition, or else I'd really be exhausted.

That poster, the last thing on the list, took me to New Orleans for a few days last week. What a town; I need to be about 15 years younger to truly appreciate it. Excellent food I was there for the Experimental Biology meeting, so it rocked both sides of my brain.

Last Monday, I tacked it up on a stand, roughly 1.5 m X 1 m, and stood around waiting for other scientists to stop by and talk with me about the information on the poster. I stood there for about 2 hrs and the meeting had roughly 11,000 registered participants. Only a fraction of the participants go to the poster session, and there are hundreds of other people doing exactly the same thing. Its a powerful display of the curiosity and commitment of my fellow human beings. I'm very pleased to be able to participate in such events.

Its even better than marching in the streets, but it lacks the immediate sense of freedom. Its less innovative than poetry and other artistic media, perhaps, but its more directly functional. The process of science in action.

Anyway, that's over. Now we wait. At least on the grant front.

Decisions are not made until late summer. The sad fact is that both are likely to be rejected. I knew this going in, but some people like to buy lottery tickets. Only one application can be resubmitted and this is my first of 3 shots. Rarely is one funded on the first attempt. I'll get some feed-back from my peers, incorporate their suggestions and answer their concerns, and try again.

The other is a one-off for the new money tossed our way by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Conservative calculations put the success rate at 0.014 to 0.02%. But, there was simply no way I could not take that chance. Minimally, we have overwhelmingly demonstrated how under-funded our field has become. No lack of ideas, only the means and the will.

But, apparently, my tax dollars are better spent on ill-conceived military adventures, bankster bonuses (which by the way, on average are roughly equivalent to the ENTIRE allocation for the NIH from ARRA), and the development of robotic soldiers and airplanes (which by the way got 25X the allocation of the NIH in ARRA). Anyway, that the way the budget is cut.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came last night

And left this little scoop.

Because you weren't too good this year,

You're getting Bunny Poop!

Joking aside, I hope that everyone is having a great Easter. Matt and I wish you all the best!

Love,

Molly and Matt