Nobel prize

[cteno4]

I just have to croon!!!!!! my best friend from grad school just won the nobel prize in medicine! corny old adage it couldnt have happened to a nicer person!

 

i missed my chance as we use to joke i was going to put down a long odds bet in vagas on her winning the nobel in 25 years and pretty much to the date she got it... amazing!

 

sorry just dancing around here some, pretty wild.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[stickboy]

Congratulations!. That is exceptionally cool.

[CaptOblivious]

That is freakin' awesome. Pass my congrats! Care to share what she won it for?

[disturbman]

Just look at the news... ;) Today was given the medicin Nobel to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider (I'm guessing this Jeff's friend) and Jack Szostak for their work on the telomeres.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere

[Bernard]

That's impressive....but does she do any train modeling?

 

Seriously that great, are you still in contact with her?

[cteno4]

just got back from celebrating at carol's house in baltimore! great to see someone win something like that and still be so humbler and the same old person ive know for over 25 years now. perfect person to get it as she is the model for a good scientist, very ethical, hard worker, but not an insane work a holic, saw a path and went for it, incredibly supportive to her students and post docs and women in science. great role model as she has two kids as well. science can be one of the worst grinds out there, not known that much, but enormous hours, lots of stress even when you make it big to keep your grants and research going, the system turns out like 10x the number of students to the number of jobs in the end. not that pretty.

 

yes its carol that is my old and dear bud (really my surrogate sister ). Liz was actually on my prelim exams and on my dissertation committee and had to put up with me hanging around her lab for 5 years with carol.

 

carol and i showed up at grad school and got thrown in the same lab rotation in a lab that was not even on our lists (we did rotations through three labs before we settled into one for our time in the penn). so we hit it off right away and were partners in crime all the way through. stayed close all these years usually newyears, thanksgivngs etc with each other and very luckily live about 50 miles apart now.

 

carol discovered Telomerase (wow apple spell check know that word!) the enzyme that adds a DNA repeated sequence onto the ends of chromosomes. DNA replication has trouble finishing the last little bit of DNA at the end. so you can see that with repeated replications your chromosomes would get shorter and shorter, like a fuse till it burned into dna in your chromosomes which coded for things you need then youd be gone! Telomerase comes in and adds that little bit onto the end to keep this from happening.

 

interesting that some cancers the telomerase goes wild and you have longer telomeres, some old cells that die after so many replications will have shorter telomeres, and even folks under stress can be shown to have shorter telomeres that get shorter with the longer they have been under stress.

 

it was one of the last big questions in the DNA story to be answered and the biological effects and ramifications put it up there as a nobel thing.

 

she doesnt play with model trains but allows me to let me infect her kids with model trains! JRM does three shows a year in baltimore area and she usually brings them by once a year or so. the kids are even on the jrm site!

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/photos/_spectators/pages/page_11.html

 

i now know what football fans feel when their team wins superbowl. never could understand them running around screaming for days!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[marknewton]

Jeff,

 

That's excellent news mate, no wonder you're excited. And unlike footballers, your friend and her colleagues are being rewarded for doing something worthwhile that's of lasting benefit to the community.

 

The lead story in today's Sydney Morning Herald, which I read before I saw your post, was about Elizabeth Blackburn sharing in the prize. I felt so proud that an Australian was part of the team, and learning that one of the other prizewinners is a friend of yours is just the icing on the cake.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[cteno4]

Yes its great, liz is from Australia (a Tasmanian to boot) and Jack Szostak originally from England! They all are great people and have worked hard for a long time, nice to see a pay off. fun to see the whole evolution of it over 25 years, viewing a bit of history and really nice when its great people to boot. was wonderful to see her last night and have lots of laughs and some great conversations about science and the process.

 

was really fun hearing from all my old mates in the lab, everyone was calling and emailing each other all day. even talked to my old lab mate who is now at CISRO in Perth last night (with lots of plugs to get my butt down south for a proper visit). we had a really wonderful group in our department and it was like a big family, working and playing really hard together. many life long friendships formed. we have had a couple of memorial services in the last few years (one classmate and one prof passed away) and at the end end of the last one one guy said why do we only get together like this as a group when someone dies, why cant we do it just to have fun. Yesterday everyone realized that if this is not a reason for everyone to get together than nothing is. how many times can you give priority to something by saying, sorry that weekend is booked, have to go to a friend's nobel prize party... didnt expect it but folks are responding from all over the place saying set the time they will fly in!

 

quite a singular event and kind of a once in a life time thing, thanks for letting me croon some, i feel like a damn happy face.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

For those that love great public radio shows, and want to know more about telomeres, Radiolab—a most freaking awesome show about science—did a segment on telomeres (haha, segment, get it? Oh, Don, you and your science jokes.) back in 2007. You can listen to the show online:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/06/15

[cteno4]

with telomerase there never really is an end to this... da dum dum...

 

Radiolab is a great show. podcasting has given a huge new life to content like this. scads out there to learn about just about anything these days. great if you are a commuter to grab shows like this for nice bites on the commute.

 

there is a new thinking of 3/7/21 or being 3 minute, 7 minute, and 21 minute presentations. those are general ranges for different depths and breadths of content delivery that nest well and fit in to users timeframes for different activities. very interesting content ideas and also allows for simple and inexpensive production of bits not in the mega blocks now needed for pbs delivery or the chopped up, scrambled method needed for cable with commercials (you spend all your time building drama before commercials to keep the viewer then the other half recovering from the commercial recapping where you were -- its hell on content delivery).

 

btw its a small world as another classmate of carol and mine is kathy hudson who was just named chief of staff/second in charge of the NIH and she is married to npr science guy joe palka. odd going to parties at their house and hearing voices from npr when you have never seen the face. kind of disconcerting...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Exciting news, we are going to stockholm for the nobel festivities! carol invited us along as one of her guests. going to be a really wild, royal bash! we just dont do that sort of ceremony here in the us, the awards dinner makes the academy awards look shabby in comparison!

 

anyone got interesting things to do and see in and around stockholm? we will be there a week. know the wassala and the modern art museum are sposta be great.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[marknewton]

Jeez, Jeff, I reckon if you'd won the Nobel Prize yourself you wouldn't be any more pleased!  :grin

 

Anyway, I think it's great you're going along with your mate Carol, celebrating an honour like that is best when shared with friends.

 

While you're there, you might want to visit the Nr.7 tram line:

 

http://www.sparvagssallskapet.se/djurgardslinjen/english.php?PHPSESSID=ce4872b6c4981ef5f589cab8454a233f

 

The Swedish railway museum has two sites. One at Gävle, an easy day trip from Stockholm.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Bernard]

Jeff - Talk about a once in a lifetime experience! This should be some experience to say the least. Have a blast! Do you have a Tux?

[cteno4]

Jeff - Talk about a once in a lifetime experience! This should be some experience to say the least. Have a blast! Do you have a Tux?

 

Actually have to rent one from one store in stockholm so everyone looks the same!

 

pretty wild. at least ill be in a region where the tuxs are in the same size range as me (im 6' 4"). every time i have rented a tux its been the wrong in one of the lengths somewhere (always short for some reason!), not matching the submitted measurements! i got into the habit when all my friends were getting married there to pick up the rented tux as far ahead of time as possible as there was always a day to get changed out!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Jeez, Jeff, I reckon if you'd won the Nobel Prize yourself you wouldn't be any more pleased!  :grin

 

Anyway, I think it's great you're going along with your mate Carol, celebrating an honour like that is best when shared with friends.

 

While you're there, you might want to visit the Nr.7 tram line:

 

http://www.sparvagssallskapet.se/djurgardslinjen/english.php?PHPSESSID=ce4872b6c4981ef5f589cab8454a233f

 

The Swedish railway museum has two sites. One at Gävle, an easy day trip from Stockholm.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

 

Mark,

 

I think you hit the nail on the head! am probably more happy carol got it than if i would have (i dont even have the right mix of things to be on that track anyway!). she really deserves this. having spent 4 years in grad school with her and watched how it all began, then watching her career, she really with the thread that made it all happen! she has always pushed through setbacks, but maintained balance and is the same sweet person i bonded with instantly on the first day of grad school when we were thrown onto a small lab bench to share in a lab we had not chosen for our rotations!

 

thanks for the tram and museum, was hoping there was a train museum to try and visit! i wonder if the historic trams run in the dead of winter? they say most of the year, we shall see. there are sposta be some folks to help guests figure out things around stockholm, ill try and challenge them with rr stuff (well as much as my wife will put up with!)

 

thanks

 

jeff

[cteno4]

well just an update, we are here in stockholm and things are really happening. its non stop events. everything is really nice, but its a grueling pace of events, especially for the prize winners! stockholm is beautiful even in the winter gray drizzle, but at least its in the 30s and not under snow! lots to see and do.

 

we did get one evening to have a little berkeley get together that was reto-formal (most events are business suits to full white tie tux events -- yes ill post picts of me in a white tie and tails!). we stood out a bit in the 5 star hotel's lounge we are all staying at.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps the dress code http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/banquet/dresscode/

[Bernard]

Jeff - What an adventure you are on! How many people in their life-time ever get to experience something like this!

[Mudkip Orange]

unlike footballers, your friend and her colleagues are being rewarded for doing something worthwhile that's of lasting benefit to the community.

 

Yes, but Nobel Prize ceremonies don't provide an excuse to get piss drunk and fight with a bobby!

 

Congratulations d00d. Maybe you can pick up some Swedish N-scale while you're there?

[cteno4]

it is all very cool to be here with all these events. this is the big event in sweden! today is the big event of the ceremonies and then the grand banquet tonight! it is all a very royal affair, nothing like i, or i think most folks, are use to attending. full white tie with full tails! luckily tomorrow will be quiet, carol and her brother will have dinner with the king and queen and the other laureates and spouses... a small affair! Sat night is the Karolina institute dinner/ball for the medicine winners that ill escort carol to (again in the tails), then its home. its a very exhausting week of events! Carol is holding up well and her two kids are as well under these circumstances (not kid type stuff!) its wonderful they can be a part of all of this! it still seems a bit of a dream with carol winning this and being here. wonderful as carol's entourage are all good friends and its just been a wonderful week of hanging out together!

 

ill post some pictures tomorrow in the tails!

 

No trains unfortunately, its been too busy to get out to do train riding or train shopping. the dollar is pretty bad right now in europe (and most elsewhere) so its costing a fortune for the trip, but its a once in a lifetime oppertunity. think ill need to forgo getting any swedish trains right now, it would be nice to get one as a souvenir though! may have time friday or sat to poke around.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Jeff - I can just picture you asking the King, "In you honest opinion sir, which do you prefer Kato, Tomix or MicroAce?"

[Mossberg]

Jeff - I can just picture you asking the King, "In you honest opinion sir, which do you prefer Kato, Tomix or MicroAce?"

 

I am sure he would answer Märklin :-).

 

Welcome to Sweden Jeff. November/December is just the right time of year if you like dark grey skies and rainy weather.

 

 

/Magnus M

[cteno4]

been gray and drizzly till today then blue skys for a few hours then at darkness (bout 3:00) it started to snow! was good to get back to the hotel as it was getting cold! carol is having dinner with the king and queen tonight! tomorrow is the last day of events with some sort of hearing i escort her to and then the Lucia ball, another white tie event... then home!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps a pict of carol's entourage and a very low light pict of her receive her nobel (we were not to take picts there, but many were so i snuck one quickly... jr

[scott]

How did I miss this thread?    Congratulations to you friend, and I'm glad you're enjoying the trip!

[cteno4]

Just got home from Stockholm. it was a grueling week, but really, really a once and a life time thing. nobel prize winners are like rock stars in sweden! folks stopped carol on the street to congratulate her (ie they knew her face!) folks waiting for pictures and autographs at the entrance of the grand hotel! nobel groupies!

 

it was event after event. the last was a santa lucia dinner with the medical students. white tie affair, but they manage to have fun at a formal event. every 5-10 minutes they sing a different song and then you have to drink after the song! this went on for over 4 hrs! they had a mens and womens singing groups that sing parody songs about medical conditions as well as about the laureates in medicine's work and the nobel prize. was quite fun and a great capper to the whole week as it was not as formal while being a formal!

 

now back to earth. we are having a large reunion now of a lot of the grad students from our department at UC berkeley from the 80-90, everyone is coming out of the woodwork with carol's nobel so it will be a grand event to catchup. we were like a large family in a funky little building. was a wonderful place to work and play hard!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Jeff - Your friend Carol now has an interesting conversation starter, "Did anybody see my Nobel prize, I've seemed to have misplaced it?" 

It's nice to hear that people in Sweden treat prize winners like rock stars, they're work usually involves advancing or helping mankind. Glad you had a great trip.