Thursday, October 27, 2011

This is what happens...

...when I am your professor.

On tap for next semester's Biochemistry II lab (primed for record enrollment!):

Extracting and measuring the cholesterol and fat profiles in traditional v. grass fed eggs.

Measuring blood glucose using chemistry. Measuring cholesterol in HDL and LDL.

Using tagged sugar to track how yeast breaks it down and uses it to build itself.

Using tagged glucose and tagged fructose to understand how yeast breaks down these two sugars differently.

Measuring the antioxidant potential of whole fruit and fruit juice.

Building the ultimate antioxidant drink from fruits and vegetables.

And finally - designing their own laboratory procedures and having the other lab sections test them (suckers!).


...but first they all need to pass this semester's class. Time to grade a quiz!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Today was a good day

1) I am now a funded primary investigator. I got my first grant! For small stuff - curriculum upgrades to my biochemistry courses, but it will help my research too. Baby steps. Plus, I'm hot shit because I got a grant and no one in my dept has gotten one in years...

2) I was also contacted by administration to be in a photo shoot for promotional materials for the university. I am a MODEL. That's right! I set up our biochemistry lab to do the 'prettiest' science - we did a flame test, used various methods for moving around colored water, and looked at some proteins stained on a little glass plate. It was awesome! Many, many pictures later, they told me we were awesome!


3) How do you fix vegan cornbread? Add butter.


I made this recipe sans egg: Healthier Honey Corn Muffins.

I wanted egg in it, but I didn't have any and was starving. I used chia seeds instead, and it was close to the real thing. A little crumbly, but DELICIOUS. With salmon and a salad, it was a great end to a great day!

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