Here’s an update on recent happenings in the lab:

First, Erik Allman got his PhD! His thesis was a monster of a document, as you’d expect from someone who has seven manuscripts from his doctoral work (even though only three of them made the final cut for inclusion in the thesis). He’s off to Penn State now working for Dr. Manuel Llinás…once he’s done, he’ll be HIGHLY employable. Model organisms, genetically-encoded fluorescent biosensors, high-throughput drug screening, metabolomics, mass spec. That’s a nice skill set to have 🙂

Second, our esteemed Dr. Matthew’s manuscript on a neuroprotective CHOP-CAVI axis came out in the journal “Brain”. Tori has just finished his first semester teaching at MCC and we met recently to implement plans for a NSF-sponsored outreach program directed at young kids in the RCSD.

Which brings us to the last point: remember how I’d mentioned in a previous post how grant-writing was killing me? Well, it’s paid off. The renewal application of the multiple-PI R01 with Dr. Brookes was funded by NIGMS on the first round…the day after we submitted the revision!! Talk about timing. Two months of hustle that could have been avoided. Still, better that than the alternative. Unfortunately, our budget was cut by 40% (!!!), which I guess is the times.

And my NSF grant appears to have been renewed, as well, though I don’t have the final budget numbers, yet. So…still alive.

Congratulations to everyone for making 2013 a great year and for helping NehrkeLab to be a fun, engaging place to work!