1) The past week has been rather taxing on me. Having to pack up and shift houses is something new for me, and I grossly underestimated how much effort it would require. Thankfully, I've (almost) finished packing, and the weekend is coming too.
2) For the most part, my past three days have been spent in the labs as usual. Counting today, we've set up eight experiments so far, all of them related to some form of bismuth complex which we're trying to create. The two earlier experiments had failed due to contaminated DCM/ methylene chloride solution, but the third one we did (with a better batch of DCM) turned out fine. So it's all systems go, as we seek to combine that product with another ligand, to form Deferasirox, an iron chelator. So the idea is to combine Deferasirox with bismuth (chloride, nitrate etc) to form an organometallic complex. This delivers a double-whammy to the bacteria (iron chelators bind iron so bacteria can't take up iron from the surroundings, and bismuth itself is an antibacterial/ antimicrobial). Hopefully, we'll get there soon haha...
3) Yesterday I bade goodbye to my good friend and housemate George. George hails from Cyprus, and we've been really close friends ever since I met him last September. His mom and brother came over the other day, and they brought some lovely treats from Cyprus - soutzoukous (churchkhela) and loukoumi (Turkish delight). I'm really grateful to have met such a kind and sincere friend in George. Wishing you every success in your future endeavours! :D
4) Today's story has pretty much been the same. Dr. Griffith came himself to work with us in the labs, and I started a new experiment using PBT2 - an experimental drug candidate intended to be a successor to clioquinol and a potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Huntington disease. Only time will tell if it's yeay or nay, so I'll just have to be patient then. Anyway, that sums up the past three days here, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for visiting, and have a great day. Cheers!
George and I
"loukoumi" or Turkish Delights
Soutzoukous- a traditional, chewy sweet made from grape juice,
that has a unique appearance (it looks like a candle!), and is popular at traditional festivals.
Burrito from Pablo Picante for dinner
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