DAY 521-525

Feb 3 - 7

1) On Saturday (Feb 5), an entourage of RCSI students attended the inaugural Student Medical Summit 2018 - held at the UCD Science Hub building. It was the first time many of us had been that part of the campus, and according to some of our friends at UCD - it is one of the most impressive. Essentially, this one-day conference consisted of an undergraduate poster presentation competition, as well as several keynote speeches from prominent figures across the country.

2) I reached early and registered, before setting up my research poster at the designated area. There would be two rounds of judging, to reduce personal bias. We had 15 minutes to present and answer any questions. Before we knew it, judging was over - after which eight finalists would be shortlisted. The finalists would be given five minutes' presentation time, and a further two minutes Q and A session.

3) After our first keynote speech, the finalists were announced. Among us, Melissa would be progressing to be finals! We proceeded to have lunch in the hallway, before returning to Moore Auditorium to support our friend. It was an exciting session, with some really interesting research presentations. The judges went out to deliberate, while the last keynote speaker gave us his talk on 'obesity'. As the event drew to a close, the judges reached a verdict - Melissa was the inaugural champion! Congratulations are in order :D

4) We stayed back for a while after, to enjoy some finger food and free flow of drinks (i.e. alcohol). As the sky became dark, we made our way back - for me, it was a long way back to Eden Quay, and from there, another bus change to Beaumont. Anyway, that has been a summary of the past couple of days, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a nice day, cheers!

Group pic with everyone. Awesome job guys :D

Congratz Mel!! :))

It was a really impressive building (a bit cold though tbh)

Nice way to kick-start the day :)

Another group photo cuz why not XD

Unique structure

Lunch would not be complete without dessert

Lunch is served!

Post-conference party

Finger foods and wine

At the 'old' Student Centre, capping off a long day

DAY 302/303/304

Jun 30, Jul 1 & 2

1) So finally, I've shifted house! From 48 Leeson St Lower, Dublin 2 - all the way to 11 Sweetmount Drive, Dundrum 14. From sharing a room at a student apartment, to living with a host family for the next half a year. It's been a completely new experience for me, packing and bringing all my stuff with me to my new home.

2) The only experience I have had prior to moving in was coming to Dundrum for buffet with my friends. So at the very least, I was familiar with the location of the LUAS station (not to mention the very reasonably priced and highly rated Global Cuisine Buffet). There is also the Dundrum Town Centre - the largest shopping centre in Ireland! Yesterday, I tried the buffet again, as it was just as good as I remembered it.

3) Today, I did some walking at the shopping centre, before having lunch at Subway (at the Food Hall). It really is a lovely walk, with lots of outlets and beautiful design layouts. After touring around the mall, I walked to Lidl, a German global discount supermarket chain (somewhat similar to the convenience stores we have back home). Everything is just so convenient around here, and all within walking distance. There's even an Apache Pizza, which opens until 5am everyday of the week! Not to mention home delivery for extra.

4) My host family has been very welcoming and accommodating of my stay so far. I'm living with Mrs. Fallon, who lives here with her two daughters. Mrs. Fallon was very interested in knowing where I came from, so I pointed to the appropriate location on the map in my room. We spent some time talking about Malaysia and Southeast Asia in general, and she recounted her stories with past tenants. Then I excused myself to unpack my belongings. Speaking of my room, it is very well furnished, with study lamp and many cabinets and dividers to organise my things.

5) I've to get used to a different schedule from the next week onwards. This is because I need to take the LUAS (Irish tram service) to RCSI everyday from now on, including the summer break as I am working there in the labs. It is really convenient, though, that the last stop for the LUAS is right in front of RCSI, hence it is nigh impossible to get off at the wrong stop haha. (Here's hoping it never happens). Anyway, that is the end of my narrative, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much for visiting my blog, and have a nice day. Cheers!

My house is the one on the left ^^

My room

Plus all the cabinets to put my belongings

The bridge is the iconic landmark for the LUAS station 

(less than 10 minutes' walk away from home)

Came back to Leeson to take the last of my belongings, and to say goodbye )':

The walkway to the main shopping centre

Having buffet lunch at Dundrum Shopping Centre

A stunning angle (imho) of the Food Hall, 

located at the top floor of Dundrum Shopping Centre

DAY 299/300/301

Jun 27, 28, 29

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

DAY 286

Jun 14

1) Today has been a tiring day for me. I got up early to meet Mr. Keogan in the labs. It seems I've underestimated how tiring it would be to work a 9-5 job, what with all the focus and concentration required haha. Luckily, we have informal tea and lunch breaks in between to boost our energy for the rest of the day.

2) In the morning, I helped Mr. Keogan to complete his own experiments (for his PhD), while learning many new analytical techniques. As an example, learning how to dry organic phase reagents using vacuum filtration apparatus and a rotary evaporator. Besides, we performed TLC (thin layer chromatography) which was taught in A-Levels! For other samples, we brought them for NMR spectroscopy (in York House, just opposite RCSI) for identification.

3) After lunch, we finally started with my experimental procedure. As of now, I need to do some more research on the availability of the reagents, or else some may need to be ordered. We got that far today, so here's hoping things will continue smoothly tomorrow. That's all for today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a nice day, cheers!

A sneak peak in the labs...

Brunch

Lunch

Truth be told, I never imagined I'd be doing this :)

DAY 284

Jun 12

1) So today there are three important things for me to write about. The first, as you may expect if you've been following my previous updates, is of course on my research. I met up with Dr. Griffith (my Principal Investigator) at around 11am, and it was there that I met Ali, who is also undertaking summer research (albeit under a different project title)

2) Dr. Griffith took us on a tour of all three floors of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry. There, we met the PhD students who would be guiding us with our research. After that , we went over to York House where Dr. Griffith showed us the NMR instrument, used to determine the physical and chemical properties of atoms or the molecules in which they are contained. He also showed us a slew of different apparatus and lab equipment, from HPLCs (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) to THF (tetrahydrofuran). It really was a completely new experience for me.

3) We spent some time outlining exactly my aim of conducting this research, as well as set the list of things I would be required to carry out for this week. For today, he sent some research papers over for me to read, mostly on bismuth and its various potential applications in antimicrobial, antileishmanial, and anticancer therapy. Bismuth is frequently used in quadruple therapy (two antibiotics, a proton-pump inhibitor, and bismuth) for the treatment of helicobacter pylori infections. So the objective of my research is to develop novel bismuth complexes which are effective in these areas of treatment.

4) After the allotted time, I went over to the library. As I've written previously, today is the last day that Mercer Library will be open. After 11pm, it will be shut down for good, and library operations will continue 3rd July at the new academic building. This old building will then be converted for pharmacy students to use. As such, I spent my afternoon there, reading up on the research material that I'd been given to read, as well as taking a nice nap for old time's sake.

5) In the evening, I went for my usual run at St. Stephen's Green. It took a lot of effort to complete 10km (something that I used to do with little effort during my younger years haha), but at least I'm making progress. At least I've the next four and a half months or so to train properly before the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon 2017. I for one, cannot wait.

6) Bought my dinner from Subway, before returning home for the rest of the night. That has been my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks and hope you have a great day. Cheers!

I wonder which "JC2 Student" wrote this? ^^

I've done this before, but which one is mine?? XD

Friendly desk staff

Look forward to meeting everyone again in the new building!!

DAY 283

Jun 11

1) Today has been a leisurely day well spent at home. I'm just taking it easy before my 'work' starts tomorrow haha. Anyway, that doesn't mean I have nothing to do. For starters, I've tried my best to start packing up a bit, as I'll be moving house in a couple of weeks.

2) I've started sleeping quite late at night, so that's a habit I'll have to kick before starting research tomorrow. I daren't say what time I sleep because it really is quite late. But to be fair, that was time well spent preparing some points for the Antibiotics Debate which I am arguing for.

3) In the evening, I went over to Wok In for some authentic Thai food. I accidentally ordered the prawn curry instead of the chicken, but turned out great. I stopped by Mercer Library, thinking that today's the last day before it closes. But turns out tomorrow is the last day since it closes at 11pm. Returned home to enjoy my dinner, and spent the rest of the night just reading up a bit on the research project that I'll be undertaking. That is all for my day, and hope you had a great one too. Cheers!

A lovely walk along the canal ^^

Was feeling peckish for something Thai