Stephen Lau - August 7, 2015

     It's been real Project SEED 

All I have left to say is...

And

Stephen Lau - July 29, 2015

     In my group meeting today, I presented my poster to my group and it allowed my mentor the time to edit my poster.  Luckily there were very minor mistakes and had my poster sent down to Fisher Hall.  It is finally done...

Stephen Lau - July 28, 2015

     Didn't have much time to work because of the tour but I made every minute count.  At last my result is basically finalize after going over the data of four different runs on 2MD.  Poster is nearly complete I just need my mentor need to finalize and edit.  Tomorrow I have a group meeting to attend to and probably be ready to print right after or not since we're having a group lunch...

Stephen Lau - July 27, 2015

     I got most of my poster done and now all I need is the conclusion and results which can finally be determine after going through the new data with new forcefields and solvation model with my mentor tomorrow.  Tomorrow I will finish my poster...

Stephen Lau - July 24, 2015

     So today I had my mentor to look at the two systems I ran alanine scanning on and the data continues to seem irrelevant to the experimental data so I ran in again with different forcefields and option which MOE had.  I successfully ran alanine scanning on 2MD again 3 times today each performing differently from the rest.  I also was finally was able to work on my poster because the error which kept popping up and preventing me from using the outline was that LaTeX, the program I use was out of date so I had to update that.  I have most of my information already for it so I just have to finish up my results and see if there is any relevance to the experimental work for the results or just assume that performing alanine scanning computationally is more difficult than we imagine...

Stephen Lau - July 23, 2015

     I did a lot of stuff today including running alanine scanning on two new systems, KH1060 ligand and 1,25(OH)2D3 ligand.  I got the results and put them in my work after having my mentor check the two previous systems that I ran alanine scanning.  I will...start my poster tomorrow...

Stephen Lau - July 22, 2015

     I did a lot of work today and by that I mean I finally organized the data from the 2MD:VDR interaction and started on the TEI-9647 ligand.  I also had to redo some other work since some of my files on MOE were lost when it randomly shut down.  Tomorrow I will probably begin my poster after finish up implementing the data form TEI-9647...

Blog Challenge 2: Stephen Lau

1) Where are you from and what high school did you go to?

2)  What college did you go to as an undergraduate and why?

3)   How did high school affect your decision for college or field in which you study in?

4)    Why did you choose to study in the field of chemistry?

5)     What kind of undergraduate programs did you do in  college?

6)      What is your preference and why, computational or experimental chemistry?

7)       Why did you choose Duquesne as your choice to undertake your graduate school?

8)        What do you plan to do after receiving your degree?

9)         What is your goal in life?

10)         When do you plan to retire after being successful in what you want to do?

Kendy Pellegrene

     Kendy Pellegrene is a another member of Madura's Research lab and is from Blairsville, PA.  She went to Blairsville high school and pursued her career in pharmacy in Washington and Jefferson College because it was not too far yet not too close to her hometown.  She wanted to make sure she could go somewhere away from her high school and start anew where she can learn new opportunities and meet different people.  It was decided to follow in the field of pharmacy becasue she had enjoyed biology all her life.  Through her time getting her master's degree in biology, Kendy has come to love cellular and molecular biology which are basically background information on how drugs work, which ultimately have led her here to research more into this topic in Madura's research group.  Kendy undergone research throughout her years at W&J with another professor, researching on different types of mushrooms. She had also done a program at Pitt over the summer which related to her field of study biology.  After all her experiences, Kendy has no preference in either computational or experimental labs because she finds them both important to research.  However, she finds computational more difficult but mostly because she has more experience in experimental labs.  Kendy decided to partake her PHD at Duquesne because it was another college close to her home and yet not too far away from it.  She also previously performed a collaboration project with Dr. Madura so she was already familiar with some of Duquesne's professors.  After receiving her degree she plans on getting a job in the industry where she can hopefully end up retiring early and travel the world in her spare time.  Through her busy research though, she continues and pursue her life goal...and that is to live an enjoyable and carefree life.

Stephen Lau - July 21, 2015

     Again I try make sense out of the data I received to the experimental ones but it is found that some of the mutated residues do not match possibly due to errors when alanine scanning was ran on VDR.  I also quickly demonstrated my work to the SEED meeting today and now I will probably brief my work once again tomorrow in my group meeting.  After I will find a way to implement my other antagonist even though they do not exist in the PDB...

Stephen Lau - July 20, 2015

     Had a long day or should I say night cause I spent most of my time analyzing the data and compared it to the experimental data.  Some of my work matched while others were somewhat off.  With this I needed to organize it into by presentation for tomorrow (today).  I hope I'll have time to put my data in my work or possibly do it after the SEED meeting.

Stephen Lau - July 16, 2015

      Today I worked on my presentation and researched more about antagonist for my vitamin d receptor.  My mentor printed out an article about agonist and antagonist since the first article he gave me were specifically agonist. I will have to find a more suited antagonist ligand for the VDR tomorrow.

Stephen Lau - July 15, 2015

     I finally finished my abstract, however I do have to make a few slight changes so I'll have to email Philip Clarke tomorrow about some stuff.  I also talked with my mentor about my presentation and there are a few things I'm going to have to change.  I already started on some minor things but I will have to probably find another antagonist for my project.

Stephen Lau - July 14, 2015

     I finally finished my abstract but now I just have to wait for my mentors to read over it.  Tomorrow I'll put my finishing touch and turn it in.

Stephen Lau - July 13, 2015

     What a big day it was today.  I came in and worked on my presentation like a maniac so it would be ready before I had to present to Secretary Rivera which I'll admit I was a bit nervous.  I did get a lot of work done including alanine scanning TIE-9647 and did some research on it.  After the poster session and presentation meeting, everything was downhill and finally had some breathing time.  I have yet to write my abstract though...

Stephen Lau - July 10, 2015

     Today I finished my reading of an article which had some use for my project.  I also prepared for my preparation for my presentation on Monday. Next time I have to finish a few things real quick before presenting my work.

Stephen Lau - July 9, 2015

     I began a new reading today because it is similar to what I am doing so I hope it will help me tomorrow.  Unfortunately my group meeting interrupted my reading so I will resume where I left off tomorrow...

Stephen Lau - July 8, 2015

     Had my group meeting today and watch the other undergraduates present their project.  After that I just only had time to work on my presentation since I have to leave early today.  Tomorrow will be similar since I have another meeting I have to attend to tomorrow which will last probably longer.

Stephen Lau - July 7, 2015

     I got more done for my presentation and I also started on my abstract today which I started working on after the meeting.  I'm just going to work on my abstract tomorrow after my group meeting to ask for more info about it...

Stephen Lau - July 6, 2015

    Mostly worked on my presentation again.  It's not going to to finish anytime soon.  I learned more about agonist and antagonist ligands which I added on to my work.  Tomorrow I continue working and researching more on my topic in addition on my abstract which I keep putting off...

Stephen Lau - July 2, 2015

     Started to polish up my presentation with the feedback I got yesterday but it's still going to take a while.  Monday I plan of chunking my way through and maybe start on my abstract...