Conference: Day One

Dude, where's my brain?

(Just in case you didn't know, that is an allusion to a movie. I don't really speak like that...at least in writing, anyway.)

Never at the end of a single day have I learned so much while simulatenously feeling so ignorant.

I arose at 6 am and headed over to Academia Sinica around 6:45 to catch a ride with some lab mates to the International Stem Cell Conference at Taipei Medical University in the vicinity of Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101. When I arrived, most of the lab was already there working hard and ready to check people in. I got a spiffy bag and program of the weekend, then headed up shortly thereafter to the top floor to listen to opening remarks and witness the commencement of the day.

The day was intense.

Philip and lab worker (whose English name I don't know!), but she is going to San Francisco in September to study English.

The lab hard at work checking people in throughout the day. But I got out of it, probably because I would be of absolutely no help.

Vivian (post-doc) and Miss Wu.

Silly lab. I don't know how they can be all smiles at 7 am.

Andy, Ping, Me, Chen, and Vivian before the start of the conference.

John gives the opening remarks of the conference.

This is what the day's schedule entailed. If one went to everything, he or she was sure to be tired by the end of the day.

9:00-9:40 Opening Remarks

9:40 Plenary Session 1: 'Ying and Tang of Mesenchymal Stem Cells' with Paul Simmons, PhD, President, International Society for Stem Cell Research

10:55-11:40 'Hibernation of Hemtopoietic Stem Cells in the Bone Marrow Niche: Role of Lipid Raft Clustering and Niche Signals' with Hiromitsu Nakauchi, MD, PhD, University of Tokyo

2:00-2:45 Plenary Session 2: 'Making a Brain: A Molecular Dissection of Neural Induction' with Claudio Stern, PhD, University of London, UK

2:45-3:30 'How To Live Without DNA Methylation' with Richard Meehan, PhD, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK

3:50-5:50 Two Concurrent Sessions (Session A: Embryonic Stem Cells and Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer or Session B: Somatic Stem Cells) with 4 presentations each

7:00-9:00 Conference Dinner

I made it to about 3:30 okay, but after that I was kind of beat. Exhausted and overheated, I decided I had to walk around during part of the concurrent sessions, and possibly return if I felt better or more energized. I went back down to the first floor, where many of my lab mates were still working. I sat down and talked for a bit, then discovered Chen studying vocabulary words for the GREs. Some of the words even I have never heard of, so I don't know how on earth he is going to remember them all. I am impressed by his efforts, though. Before you knew it, I was testing him, and when he forgot the definition (which was most often the case), I tried to give him a Chinese definition. That actually really helped me practice my language skills as well.

One particularly amusing incident occurred when I got to the 'D' words.

I had explained that 'dis' or 'de' prefixes generally mean 'not,' or 'to lower' or the opposite of something.

I got to 'depreciate' and then Chen and Zhuo logically thought it would be the opposite of 'appreciate.'

'To take away a thank-you?' Zhuo asked.

'No,' Chen said. 'It means to ridicule or criticize.'

What are the chances I would pick a word that happens to be one of the exceptions to the rule?

'No,' I said. 'Think in terms of economics (zai jingji shang).'

That obviously confused them even more, and then I explained. I think that just deflated their confidence even more.

After 90 minutes or so of teaching and bearing witness to their frustration (I don't blame them, I've been there), everyone left for the conference dinner commencing at 7 pm at Taipei 101. In a fancy ballroom with fancy chairs and tables, the dinner consisted of many different dishes. And the best part? It was totally free!

Ping, Chen, and Alan at our free swanky dinner in the 5th floor ballroom of Taipei 101.

Andy, Ping, Alan, Chen, Zhuo, Me, and Cherry.

Cherry shaking her head at the immaturiy of our table.

Table 10 and friends.

Following dinner, I caught a ride home with John and Alice, but we first escorted all the international speakers by van back to their hotels. In the process, I chatted with a few of the speakers, the longest conversation of which I had with a cardiologist who is a professor and researcher at Harvard Medical School. Coincidentally, he had recently been offered a position at UCSD and was prepared to make the move, but at the last minute decided to stay in Boston because his wife's job situation never came through to transfer to the West Coast.

In the car, he was telling me about the admissions process, and he got to the part about decision-making, and said, 'Oh, I probably shouldn't be telling you this.'

I casually brushed it off, joking, 'I smell a coin toss,' but secretly my ears were as wide open as they could possibly get.

He then told me that everyone who is on the borderline is reviewed by two groups separately and the theory is those applicants who rank highly in both groups (overlapping) are at the top of the list. Then he told me that it's amazing how the two groups statsitically never ever agree, at which point there is lots of arguing and phone calls to references. He also told me that he sometimes made the phone calls to acceptees late in the application process, and they cheerfully responded Harvard was their only acceptance. Go figure. I guess that really is proof that the process is completely random, which is why you apply anywhere and everywhere you possibly can.

After dropping off the speakers, the three of us returned to the apartment completely zonked. I went to my room and did a little packing, but I still have a lot to do, including laundry. And I need to get up at 6 again tomorrow, so I'd best be getting to bed. Nite!