Step one. Check!

For my hundredth blog post, I can say that I have reached the first milestone in my graduate career. I turned in a three page research proposal yesterday, which is part one of my written qualifying examination. I predict that everyone who turns these in gets a conditional pass requesting a rewrite the first time, since this is first and foremost an exercise in experimental design and grant writing.

It involved crazy amounts of research into a set of experiments I never plan on running, based entirely on a field outside of what I actually do. In a nutshell, I was proposing some new characterization of a set of proteins that work together as the garbage men of the cell, tracking which proteins should be recycled for parts. Still, I did build a framework for a new experimental method that I might be able to use down the line.

There was an appropriate level of celebration available through the special St. Patrick's Day homebrew club meeting last night, too. Oh, yes.