Structural Biologists Sure Know How To Party!

After attending the event in Reading, the one word I can use to describe the South West Structural Biology Science Conference would have to be “mental”. Mental in the sense that the talks and lectures were complicated, the food was amazing, the entertainment was epic and the attending scientists were quite literally mad!

As a microbiologist and immunologist, structural biology is not my strong point and I can honestly say that during some of the talks I didn’t have a clue what the speakers were talking about. However, I was not at a complete loss because many of the PhD talks were about the structures of bacteria and their proteins. This I could relate to as I have a keen interest in pathogens, which meant that I could at least understand parts of the presentations.

I don’t think I ever fully comprehended quite how vast the subject of science was until this conference because structural biology is an area I have never really thought about; although I always knew there were many different fields to specialise in. Consequently, I have now had exposure to a completely different side of science and therefore yet another aspect of it has become of interest to me.

After the first day of talks we were all taken out for dinner. A hog roast! I ate so much pork I thought I would burst, only to then discover the stir fry and pudding (strawberries and clotted cream!). To top it all off, we had an endless supply of wine! By the time dinner was over and the dance songs started to play, I was quite merry. The rest of the night was spent dancing, drinking, eating cheesy chips and drinking tea at the accommodation after party whilst watching the PCR song on YouTube. You might think that 3hours sleep (and obviously a few other factors…) would affect my enjoyment of the next day, but it’s nothing that a free full English breakfast can’t fix! Therefore, it is safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the conference! Who knew that scientists were such party animals? However, let me just reassure you that the conference was incredibly educational as well as fun! I don’t want any of you to think that science is just fun and games...

Back in the lab today working with sample buffer and TEMED enzymes, both of which really stink! Hoping to get some protein expression and then all I have to do is spin down my culture samples and leave them to freeze overnight to see if I can purify any protein! Tomorrow is the day of reckoning!