The National Science Foundation-sponsored International Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) will take eight students to the University of Càdiz in the region of Andalusia, located in southern Spain. It is a 10-week collaborative effort between Bucknell University and the science and mathematics faculty at the University of Càdiz.
For this program, undergraduate students will have the choice of working in one of two labs in the Department of Organic Chemistry -- the Allelopathy group or the Marine Chemistry group.
These projects will provide students with laboratory experiences in organic chemistry, biochemistry and ecophysiology, and it will more fully prepare them for careers in the scientific community, particularly graduate school. The projects will give them invaluable professional experience in science outside the United States and forge long-term international relationships.
Picking up from where I left off the last time ... My girlfriend, Kim, came to visit me in Spain on the 15th, and on Friday and Saturday we were in Sevilla and on Sunday we went with a trip sponsored by the university to Ronda. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia, which is the province of Spain in which I am living. evilla was the largest city I have been in so far in Spain and it is too big to take in everything in 24 hours. But we certainly tried.
It has been awhile since I wrote on the blog last, mainly because I haven't been able to log in to the website for the last two weeks ... AAnyway, two weekends ago I went to Cordoba with Randy, Ashley and Rachel. We got to see La Mezquita, which today is a huge beautiful cathedral built inside a huge mosque. Quick history: at first it was a small cathedral, and then the Moors conquered Spain and in the spirit of tolerance, tore down the cathedral and built a huge mosque in its place. And then when Spain retook the country, continuing in the spirit of tolerance, they tore down part of the mosque to build a huge cathedral in the middle of the mosque. It is very beautiful and its huge pillar fields make it unique.
Continue reading "Everything that has happened hince the last time I posted" »
The last major objective our mentors set for Ruth and me this summer was conducting a bioassay. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we carried out the assay and analyzed the results. From past research in this lab and our work this summer, we had three pure compounds with known molecular weights and structures. With this information, we carried out serial dilutions to make seven different molar concentrations of the compound in buffer.
This week is the final week of lab for research in Spain. With the approaching deadline, things are beginning to get hectic and more and more projects are pushed in the already long days. This week, my lab is conducting bioassays on two previously purified molecules -- xiloidone and lapachol. Since we know the exact structures from these molecules (from extensive study of carbon and hydrogen NMR) we were able to make concentrations of various molar concentrations of the molecule. After 24 hours, the bioassay is complete and results can be measured (thats what we are doing tomorrow).
On another note, the eight of us as well as Joanne and Micheal went on our last trip with the University of Cadiz. We got picked up by a minibus early on Sunday morning and spent the day in Ronda. The city was beautiful and we got to wander around and explore on our own.
This past Sunday, the University of Cadiz organized a trip to go to Bolonia for the day and to get a semi-behind-the-scenes tour of the old Roman city of Baelo Claudia. In the morning, the archaeologist who was directing the current excavation going on at Baelo Claudia gave us a tour of the ruins, but also showed us the excavation he was overseeing. This tour was all in Spanish like the bodega tour, but this time the only group getting the tour was our small group and, thankfully, Juan Carlos translated what the archaeologist said.
Continue reading "Old HPLC machines and older Roman ruins" »
It's officially half way through the program and I am making significant progress on my project. I feel like every couple days I'm taught a new technique or tool to add to those that I'm already using. I've been very busy the past couple of days and it's great because it makes the day go by a lot quicker. Being busy also helps me make it to lunch, which doesn't come until about 2:30 or 3 in Spain. My stomach is used to it now, but I can't wait to eat lunch at noon again. Anyhow, in lab I now run TLC plates, use the HPLC, and today I used the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) for the first time.
This past Friday after Spanish class in the morning we hopped on a train to El Puerto Santa Maria to take a tour of the Osborne sherry winery. It was cool to walk around and see all the old-fashioned equipment that they used to use to make the wine and also to walk through the winery gardens, which were impressive considering the bland exterior of the building that you see from the street. The tour was in Spanish (clearly) though and the tour guide talked way too fast, so I actually didn't catch 95 percent of what he said. But it was still fun and, of course, they let us try some of the sherries they produce at the end of the tour.
Seven of us went to Gilbraltar this weekend, which was 99th on my list of 100 things I want to do while I'm in Spain. 98th is to riot after a soccer game and 100th is to be thrown into a Spanish prison. I'm just kidding, though.
Continue reading "Gibraltar, U.S. soccer, Kjeldahl Method" »
This weekend, we took a three-hour bus ride down to the Strait of Gibraltar. The earliest bus out of Cadiz was at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and our bus left La Linea De La Concepcion (the Spanish-owned land just outside the Strait at 3 p.m. Sunday. This didn't give us long in Gibraltar, but we did a ton of things and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Our hotel was in La Linea, meaning the currency is euros and everything is in Spanish. We made the 20-minute walk from our hotel to customs, and found everyone speaking English and all prices in pounds. For the short time we were in Gibraltar I felt literate again- reading signs and understanding bits of conversations from people around me. Here is a view of the rock of Gibraltar from La Linea
On Wednesday night, at around 9 p.m. (the sun is up until like 10:10) I went to play a pickup game of soccer (futbol) with the two guys who live in my apartment with me, two guys I know from working in the allelopathy lab, and three other guys (I was the only American). So it was pickup soccer, and I played soccer all through high school, so I thought I would do fine, as the guys are older than me (like 24-27) and they said they weren't very good at soccer and were out of shape. So anyway, the point of this long introduction is to set the stage for the butt kicking given to me by these guys. Not all of them were good players (two were only OK), but there were three guys who were very good, and hit give-and-gos like they had been playing together for years. I also was the first person to leave, at 10:10 when it got dark, because I was dead tired and had been standing in a fixed position for the final 15 minutes like I was rooted in the cement we were playing on. They kept playing until 10:30. Yeah.
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