Languages

Hi everyone

I have recently taken up learning German, i thought it would be easier than it actually is. I am currently doing 2hrs of taught study per week, I am supposed to be doing 2 hours of self study also, but I am finding this a challenge at the moment. 

This week had been one of the most tiring weeks ever, I have just had so much to do everyday, I just dont seem to have the time to do much else except work at the moment.

I am very much looking forward to going to see my family this weekend, as I haven't been home for a while will be a nice weekend, besides the fact that I also have work to do.

Laura

Day out at the zoo

Hi everyone

I went to Whipsnade zoo today with my dad, both of us had never been there before. It was a little expensive but worth it, the zoo is large and takes quite a long time to walk around. The guide book and map were rather helpful especially as the zoo does cover a large area and there are different ways you can walk around.

As I study a virus found in elephants, I really wanted to see the new baby elephant that they have, adorable:

I thought the elephant enclosure was excellent, with both inside and outside areas, with plenty of enrichment items. 
I am very impressed at all the enclosures at this zoo, the new giraffe heights recently opened, I thought was a lovely touch, enabling giraffe viewing from a different level. Whipsnade has a variety of animals which I had either not seen before (and I have been to quite a few zoos) or that I have seen very rarely. One specific example is the wolverine, I was very impressed with how this enclosure is set out as it enables viewing of a quite secretive animal, which was a joy as I have only seen one once before.

It was nice to see a pride of African lions, as the zoos I have been to tend to have Asian lions, I enjoyed how close you could see them, there was also a display of lion related items with a member of staff to explain them.

 The cheetah exhibit was also a nice experience, it is found in the passage through Asia section, the exhibit looked nice and clean, and the cheetahs seemed happy and content. The covered viewing area, contains very good information boards, and on the way out of the cheetah area there are some games for children (and adults). The cheetah family sat proud and it was nice to see such a nice family.

There are also a variety of other activities to do, such as there is a steam train, play area for children, shops and a cafe. The discovery centre was also very good, with a variety of repties, fish and amphibians. We ate at the cafe, I had spaghetti and my dad had fish cakes, both of which were very nice. Overall we both enjoyed our day out at the zoo.

Hope you all had a nice day too :)

Find me on twitter: https://twitter.com/Giddypig1987

Now on twitter

Hi everyone

I am now on twitter if you wish to follow me please go to https://twitter.com/Giddypig1987 

I will be tweeting various things on there

:)

Demonstrating and tissue culture

Hi everyone

So in the past couple of weeks:

1. Demonstrating:
I have begun to do some demonstrating on animal handling, I am assisting in an  undergraduate class where they learn about handling and the requirements of rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. I have so far found that I am extremely fond of guinea pigs, I feel that I would like to have one again one day. I used to own a guinea pig his name was Sir Eat a lot. Which i think described his personality perfectly, we got him from a small zoo in Derbyshire when it closed down in 2000. Anyway enough about my previous guinea pig.

I am enjoying demonstrating, its nice to see how the undergrads are so enthusiastic, and wanting to learn and handle the animals. I am also learning a lot about these animals, especially about chinchillas, I had never handled a chinchilla before until I was trained for this work. I think its important not to talk down to the students, which I thought I would have a problem with but in the end it has been ok. Many of them have pets at home and they already understand a bit about the animals.

So from doing this kind of demonstrating I have so far learned, the requirements for keeping rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas, how to sex them and common diseases/illnesses and problems.

2. Tissue culture
Ok, so I have started to do some tissue culture which has been eventful. I have managed not to infect any of them yet and none of them have had to be thrown away yet.... watch this space.

3. Life outside uni
Since i last posted, I have moved house to be closer to uni which has been been great and very helpful as now I dont have a long commute as I did before. 

Its been a while...

Hi everyone

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, my life has been a bit hectic over the past few months. So I have now started more intensely on my laboratory work and have started to get some results which is great. I also have my first year viva coming up this week, which I am very nervous about but I am sure I will be fine. For those of you that do not know what a viva is, basically an assessor sits down and asks you questions about your work, to make sure you understand what you are doing and what you intend to do etc...

I have handed in around 10,000 words of my literature review  my previous post stated I had completed 4000 well the first chunk is now handed in as part of my first year assessment. 

I did mention in my previous post I would start to discuss the virus I am studying, the virus is called Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus it is found in elephants, and can be fatal, I am working with a number of Asian elephants in various locations. 

If you would like more detailed information about the virus please see:
http://eehvinfo.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_endotheliotropic_herpesvirus
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/SCBI/AnimalCare/EEHV/default.cfm

I am thoroughly enjoying my lab work, it great being able to feel like a real scientist and really contributing to something. 

I have found a number of interesting articles etc.. recently:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23545291 - Ok this one is just adorable
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24171876
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24234927

Recently I have visited Dudley Zoo, UK (NOT as part of my research just as a day out), I thought this zoo was good value for money as it includes going around Dudley castle as well. I managed to get some nice photos, especially of the flamingos which were for a friend. The Zoo was pretty easy to access it is right in the centre of Dudley. I realise I am pretty much writing a review for the zoo, but I have been to a number of Zoos within the UK and thought I would write a summary when I have been, and maybe some people will find it useful.

Have a nice day :)

The last few weeks...

I know I have not posted for a while, I have been extremely busy and I have also been on holiday to Norway.

I had an amazing time visiting stavanger, olden, eidfjord and krisiansand . I climbed upto the briksfdal glacier which was an amazing experience.

Work wise I have now completed 4000 words of my literature review which I am very very pleased at, I have around 25 sections to complete and I have written about 10. I will do a separate post on literature review searching as I feel I have knowledge I could pass on.

I am currently working on some samples from a zoo, so I will be spending more and more time in the lab in the upcoming weeks.

Yesterday (13th July) I decided to have a baking day, I made Victoria sponge and rainbow cakes for the first time, I am extremely happy with the results. I am unable to taste the Victoria sponge as I am on a diet and it's full fat, I will be giving this to my family.

I have been having trouble sleeping for the past few weeks so if anyone has any tips please let me know.

Weekly update

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, I have finally started writing my literature review and now have 1000 words write, probably not very good words, but at least something is written down. I have had a couple of meetings including with a UK zoo, which was very interesting.

The plan for my project is going to be written so I have know which direction my research is going to go in, I know that I am studying various aspects of Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus in Asian elephants. I feel this is an interesting area and I feel that i will be ale to contribute to the research in this field.

I think elephants are amazing creatures, from researching information for my literature review, I have found they are much more complex than what I thought. Rather than just being big and grey, they have a very complex social structure which has taken up a lot of my time allocated to research this week.

Outreach

Yesterday was the science outreach event, my colleague and I designed a stall based on teaching children anatomy. We showed them a full body model which was like a jigsaw where they put the organs back inside the body. We also had a larger model of the heart, which showed the children what the inside of your heart looks like, the final thing we did was to provide a quiz sheet which went down particularly well, usually with children having to help their parents. Very young children also very much enjoyed the mirror that we provided.

I have not previously had experience with children so this was a new experience for me. I really enjoyed taking part in the event, it enabled me to learn how to communicate to children and how to make activities fun and interesting. I would like to take part in the event again next year but I would like to explore another topic.

I am going to do some reading today and hopefully make a start on my literature at some point this week; I am finding it hard to get pen to paper and actually start at the moment. I am also re vamping my blog today adding photos which I have now found :) so please take a look at the My Life page as it now hos some photographs.

End of week two......

So week two of my PhD is now over, I have delved into the world of Bio Informatics, and I now know that I need to work on researching this area as there is a clear gap in my knowledge. I have never done any Bio Informatics before so I am looking forward to learning more.

I have been given my marks for the presentation I did a couple of weeks ago, I got a mark of 80 which I am extremely proud of. 

Tomorrow myself and a colleague are hosting a stall at a science in the community event in Nottingham, where we are going to be helping children learn about anatomy with fun and interactive activities.

Its already been a long week.......

Its felt like a very long week so far, trying to get my head around bio informatics. This is an area I am pretty unfamiliar with, I have spent hours researching sequence alignment which I think I now understand the basic principles of.

I feel like I have not achieved very much this week, on my week to do list I have only managed to tick off two things, I am feeling a little disheartened this week. Creating a to do list was possibly not as good of an idea as I thought, especially when you can barely tick anything off. I feel that I do know enough and I'm worried that I will look stupid.

I have a busy weekend as well, Science in the community outreach program on Saturday, where my colleague and I have created a stall on anatomy. Where we are going to enlighten children and give them some information on the human body. We are also providing chocolate and sweets.

Literature review....part 1

So I am doing a literature review as part of my PhD, which is proving to be tougher than I thought, especially in such a niche area of science.

I have made a plan of what I want to put in my review, just a plan of content headings for the moment... which is a start. I have also started a collection of notes which I have made from reading books and journals.

My head is full of information now to start writing it down......

Brain frazzle....

So its my first week starting my PhD project.... I have read for around 12 hours a day at University and at home filling my head with virology knowledge.

I attended at interesting seminar yesterday evening on the chemistry of cocktails where I tried an interesting green cocktail which was rather strange. I am also attending another interesting seminar today on herpes in fish, I honestly never knew fish could have herpes.... you learn something new everyday.

This weekend I am intending to relax a bit as I now think my brain is starting to frazzle with the amount of information I have crammed in this week.

Day One....

Today is the first day starting the PhD project I chose, I have been recommended to read many books, which is going to take up much of my time in the foreseeable future.

I have now joined two societies and will hopefully be going to conferences very soon. So today I had an induction this morning, then I met with my supervisor to discuss the upcoming few days and what I need to be doing. Then we had a welcome lunch which was nice... and in this beautiful sunshine which we very rarely have made a nice change. I tried to be healthy and had a salmon and cream cheese sandwich yes it did come with chips but only a handful.

New start.....

My spring school training finished today, and I start my PhD on Tuesday studying elephant viruses. Spring school was good I learnt presentation skills, how to update my/create and academic CV, and what I can expect in the future. 

Im looking forward to hard work and working in the laboratory nearly everyday, this will be my next 3.5 years of research and reading. 

I am hoping to start writing small bits of information on elephant virus awareness in the up coming months.

Race for Life 5K

Hiya everyone

Im participating in Race for Life 5k in June, raising money for cancer research. If anyone would like to sponsor me please go to my just giving page

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/laurabennett6


Thank you :)

Presentation complete.......

Well I managed to do my presentation, it was infront of around 15 people which was a nice number.

I was sat in my seat before hand and my heart was racing I tried some breathing techniques to try and get my heart rate under control but that didnt seem to work.

So then it got to my turn, I stood at the podium and loaded my presentation onto the screen. By this point my breathing had got worse and my hands were shaking. My mouth was so dry I found it hard to talk at some parts. I felt that I spoke slowly but I'm not sure if I actually came across that way. I managed to actually say the words I had previously had difficulty with which was good.

When my presentation was over I felt a Hugh sigh of relief, I think I need to do it many more times before becoming confident at speaking in public. Even tho I find talking to people easy I found presenting my work very hard.

I can now move on to officially starting my full PhD project next week

Sunday.....

Hello everyone....

I have been given a yogurt maker, with enough packets to make 35kg of yogurt, so i have got my first lot in the yogurt maker, excited to see how it comes out. I do think I will be eating yogurt until it comes out of my ears for the next to months.

I have a very busy week this week as I have a lot of lectures, talks and I have to give a 15 minute presentation on Tuesday which I am very very nervous about.

Happy times

Good morning!!!


Found out last night that I have been assigned the phd project that I wanted woo hoo. So it's official I now study elephant viruses :)

Book recommendations

Hello everyone!!!

So I had a presentation run through yesterday, and I did speak at the correct speed, but did spend most of my time talking to my presentation slides and not engaging my audience. When I originally ran through it at home it was 12 minutes long, and yesterday it was 21 minutes long, when I'm only supposed to give a 15 min presentation this is not good. So now I need to try and cut some out or speak faster lol

If anyone has any ideas let me know :)

I am trying to get through as many books as possible to bulk out my book review section. If anyone has any books they recommend please also let me know :) I like both fiction and non fiction :)

Submission / advice

Good morning world!!!!


I have submitted which mini project I want as my PhD! I will find out officially on 29th which one I will be doing. When I find out I will be able to give you some information and what I am studying, and I will be writing some fairly long posts describing things I am interested in. 

As I am interested in disease I am thinking that each week I may post about a different disease to enlighten people especially those who are new to these subjects.

This morning I would like to give anyone out there who is thinking of doing a phd some tips from my experience so far.

1. Keep your CV up to date as much as you can
2. Make a list of any conferences/meetings that you go to
3. Research the university you are applying for
4. Look at the research areas of the supervisors you are applying to
5. Look at other places you can possibly get funding
6. Visit the university and have a look around the department if you can

I hope the above advice is helpful to people.

Presentation skills

Presentations!!!

So I have quite an important presentation coming up, I am writing this post to give some information that I have learnt recently from practicing my presentation. I somebody somewhere finds it useful.

I am presenting my findings from my final mini project, I enjoy talking but I find presenting in front of groups difficult.  I am using power point for my presentation slides.

1. If you are using power point or another form of software to create slides, do not have too much text as it is difficult for people to read large chunks of text and listen to you talk at  the same times.
2. Hold you head up and don't talk to the floor,make sure you face your audience.
3. Enjoy what you are doing and show enthusiasm for the subject you are talking about. 
4. Being smartly dressed can give a good impression, especially if it is a first impression.
5. Speak slowly and clearly, try not to mumble.
6. Stand up straight not hunching your shoulders.

I know these tips may sound simple, but doing them in a real life situation can be tough. I am giving my presentation soon and I will be following the above.

Please find my updated book reviews under the book reviews page.

First step in my PhD journey

I am part of the Doctoral Training Partnership at the University of Nottingham. From October 2012 until April 2013 I have sampled three mini PhD projects in various areas, this has enabled me to have a greater idea of what I would like to do. I enjoyed doing the three projects and I have learnt so many scientific techniques.

Now is a big time for me as this week I have to choose one of the projects to take as my PhD which i will start soon.... exciting times......

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog, this is my first post.

 I am a first year PhD student and aim to keep this blog updated with my progress and life as a PhD student. This also may be of interest to people who are interested in virology and/or people who are thinking of or are doing a PhD currently.

I am also aiming to review the books I read, I mainly read non fiction and I am interested in the following areas:
Viruses
Malaria and other diseases
Evolution
and many other scientific areas

Please see the my life link page on the right to find out more about me.