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

:)

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 :)

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.

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......