New School Year for Etta and Me!

Since no one has posted anything in a year, I thought it was the perfect time to get things started again!

This new semester will prove to be a hard one for Etta and me. Etta is studying for the MCAT (the entrance exam for medical school) on top of all of her classes. She is taking Complex Analysis and Intro to Numerical Methods (those are both MATH classes she is taking with her major), along with the second year of Russian, Organic Chemistry Labratory, and a Mathematics seminar class. I am starting my junior year and taking Introduction to Microbiology (a 100 level class that I have procrastinated until now), the first semester of Organic Chemistry, Immunology, and Book of Mormon. We both have pretty busy schedules. It has only been the first week of classes and Etta hasn't stopped doing homework and I am working on a research project due later this month. Needless to say we are busy.

Some of the best news we have is that we both were hired into a lab to do mentored research. We are working for Dr. Burnett (http://mmbio.byu.edu/FacultyStaff/tabid/1643/ctl/FacultyProfile/mid/2308/FacultyID/240/Default.aspx)

. She is heading a research team in trying to figure out how to more efficiently make transgenic mice. Etta is responsible for surgery done to mice, and I am responsible for doing the DNA work after she is done. I won't bore you with specifics, if you want them feel free to ask. But this is a great opportunity for Etta and I. Etta would like to do research for medical school (the more extra circular activities you do the better), and I need to do it before I finish my undergraduate degree. I took a class from Dr. Burnett last semester and was really interested in the work she was doing with transgenic mice. Lucky for us, she sent out an email this summer offering 4 positions in her lab. Out of 30 people that were interviewed, Etta and I were two out of three that actually got into her lab. It isnt' a paid position, but we do get school credit for it. Mentored research credit actually goes toward my degree.

So with the Lab and school we are busy people! But life couldn't be better!