My baby is on world stage

I apologized for the long break. I have been having reverse culture shock even till now, coming close to five months.

Anyway, I received an email informing me of this good news. After five years of hard work, my research project is patented on world stage.

http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/WO2011046996

Need more songs like this

Been listening to this song for its meaningful lyrics.

Fireworks by Katy Perry

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,

drifting through the wind

wanting to start again?

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin

like a house of cards,

one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?

6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you

'Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine

Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework

Come on, show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework

Come on, let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

You don't have to feel like a waste of space

You're original, cannot be replaced

If you only knew what the future holds

After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow

And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine

Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework

Come on, show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework

Come on, let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

It's always been inside of you, you, you

And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough

'Cause baby you're a firework

Come on, show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework

Come on, let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

An Apple convert

Between the period of Dec 8 and Dec 27, I could only access internet intermittently at public library and on friends' laptops. I felt that I lived in the Dark Ages since I was used to checking my emails, reading news, and chatting with friends and family online daily. I was also waiting to see if SingTel would give good freebies for new subscription during the Christmas season.

Atlas, I could not stand the isolation and decided to buy an iPhone 4 as my third mobile phone in the course of my life. My first and second were Nokia 8250 and Nokia 6010, respectively, which lasted five years each. It was a huge upgrade and I am loving the iPhone 4 because of its many useful features. I had thought of buying a compact camera to carry around daily, instead of my heavy Nikon D70s, so that I can shoot life's special moments when they present themselves. With the built-in camera, I can shoot and share pictures instantly. I also bought a sports armband so that I can listen to music while working out at gym or running. The iPhone also serves as my navigational tool. While traveling, I read online news, check my emails on the go, or play games.

After buying the iPhone 4, I also bought a 21.5" iMac on the same day of Dec 27. I was inclined to buy a MacBook Pro for its portability and to process my travel pictures. However, after some brainwashing by Thaddeus, I decided to go for iMac since at the same price, the iMac had much higher specifications than a MacBook. The wireless keyboard and mouse are a plus feature for aesthetics and the fast start-up and shut down win hands down over Windows. Most importantly, Mac system has few malicious virus programs compared to Windows.

Reverse Culture Shock

Currently, I feel like a foreigner in my homeland, Singapore, after being away for five years. The first thing I noticed was the humidity and heat when I emerged from Changi International Airport. Like a wet blanket, the humidity engulfed me, making me feel sticky and sweaty. Showering twice is a must since I smelled bad in this sweltering weather. My skin started to have boils and outbreak, not a pleasant sight and experience. In the dead heat of the day, I just felt my energy draining away from me like big cats at Savannah sleeping under shades in the afternoon to lower their body temperature. Also, within 47 days, I caught the flu bug twice. My immune system is definitely undergoing major stimulation from a new set of pathogens and allergens.

Majority of Singapore local food is oily and spicy but cheaper compared to US. Most Singaporeans eat out since food is cheap and they have no time to cook. My gastrointestinal tract could not take the oily and spicy food since I had been cooking my own food in the USA for five years, consisting of rice or noodle, meat (beef, pork, and chicken), lots of vegetables and fruits. Beef is hardly sold in local markets, or if sold, will be expensive. I laughed when someone visiting home from Baltimore mentioned that she had to order double portion of local food. Yes, US food portion is twice that of Singapore. I wonder if the smaller portion is causing my acid reflux as my stomach is producing the same volume of acid but digesting half the food portion. The acid reflux, which is causing me to have sore throat constantly, is especially bad when I lay supine at night. Nowadays, my sleeping position is raised to prevent the stomach acid from re-entering my esophagus.

The vast expanse of USA is starkly contrasted against the crowded and tight spaces in Singapore. I am still getting used to sharing a room. People are everywhere, especially during peak rush hours when the trains and buses were packed like sardines. Driving in Singapore is right-handed, opposite to driving in USA. As a precaution, I am looking both ways even on a one-way street as I am confuse with the traffic direction. Drivers tailgate a lot here, or turn suddenly into your lane; I will not be driving for a long time but will still convert my US driving license. I had booked for the Basic Theory Test on 3 Jan and the earliest test date was 24 Feb. Even the date format is different, US writes mm/dd/yy whereas Singapore writes dd/mm/yy.

Nowadays, English is often spoken at public places. Even cleaners and store vendors communicated with me in English as opposed to five years ago when dialects and Chinese were the norm.

The pace of life is very much faster here and people are dead tired when they reached home around 8pm. People also walked faster and seemed more impatient and rude. They are always hurrying to somewhere.

Only those who had stayed away from home could empathize with me on the culture shock that I am experiencing. Even my family don't understand but I hope to re-adjust back eventually.

A brand new year with brand new experiences

After a long break from writing, I am starting to pen down my thoughts again on Day 11 of 2011. Wishing all a delayed well wishes!

I have a series of postings which I will write up in depth. The first post coming up is reverse culture shock.

Crazy last weeks

After my return from a 18-day Latin America trip on Nov 14, time had been passing me by quickly.

I had to play catch up with work, meeting up with friends to bid farewell, and tying loose ends before returning home on Dec 6.

On top of that, my junior just arrived, so I drove him and my new housemate around to buy stuffs.

Finally on Nov 24, I had the chance to sit down at lab without going anywhere or doing anything! A good gift for myself.

Reflecting on my past 5-year professional experience

In my five years at Johns Hopkins University, I had risen from a trainee, a post-doctoral fellow, an assistant lab-manager, and finally to a faculty position as a Research Associate with The Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences.

However, before I switched to a wet-laboratory from a bioinformatics background, I had set my goal of publishing at least two first authors during my stint here.

Writing has been a difficult process for me. It takes a lot of mental discipline and emotional detachment to churn out a good article.

My first research paper took slightly more than a year to get it published. My second review paper had a shorter period of seven months, from mentally accepting the invitation to write for the journal to publishing it. I am happy on fulfilling my goal.

All said and done, I am grateful to my boss, Professor Thomas August for believing in my conviction and fellow colleagues in getting the papers published!

Highly conserved influenza A sequences as T cell epitopes-based vaccine targets to address the viral variability

Paul ThiamJoo Tan, Asif M. Khan and J. Thomas August

Volume 7, Issue 4
April 2011

Vaccines are the only proven effective method for prevention of human infectious diseases. Almost all traditional vaccines require activating immunological memory B cells to secrete neutralizing antibodies against invading pathogens. The complication with influenza viruses is the high viral mutation rate that results in immune escape through modification of the B cell epitopes. Studies of T cell immunity to influenza infection provide an alternative vaccine strategy based on highly conserved T cell epitopes. In this review, we discuss the importance of T cell-mediated immunity in influenza infection and the need for a targeted vaccine approach focused on highly conserved T cell epitopes to mitigate immune escape. We propose 15 highly conserved pan-influenza sequences as possible T cell epitopes-based vaccine targets for broad protection and lasting immunity against variant influenza strains.