Sparkle Tits

Doctoral molecular bio/microbio student researching Chlamydia, trying to maintain her [in]sanity.

[candysnatch-blog1]

just logged into this account for the first time in forever at my work computer (in a multi-use office) and the first thing was PORN

like gif deepthroating shit

I thought this was my academic blog fml

[tobeagenius]

“And kid, love will be the simplest yet most complicated thing you will ever experience.”

Part of the brain on valentines day series- see more on @tobeagenius

[tobeagenius]

Sensory axons covering the tail of a 3- day-old larval zebrafish. This “Brainbow” image was collected using confocal microscopy.

[unlazygirl]

holy shiz i just opened a snapchat from a friend in sydney (posted yesterday) and the thermostat in her car was reading 50°C!!

I JUST CAN’T EVEN? THAT IS AWFUL. i was mopey and whinging all day on thursday and it was only 37°C.

[candysnatch-blog1]

yea everyone’s ill from heatstroke (seriously everyone’s getting sick) and we (like the whole state) were really close to running out of electricity supply yesterday. It’s pretty hellish

[adventuresinchemistry]

The first rule of grad school is don’t judge other grad students’ poor life choices because none of us know how to cope

[foodtrucker-deactivated20231129]

I manage to turn everything into crap wow

[tvvink-deactivated20140729]

yes that’s called digestion

[tobeagenius]

If you find yourself unable to concentrate when studying, take a break to go for a short walk. It will significantly increase your brain activity, and help you to focus better.

[tobeagenius]

If Jesus was born from a virgin birth, doesn’t that mean he has only an X chromosome. Wouldn’t that make him female?

WAIT. Oh my god…

[tobeagenius]

LSD is one of the most powerful drugs ever created, and for the first time ever, scientists at Imperial College London have successfully image scanned human brains that are under the influence of the psychedelic drug. The study has had profound impacts on our understanding of consciousness. As one researcher explained, “Normally our brain consists of independent networks that perform separate specialised functions, such as vision, movement and hearing - as well as more complex things like attention. However, under LSD the separateness of these networks breaks down and instead you see a more integrated or unified brain. In many ways, the brain in the LSD state resembles the state our brains were in when we were infants: free and unconstrained.”

[moleculeoftheday]

Molecule of the Day: Dopamine

Dopamine (C8H11NO2) is an important neurotransmitter involved in many signalling pathways in the body. At room temperature, it is a white powder that is freely soluble in water.

Dopamine plays a key role in the brain’s reward system and is associated with feelings of euphoria and pleasure. As a result, stimuli that cause greater amounts of dopamine to bind to the corresponding receptors on the post-synaptic membrane induce appetitive behaviour.

For example, drugs such as amphetamine bind to and inhibit dopamine reuptake transporters present on the pre-synaptic membrane, and can also inhibit monoamine oxidase, which normally metabolises dopamine. This causes the concentration of dopamine in the synaptic cleft to increase, and the resultant rise in binding of dopamine receptors leads to feelings of pleasure. However, in combination with the resultant tolerance, this can lead to addiction and dependence on such drugs.

Dopamine is biosynthesised from tyrosine in the human body, via the intermediacy of L-DOPA:

Low dopamine levels have been linked to Parkinson’s disease; this is because the main symptoms arise from the death of dopamine-producing cells in the brain. Consequently, one of the main methods of treating it is the injection of L-DOPA; while this does not recover the cells’ ability to produce dopamine, it can stimulate the remaining cells, and is also metabolised to form dopamine (see above).

[candysnatch-blog1]

As stated above, one of the main methods of treating Parkinson’s is via the use of L-DOPA. This compound is a ‘non-protein amino acid’ (NPAA), or ‘non-coded’ amino acid. That is, it is not naturally coded by our genetic code. It is a by-product of dopamine biosynthesis, yes, but it is not one of the 23 amino acids that it meant to make up the proteins in our body (or be involved in its synthesis).

A hypothesis currently exists where L-DOPA can actually propagate Parkinson’s disease, despite being the prevailing treatment. This hypothesis states that errors in transcription can cause L-DOPA to be misincorporated into proteins in the place of tyrosine. Such misincorportion in turn causes protein misfolding and aggregation (Lewy bodies), a hallmark of Parkinson’s as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.

My boyfriend actually did his entire Honours thesis on this and found evidence of L-DOPA misincorporation within protein aggregates isolated from human neuroblastoma cells. He also found evidence that this misincorporation up-regulates pathways involved in neurodegenerative diseases. He’ll be continuing his PhD focusing on this work.

[candysnatch-blog1]

I have officially enrolled in my PhD. It showed me a start date of 20th March so I went ahead and enrolled, but then it actually used my start date as today so my thesis is due on the 24th of Jan 2021. Asshats

My thesis title is...

A proteome-wide study of protein processing in Staphylococcus aureus

How enthralling