Science?

Today while I was looking up my old boss I found a couple of papers that came out of the research I helped with:

Strain-Ecotype Specificity in Sinorhizobium meliloti-Medicago truncatula Symbiosis Is Correlated to Succinoglycan Oligosaccharide Structure

Flavonoid-Inducible Modifications to Rhamnan O Antigens Are Necessary for Rhizobium sp. Strain NGR234-Legume Symbioses

The research dealt with Nitrogen fixing soil bacteria and their symbioses with certain legumes. Not specifically a topic I was interested in, but it was a great job with a great atmosphere. I credit that mostly to my graduate supervisor, who put alot of trust in me and gave me the responsibility of doing alot of actual experimental lab work while I was there. There's no evidence that any results I actually acquired ended up in the papers since science like this involves so many trials, but just in scanning the papers I can see results from experimental processes that I performed many times.

I would've liked to have my name on some of this research, but the whole process of submission and review took place after my supervisor had graduated and I had subsequently left the lab. Being a lowly undergrad, my name wasn't all too important to that process. I don't feel too bad because there was a graduating senior in Biology working specifically on the genetic portion of the first paper and her name doesn't appear anywhere either.


For those that may be wondering, I won't be graduating this year. I may need upwards of another whole year (I've had my troubles, hah). At that point I'll be looking for grad schooling options, hopefully for a Ph.D. My interests would lead me towards Bioinformatics or some sort of Biomedical program or, if I'm feeling cool, nanotechnology. My strongest interest, or at least the one in which I feel I have the most knowledge, is Ecology and Evolution, but I don't know how well that would translate into a career.


Also, my new music bin has run dry and I am in desperate search for more music.