Traveling this season does provide many challenges, particularly anywhere in North America. Claire & Amy had just barely made it home from Pennsylvania before the weather got severely bad, so Lindsay and I are pleased to have them home. Nevertheless, the heavy snow fall in Vancouver has made for a scenic holiday.
Looking back at 2008 I can say that my laboratory has shifted its focus from generating encoded peptide-like libraries from unnatural amino acids (we haven't given up) to studying the enzymatic mechanism of protein arginine N-methyltransferases (PRMTs). My postdoctoral fellow and I published a paper on human PRMT6 earlier this year, and we have just submitted another manuscript this month detailing the activity of human PRMT2, which has eluded many labs for over a decade. We are writing another manuscript about various techniques to assay PRMT activity, and one of my PhD students is making headway on his project. My laboratory is ramping up in this area, and hopefully research dollars will follow.
The other members of my laboratory have spent the past six months troubleshooting several technical issues to generate mass spectrometry data confirming that we've made encoded peptides. As I scientist I've always gravitated to projects that are straightforward, but this project has taken me outside of my comfort zone. The combination of materials and techniques makes the system inherently complicated. The only way that we are going to succeed with this project is through perseverance and focus. Since funding for this project is running out, 2009 will need to be a productive year to keep it afloat. (I apologize if my comments sound like a business memo, but running a laboratory is like running a small business!) Back to family…
(4) Frankels at the VanDusen Botanical Garden Festival of Lights.
Now that 2009 has fallen into our laps and the world is still ablaze (except in frigid North America), we will continue to hope for peace and prosperity. May President-elect Obama bring the changes promised (and maybe throw in some gay rights). May Stephen Harper's government get ousted after the pirogue of Parliament (I'm feigning interest in Canadian politics here). May the slow march out of the current economic downturn herald a new era of conservation, efficiency, and rational thought (as opposed to wishful thinking). May my laboratory personnel take pride in their work and publish. May we all feel togetherness with our friends and family. May the smiles on my girls' faces broaden.
(5) Lindsay loves puzzles, and (6) Claire loves her new bear.
