Catch-Up

Welp, I ran out of work very early today, so that makes this your very lucky day! I'm looking for something to fill the minutes until I've reached the point at which I can be comfortable bugging out early for the weekend, so here I am. I thought I'd try to recap the month of July, since that seems to have been my giant blog FAIL for the summer.

For one thing, my dearest college friends came down to Baltimore for a weekend visit. It was SO so wonderful to see them again. My friends Janelle and Karsten both live in the Baltimore area as well, so the others came down from Connecticut (Zach), NJ (Dave) and Philly (Mike & his gf Amy), and up from NC (Matt) to meet up and enjoy some college-style shenanigans with us. We didn't get into much - mostly just hanging out at our apartments and drinking beer and catching up and BSing like the good ol' days. DAMN do I miss college. But apparently I was having some sort of out-of-body experience that weekend, or had temporarily lost my friggin' mind, because I didn't take a SINGLE PHOTO. Which is SO unlike me. So there's another big fat FAIL for ya.

We also went to Ocean City with Ben's sister Amberly (+ her hubby and 4 kids) and my MIL. We only stayed for half the week (her in-laws came for the second half), but we really enjoyed our time there. We hadn't been on vacation with the boys at all, and the last time we all went to the beach together Lace was like, 3 years old or something. She's now 11, so it's been a while. We had a great time chasing them around the beach, playing in the water, building sandcastles, and relaxing (a little) on the beach. I read Breaking Dawn (for the 2nd time), because that's what I do these days. We played mini golf too, which Leo was actually frighteningly good at for a 5-year-old! He got a hole-in-one all on his own! Won a free game out of it, too. And the baby was just a doll the entire time - she was about 7 months old for this trip but she never made a peep unless it was a happy sound or she was hungry or tired. She just hung out, took in the scenery and looked cute. Amazing little child, that one! I have about a zillion photos, so I'll post some when I get home.

The last weekend in July, we went to North Carolina to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins, as I mentioned before. We really only get to see them about once a year, and they only recently moved to NC (before that they lived in FL, so we REALLY never saw them), so we like to take advantage of our new-found (relative) proximity. Plus my aunt had a baby last year, and they change so much in a year that waiting two years would just be unmanageable for me. My cousin Nikki (13 yrs) and I have been keeping in touch by e-mail these days and chatting about Twilight a lot, so we went to see Eclipse together (though we've both already seen it) while we were there. And apart from that we basically just spent a lot of time playing with the baby (Carson, 1 yr), chatting about family drama and catching up. We all get along so well, so it was a lovely visit despite being far too short. I actually have those photos on my computer here at work, so I won't keep you waiting on those...

Such a cutie, and he has the most hysterical set of facial expressions!

Nicole, Carson and I... we're it as far as cousins are concerned in this family

Twihards at the theater... note the obvious height difference! Girl's ridiculous. Can you say 'modeling career'?

Having fun with cousin Ben before we left

Somehow I managed to take NO photos with my aunt and uncle in them. Way to go.

So that's about it for July excitement. Although we did manage to eat crabs twice, which you could probably throw into the "excitement" category as well. Once at my step-dad's family crab feast, which was a blast, and once with Mike & Sarah, also super-fun. Although we had to pay for them with Mike & Sarah, which did put a damper on the fun ;] Getting the bill at a restaurant on the water in Canton after a dozen large crabs and 5 beers is rough. That's between the two of us, by the way. I did not drink 5 beers and drive home.

This weekend we're doing a little dog/housesitting for my mom, celebrating Lacy's 11th birthday (which was yesterday), and going to see Inception with my dad on Sunday. Should be a good time! Unfortunately, the reality of school looming ahead is beginning to darken my summer skies over here... the clouds are creeping in... but I'm trying to continue avoiding the mental subject. There's no sense in wasting my last 11 days of sumer dreading the 17th. So, until next time... Too-da-looooooo!

Redesign

Well, the stupid stupid website that my blog background came from APPARENTLY deleted it. Which means that my hand has been forced... I will have to redesign. Maybe I'll have something up and running tonight. I don't think I like the title anymore either. Oh dear... here we go.

I guess I understand if you hate Blogger Jenna.

...because she kinda sucks these days! Sorry... summer is ridiculous. I won't even try to recap the last month for you. Suffice it to say, we've been frickin' busy, dude. And I thought summer would be a GREAT time to start blogging more... HA!

Here we are, less than two weeks of (my) summer left. I'm frantically trying to tie up loose ends and get some kind of closure on my summer project here at work, and trying desperately to remain in a blissful state of denial with regard to the impending school year that so conspicuously looms ahead, threatening to rain (and drop golf-ball-sized hail) on my summer parade. I suppose blogging about that isn't the best way to keep up my ignorance-is-bliss illusion, so let's move right along shall we?!

I didn't get quite as far as I would've liked to in my CF project, but I came pretty close given the obstacles that I was stumbling over like an idiot for the first month I was working. Without going into scientific-jargon-laden detail, suffice it to say that some dumb crap wasn't working for a while, and I was banging my head against the wall over it for quite some time. I blame the manufacturer of the kit I was using. It was defective. ANYWHO, it looks like I will finish all of the mutant CF protein constructs that I set out to make, and we've even started to test a few of them in real human cells to see how they behave. I wanted to be here to see more of that testing (since that's kinda the point of making these constructs, which is what I've been laboring over all summer), but at least I'm getting a sneak peek at the preliminary data. And I know that I've created something useful that will be used to (attempt to) answer some burning questions in the field. I can be happy with that :] I have to give a final presentation this Friday, and then next Friday will be my last day.

In other news, I'd like to announce that my dear hubzy finally presented me with my first anniversary gift yesterday. For anyone who's counting, yes, it was a little late-ish. It was something that he made, and he was having trouble figuring out the logistics of how to put it together, and then we were particularly poor for a while and I kept telling him we didn't have any money, so he couldn't buy anything anyway. Anyway, it was all set up on the dining room table when I got home from work yesterday. It immediately brought me to tears.

There's a gold plaque inside engraved with "Happy First Anniversary", a wedding photo of us, the promise rings that we gave each other when we were 16 and 18, and the original copies of our vows (the ones that we read from during our wedding ceremony). He also got me this (with our names on it, of course). That part I MAY have picked out on my own a while ago and shown to him as a gift idea ;] So anyway, I was pretty darn thrilled with that. So thrilled, in fact, that my cheap ass suggested that we splurge on PF Changs for dinner! And so we did, because Ben never turns down a meal out... ever. Nor do I. We actually did pretty well - our bill was only $36 - because we didn't get any alcoholic beverages or appetizers. Which leads me to my next update...

We're back on the wagon. The eat-less-and-exercise-more wagon, that is. Which is why we passed on the sugary drinks and fried appetizers. We may or may not have eaten a bunch of double stuf oreos later on while watching a movie... but hey, we just started, and we really are trying ;] We both prefer counting calories (as opposed to a more structured "diet"), so I dusted off the ol' calorie counter and am now in full-blown starvation mode. Oh well. My weight is quite frankly out of control, I don't mind telling you, and I refuse to have my "pre-baby weight" be something I can't even live with. Because once that happens (again, not that it's any time soon, but as a woman I must consider these things), it's hard enough to reach the "pre-baby" goal, much less lose EXTRA. And I'm also signed up for a 5K in October, so I really have no choice but to get back into my running shoes and train. Hopefully between the calorie restricting and the 5K training, I'll be off to a good start. I need new running shoes, however. It's always something. Oye.

Alright, I think that's enough updating for one day. Perhaps I'll try again tomorrow... Lord knows I have plenty to catch up on.

Busy, Busy!

It's definitely been a busy June. I've completely neglected "my writing" and have spent a lot more of my spare time editing photos than anything else! Hence the replacement of informational posts with photo posts ;] I really love photography, I just don't have the camera for it. I do what I can with my point-and-shoot and free editing software, but I'm never happy with the result. I plan on upgrading to a digital SLR within the year, hopefully with the next tax return, and around Christmas I plan to beg for some good editing software (Lightroom, perhaps... I hear good things). If for no other reason, I need better equipment because I WILL have incredible photos of my babies. And lots of 'em. Not that there are any babies on the immediate horizon, but Lord-willing there will be eventually so I'm gonna need it at some point! I'm not sure why I'm going on about photography and cameras...

But speaking of photos, I took over 350 over the weekend at Mike and Sarah's GORGEOUS wedding! You'll be seeing a (small) smattering of those soon, when I've finished editing and organizing. I have the rehearsal dinner, wedding set-up, day-of preparations with the bride, the bride and groom's first meeting (they did all their photos beforehand), and of course the ceremony and reception. This wedding is gonna blow you away, people. I count Sarah among my very good friends now, but I only wish I had known her sooner... I TOTALLY would've paid her to design my wedding. She left no detail to chance, and it was breathtaking. And she didn't spend an outrageous amount of money either, though it looks like she did! She's SO crafty and creative... it's unreal. It was so special to be a part of it all too, since I was once just "the wife of the best man" but have become much closer with Sarah now. I got to help with all the set-up and be with her on her wedding day and live vicariously through her :] It was great! I did TONS of running on the wedding day just helping out with whatever needed to be done, finding people, pinning boutonnieres, averting minor disasters, etc. It was so much fun :] And over the course of the weekend we made so many new friends through the family and bridal party and close friends who were involved - we all had a BLAST together (which will be evidenced by the after-party photos... I have those too)! All in all, it was an amazing experience and a beautiful wedding, and now Mike and Sarah are out in the middle of the ocean enjoying some peace and quiet on their honeymoon cruise to Bermuda. Ahhhhhhh...

Oh, and wait til you see the bride herself... STUNNING.

Moving right along... work. Ohhhh science. It's a love-hate thing ;] Right now things aren't working and I'm doing a lot of troubleshooting, which is a little irritating. I only have 10 weeks here and I'd really like to accomplish something! It'll work out, I know, these things always happen. Nothing ever goes to plan in laboratory research ;] It's just frustrating when I have such a limited amount of time. But on the bright side, another summer student just joined our little "team" so I've had a lot of help and some extra hands to speed up the process (even if the "process" is failing!) - she just graduated high school and this is her first research job, so I'm doing a lot of teaching which is actually kinda fun in and of itself.

Ben and I were supposed to be heading to Myrtle Beach with his mom and stepdad this summer, using their timeshare for a week's vacation. Unfortunately it seems as though people with timeshares in Myrtle Beach just aren't trading in their weeks this year, because we've been waiting for 6 months and still haven't gotten a place. So, as it turns out, Ben's sister Amberly and her hubby are taking their 4 little ones to Ocean City for a week and were looking for family to join them for half the week (the in-laws already called dibs on the other half, and there's only so much space), so we've decided to abandon the timeshare and vacation in OC for a few days with the kids. We haven't been to the beach with the kids since it was just Lacy, so Ben is really excited to be able to play in the sand with the boys :] While I, myself, am excited to chill in the shade with sweet Caraline! AFTER I've baked sufficiently, that is. BOY do I need some color! Ben's mom will be coming with us too, and who doesn't love spending time with my MIL? Should be a fantastic time. Only thing missing will be Em, Josh and baby Carsen :'( Maybe next summer ;] Ohhhh next summer... like I'll be vacationing. HA! Studying for boards, taking boards, then right into clinical rotations. Cheers. So this is my last summer to enjoy myself a little, and I can't think of a better way to spend our vacation than with family. Plus we'll have the rest of that week to chill at home and enjoy each other's company for a few days, which will be wonderful!

The only other thing I wanted to say, which may be quite obvious by now but I suppose I'll come out and say it anyway, is that I think the Pill series is gonna be on hold for a bit. I was finding myself spending way too much time researching and writing and tweaking while my husband sat on the couch watching TV in the evenings, and was beginning to feel rather convicted about my priorities. Writing is fun, especially on subjects that I really care about, but spending time with my hubby after a long hard day has to come first. One day when we're much busier than we are now, I'll look back and miss the days that we had so much free time to spend together. So for now, I plan to make the most of them :] Of course I'll still be blogging, and hopefully still including some topic posts, probably just not as frequently.

Welp, I suppose that's it for now. Have a lovely evening, and thanks for stopping by!

June is Wedding Season! Round Two: Shannon & Kevin

Back-to-back photo posts... could it be?! Yep. Blame Invitrogen for taking too long to ship my primers, but I've got some time on my hands today! This past weekend, we enjoyed a FANTASTIC rehearsal dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Bethesda for Kevin & Shannon's College Park wedding. I forgot my camera though :'( We had never been to a Ruth's Chris before, but had high expectations, and it did NOT disappoint! Ben got a filet (about two inches thick... it was unreal) and I got crab cakes so we could share a little surf and turf. It was outrageously good. And the "chocolate sin cake" for dessert... it was basically a slab of fudge, I'm not kidding. There was nothing "cake-like" about it, except maybe the wedge shape. Yummmm. And I love Bethesda. It's such an upscale town with a city feel, minus the grungy parts, and with all the eclectic restaurants and shopping you'd expect to find in a big city. I worked down there for two summers and then a full year (at NIH) and didn't realize how much I miss it! When I make the big bucks, we might need to live there. (HA.)

Anyway, the wedding day came and we spent a lazy morning sipping coffee (well, I sipped coffee... hubby slurped cereal). I had to run out for some last-minute supplies for the satin ribbon sash I wanted to make for my wedding outfit, and then went through several iterations of the assembly til it looked right. You'll see in the photos... I wanted to match hubby's tux somewhat (since he was in the wedding and I wasn't), so I made a lil something to add to my basic black tube dress. I also made a failed attempt at wearing spanx underneath said tube dress (I'm really not in tube dress shape... I believe they call that the newlywed 15)... it just didn't look any better with the spanx than without, and who's suffering through THAT all evening for nothing?!

We left with plenty of time (after quelling hubby's near freak-out while trying to get into his monkey suit) to head down to College Park for photos before the wedding. On the way down 95, we came upon a sign informing us of an accident ahead that had ALL LANES blocked. Oh dear. Luckily, in my year of commuting to Bethesda, I found a variety of ways to avoid Baltimore-DC metro area traffic so I was able to snake around various back roads each time we hit a back-up. We made it JUST in time for photos, but as it turned out we were one of the first to arrive - everyone else was sitting on 95. Needless to say, the wedding day got off to a rather chaotic start. But they managed to get everyone there and dressed with photos taken in time to start the wedding on-schedule.

All of my ceremony photos are horrendous (dark, blurry, etc... essentially useless), but it was a beautiful, traditional ceremony in the chapel where both of their parents were wed. For those of you just now tuning in, Kevin is one of hubby's childhood friends, and Kevin's sister Sam is a dear friend of mine - they were the matchmakers for our own love story, and we have all been attendants in eachothers' weddings. Without further adue...

The beautiful Memorial Chapel at the University of Maryland, College Park

Inside the chapel

Shannon's gorgeous bouquet - there were gerbera daisies everywhere!

Magazine cover model? You be the judge.

Matchy-matchy! Hubs and I at the cocktail hour outside the Alumni Center where the reception was held

Awesome stained glass window inside the ballroom... SO COOL!

Aaaaand let the party commence! This is the typical scene at every wedding that Ben and his brother-in-law Josh attend together.

Ben & Sam gettin' crazy on the floor! I did in fact dance with my own husband, but I was the photographer so of course I have no documentation of this.

Carsen was the life of the party, as you can see ;] She snuggled in her Moby wrap all night long and was a perfect angel for her mommy!

Glowing bride Shannon and her goofy new hubby, Kevin, after cutting their cake. Typical Knapstein pose.

Ben stealing a slow dance with the mother-of-the-groom (who also happens to be our adopted mom!), Cookie Knapstein

The groom workin' the floor, as usual

Awwww :] Josh taking a breather from the dance revolution for a family moment.

My lovely mother-in-law Darlene and her hubby, Rich enjoying a slow dance

So, in typical Bonner-Beck-Knapstein fashion, we enjoyed an AMAZING party with great music, much wacky dancing, a few refreshments and tons of belly-ache-inducing laughter. When you get this group of people together, such results are guaranteed.

6/4-6/5-6/6: Also Known as "The Weekend Before Last"

Are you ready for a MONSTER photo post?! I have about a zillion photos to post today, and rather than break them into several separate posts I decided to organize them by weekend. So here goes.

The weekend before last began with a looooooooong trip to Philadelphia. I'm pretty sure our GPS derives some sort of sick pleasure in guiding us through the most traffic-light-ridden routes to every destination we plug in. Throw a little Friday rush hour into the mix, and you've got yourself a recipe for one irritated hubby. We arrived at about 3:58 for the 4pm wedding at a quaint Catholic Chapel in Manayunk. We would've arrived at about 3:53, but about 30 feet from the parking lot some dude in an X-terra was parked in the one-way street, leisurely unloading his groceries into his rowhome. We encountered this sort of behavior on more than one occasion throughout the weekend. Is it just a "Philly thing" to completely block a one-way street for 5 minutes with utter disregard for the wedding starting next door?! As if sitting in traffic with a stick shift for two hours didn't have my dear husband wound tightly enough... I thought he might crack and shove a grocery item through this guy's eye socket. But we survived (with the aid of copious foul language) and whipped into the parking lot. Of course I made the mistake of unbuckling my seat belt about 10 seconds too soon, because when I say "whipped into the parking lot", I mean I was nearly thrown through the windshield. But that's neither here nor there. We made it in one piece.

I suppose I should do some introductions before throwing you right into their wedding photos... The groom, Aaron, used to work at the Proving Grounds with Ben. He met Maureen playing rec volleyball when she was going to school in Baltimore, and they both moved to NYC recently to pursue more education and work. Their families are from Philly... hence the wedding venue. They're one of those couples that eat hummus and run marathons together, just to make everyone else jealous of their low cholesterol and stunning physiques. Jerks ;] Now for the good stuff!

Warning: I am a black & white photo junkie. You'll see.

Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Wasielewski!

Off to the reception... with AMAZING food and a great party

The venue was a beautiful, sprawling golf course just outside of town

The glowing newlyweds! Aaron has the whitest teeth you'll ever see. So white that he gets teased about it. Check out that smile!

The only other couple from APG cool enough to warrant an invite, Shannon & Ray

Their first dance was cute enough to bring a puppy to tears. And Aaron NEVER stopped smiling, not once ;]

Maureen's gown was super-classy and elegant... all gauzy and etheral (and it doesn't hurt that she's about a double zero!)

All sweetness, all night long

Proof that we were, in fact, in attendance

We stayed over at the golf course (where the valets were just baffled by my husband's fancy-schmancy manual transmission! It was rather comical), and got up Saturday morning to head across town to our next stop. Of course, first things first, we had the requisite frustrating failed attempt at finding breakfast, followed by a traffic-light-ridden ride across town to the highway, where we proceeded to creep for 5 miles into downtown Philadelphia. I came very close to turning around and going home on more than one occasion (hubby losing his mind again and making me want to pull out all my hair!) but I'm glad I didn't! We arrived at our destination to find a single open parking space on the street right in front of a Starbucks - FINALLY, the universe had thrown us a bone. After a triple, I felt like taking on the world. And so we did.

When our friends arrived, I kissed the hubs good-bye and he headed off to Mike's, because I was staying behind in Philly with Sarah and the ladies for a Bachelorette Party!!! The five of us went on a food tour (cheese, chocolate and gelato!) followed by a DELECTABLE tapas-style dinner at Continetal Midtown, followed by some drinks and shenanigans :] It was a GREAT time... totally worth the traffic!

Heading out to an unknown destination (as far as Sarah was concerned...)

Second stop on the food tour - "Naked: A Chocolate Cafe"

Sweet shot of City Hall (while walking across the street, I might add... I'm proud of this one)

This is the kind of girl Sarah is... who else orders Cotton Candy for dessert?!

Drinks at Continental after dinner

Sarah and bridesmaid "the other Jenna" gettin' gangsta

Lovely Ladies... Gina, Sarah, Michelle and I

Seriously. Could she be any cuter?

Bottoms up, girl!

Drinks at Ladder 15, our next stop

She's just so photogenic, I couldn't help myself.

So cool! Michelle in an old-school telephone booth outside our hotel at the end of the night

Sunday morning we got up and drove back to Mike & Sarah's, where the bridesmaids were doing a trial run with their hair and my hubby was recovering from the night before. I can't even get into that... (a) I wasn't there, and (b) we'd be here all day. Suffice it to say that Mike is a little worried about that best man speech after the past couple evenings of shenanigans they've spent together. Oye.

Ben and I headed home to shower and gather ourselves before heading to his mom's for some family fun! We had missed his sister's birthday the weekend before (the weekend of our first anniversary), so we were all finally getting together to celebrate. And here's how it went...

Evan (2 1/2 yrs old) showing off his alphabet skillz with Uncle Ben

Lil Cara-bear, 5 1/2 months old

Big cousin Cara taking baby Carsen under her wing, quite literally ;] Carsen at 6 weeks!

Enjoying the weather out on the patio with my cuite-patootie nephew Leo (5 yrs old) and baby niece Caraline.

Ev snugglin' with Uncle Josh, taking a break from the balloon animal madness (which I somehow managed to completely neglect in my photo-taking!)

Hungry boy!

Then Lacy got out her two-cups-and-a-string telephone, which entertained the adults all night long! Ben and his sister Amberly cracking up (and Lacy in mid-hack! lol)

We're easily amused, what can I say?!

Happy Birthday to Em! Leo helping Mimi blow out her candles

"Hey guys, wanna see me lick whipped cream off my elbow?! I can do it!"

"Yes Lace. We'd LOVE to see that."

Poor Nana just hides her eyes til it's all over...

WHEW. What a weekend it was. Non-stop madness! As crazy as life has been over the past few weeks, wrapping up the weekends with our families is always the welcome icing on top of an already sweet cake :]

Overdue Update, and a New Job with a Purpose

Whew. It's been crazy around here. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary, I started my job at Hopkins, we went to Aaron & Maureen's wedding in Philadelphia, I went out with Sarah for her bachelorette party (hubby is the best man in Sarah and Mike's wedding)... all good stuff. I will definitely have a more detailed post and some pics for you soon...ish.

This weekend is Kevin & Shannon's wedding in College Park. Both of their parents were married at Memorial Chapel on the College Park campus, so they're having their wedding there as well (wow - have you ever seen all three versions of "there" in one sentence?!). Hubby is a groomsman in this one, so we'll be attending the rehearsal and dinner Thursday night (at Ruth's Chris! Swanky!) and then the wedding on Saturday, where some of his family will also be in attendance. For those of you who don't know, Kevin and his sister Sam are the matchmakers that brought the hubs and I together oh-so-many years ago :] Sam is my friend, Kevin is his friend, we all lived in the same neighborhood... you get the picture. So of course Kevin and Sam were both attendants in our wedding, I was in Sam's and now he is in Kevin's. One big happy family, right? Love those Knapsteins!

Then NEXT weekend is Mike & Sarah's wedding in York, PA. Mike is (clearly) Ben's best friend - he was Ben's best man and now Ben is returning the favor. They also asked me to write something original to read during their ceremony (how sweet was that?!), so I'll also be participating :] That's gonna be an overnighter for two days (Thursday for the rehearsal and dinner, Friday for the wedding, and we'll be home Saturday). Should be a GREAT time!

In the meantime, I've been getting settled at my new job and getting my first project rolling. More to come on that. Suffice it to say, it's going well and I think I'm going to really enjoy my summer, despite having to get up with the alarm every day and actually work for 8 hours. GASP. It's a change for me, but having my evenings and weekends TO MYSELF is a pretty sweet consolation prize ;] I just LOVE being able to enjoy my evenings and weekends completely guilt-free, with nothing hanging over my head! And the more obvious icing on top of this cake is that my work has a real, tangible, personal purpose.

This is my bright, beautiful niece Lacy.

She's a little math whiz who loves to play teacher and make up quizzes to stump her family. She helps her mom out with her three younger siblings and is a little mommy-in-the-making with her 6-month-old little sister Caraline. She's 10 (almost 11) going on about 25, and seems to have always been a little extra mature for her age. She's always sporting a cute new outfit, and she always greets you with a funny story about something random that happened since the last time you saw her. Unless you heard her cough, you wouldn't know that she has a chronic illness. She has cystic fibrosis, the most common genetic disorder among caucasians, which primarily affects her lungs and digestive tract. She is susceptible to damaging and persistent upper respiratory infections, and has to take pancreatic enzyme supplements at every meal to properly digest her food. She does several different therapies on a daily basis to break up the mucous in her lungs and keep them clear of harmful bacteria, and when she gets a common cold sometimes her body needs some extra help to clear the infection (which lands her in the hospital on occasion). She takes it all in stride, and has become a pro at taking care of many of her own therapies. She's quite a trooper, this girl.

This summer, I am working in the Guggino Lab at the Johns Hopkins Cystic Fibrosis Research Development Center (if you follow this link, you may recognize the little munchkin hugging her doctor at the top of the page!), one of ten basic research centers in the country funded by the CF Foundation. One of the major focuses of CF research today is gene therapy, which is what I'm working on this summer. The CFTR protein is mutated in CF patients, and normally functions as a channel to allow salts to pass through cell membranes. The most common mutation (which Lacy also has) is called deltaF508, and it causes the protein to assemble itself into an incorrect shape. The cell recognizes this incorrect shape and "tags" the mutated protein so that the degradation machinery of the cell can dispose of it. The deltaF508-mutated CFTR protein, however, is still close enough to the correct shape that it could function as a relatively normal channel if it was allowed to survive and go to the cell surface where it belongs. The lab that I'm working in this summer focuses on finding ways to trick the cell into allowing the mutated CFTR protein to escape degradation and reach the cell surface so that it can carry out its normal function, which could vastly improve symptoms in CF patients.

This work, and the vital work of other labs across the country, is funded in large part by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. To make a donation to CFF through our Great Strides team and to read more about Lacy, click on the Great Strides button on the left-hand side of the screen (you may notice that the Great Strides walk already happened, but it's never too late to donate!). And for my Baltimorians, there's also a raffle for Club Level Ravens tickets going on right now to benefit CFF!

So that's what I'm up to this summer :] A new job with a purpose. I probably won't make any tremendous new discoveries in my 10 weeks here, but I take heart in knowing that I'm making a small contribution to the HUGE push for a cure, and adding something tangible to the hope that one day, Lacy and kids like her won't have to fight this battle any longer.