Happy New Year, 2014!!!

Happy New Year to Everyone!
I hope every one of you have a wonderful year 2014!!

I didn't write much last year. I can add a reason because I was busy but it not the reason because I could make a time to write if I wanted and I needed. Actually I didn't feel like to write but I want now.

Actually I was very busy for a whole year 2013.

I attended two international conferences at Boston and Kobe (Japan) and one domestic one. I also published two academic papers last year. For the second paper, we just got the acceptance on 27th December! I was so happy and excited to have this notification because I met a requirement for my graduate with this acceptance. I just need to pass the PhD defense in January 2014 for my graduation.

There is a little bit long story behind the internship and my PhD years.

I have been waiting the time comes for eight years. Eight years were long and some people said I was wasting my time. I absented the school two years due to a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, this means I was working too much. After the absence, I came back to the school but I couldn't do anything because of many reasons and I was thinking to quit the school because I didn't have any data to publish. It was right before joining Advanced multi-career training program for PhD students and postdoctoral scholars. I had no idea what I needed to do next so I applied the program and I passed. I did the internship at RAC for three months and I met small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and I learned how to do it. I also had a chance to do my research with SAXS equipment after the internship and I spent 4 months to do SAXS measurement with my research sample. This meeting at RAC and experiences with SAXS completely changed my life!!! They helped my experiment and they gave me great advice and many encouragements when I needed. After I came back from this internship and research at RAC, I started writing a paper with SAXS data using my target proteins. It took a year to hand in a first journal and took one more years to have an acceptance. I want to thank many people who lead me to this success.

Thank you, Mark, a professor at my university. He found this internship, set up and supported all the time. He was the first parson who gave me a hope.

Thank you, Sasaki-san (RAC). If he didn't say YES for the internship, I have never graduate PhD. He gave me big chances and supported my research. He encouraged me all the time and never said no for negotiations with Mark!! He taught me about SAXS equipments. I also had great time with him at Texas.

Thank you, Life Science members, Pierre, Michael, Jim and Joe. Pierre helped the crystallization of my protein and carried out X-ray radiation experiment. Michael also gave me great advises about the crystallization. Jim and Joe also supported this internship and my experiments.

Thank you, Yamano-san and Matsumoto-san (RC). They gave me helpful advices and helped my experiments in Japan after I came back from RAC. 

Special thanks to Angela (RAC), who taught me scientific aspects about SAXS. I didn't know anything about SAXS when I went there first time but she taught me everything about SAXS. She also gave me good advices and encouraged all the time to get data for an academic paper. She also supported to write the paper. Without her help, I couldn't finish my PhD and graduate.

I also really appreciate my colleagues, teachers and friends who helping and supporting me.

I am sorry for waiting very long time to say "thank you" to everyone. I was waiting on purpose because I thought to publish a paper with SAXS data can be one of the expressions to say thank you!!

Again, thank you so much for your support for the last year! I hope you had a wonderful year 2013 and 2014 will be a great year ahead for you!!