Big news for me -- I recently accepted a new job! I'll start working as a research assistant studying renal disease and hypertension (that's kidneys and high blood pressure, for my readers whose vocabularies do not favor the medical) at University of Colorado's medical center in mid-July. I started reading through the project descriptions for what I'll be doing today. I'm excited and apprehensive about this.
I'm excited because...
- I will get to use my brain so much more than at my current job. My mind is crying out to be challenged.
- The new job has better pay and kickass benefits.
- I won't have to deal with the rude patients anymore.
- Did I mention that I'm looking forward to an intellectual challenge?
I'm apprehensive because...
- I will not have a close-knit group of coworkers like I do at my current job - it'll just be me and my boss.
- I don't know much about kidneys or the vascular system yet.
- I think I may miss patient contact.
- The timing of me leaving my job is not especially convenient for them, and I feel kind of bad about that.
In the mean time, I am trying to figure out what to do career-wise. Main options include nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or Ph.D. in human medical genetics or molecular physiology. I'm not ruling out medical school or a master's in genetic counseling either. I sure wish I could figure my life out.
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
22 June 2011
05 October 2008
Mennonite DNA
Yesterday at Fall Fest, I discovered the Mennonite DNA Project. This project is using Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA markers to trace paternal and maternal lines and, by comparing DNA markers to genealogy charts, discovering previously unknown relationships between families. It's a pretty cool idea, and an interesting application of DNA haplotyping technology.
As I was filling out my genealogy chart at the Mennonite DNA Project table, I heard a woman exclaim to her sister, "Oh, Mrs. Wiebe has a name! It's Katharina! Her name is Katharina! We've got to tell Mom; she'll be so excited!"
This woman didn't remember an ancestor's name, so she had the volunteer look her up in GRANDMA (the Mennonite genealogy database) and print a chart of her ancestors. Apparently, when her family had been researching their ancestry, they couldn't find any information about a this female ancestor; she was recorded only by her husband's name. But the database had a record of her.
There was something special about that moment to me, and it made me realize that there's something powerful about being able to trace maternal lines. I had them print my mom's ancestry chart (I'm not in the database). I now know that when the Mennonite DNA Project tests my mitochondrial DNA, they will be following a line from me to Helen Margaret Goertz to Margaret Ruth Krehbiel to Helen Ruth Eymann to Maria Franz to Eva Schroeder, my great-great-great-grandmother who was born in 1836. And I don't know; there may be more recorded beyond her (the printout only covers 5 generations).
Even though last names get changed with every generation and sometimes not even first names are recorded, the Mennonite DNA Project will be able to tell my family what other Mennonite female lines we are related to. My DNA will unlock genetic relationships that patrilineal tradition obscured.
As a feminist Mennonite biology nerd, what more could I ask for?
As I was filling out my genealogy chart at the Mennonite DNA Project table, I heard a woman exclaim to her sister, "Oh, Mrs. Wiebe has a name! It's Katharina! Her name is Katharina! We've got to tell Mom; she'll be so excited!"
This woman didn't remember an ancestor's name, so she had the volunteer look her up in GRANDMA (the Mennonite genealogy database) and print a chart of her ancestors. Apparently, when her family had been researching their ancestry, they couldn't find any information about a this female ancestor; she was recorded only by her husband's name. But the database had a record of her.
There was something special about that moment to me, and it made me realize that there's something powerful about being able to trace maternal lines. I had them print my mom's ancestry chart (I'm not in the database). I now know that when the Mennonite DNA Project tests my mitochondrial DNA, they will be following a line from me to Helen Margaret Goertz to Margaret Ruth Krehbiel to Helen Ruth Eymann to Maria Franz to Eva Schroeder, my great-great-great-grandmother who was born in 1836. And I don't know; there may be more recorded beyond her (the printout only covers 5 generations).
Even though last names get changed with every generation and sometimes not even first names are recorded, the Mennonite DNA Project will be able to tell my family what other Mennonite female lines we are related to. My DNA will unlock genetic relationships that patrilineal tradition obscured.
As a feminist Mennonite biology nerd, what more could I ask for?
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