I had a talk on Wednesday with my Applied Math professor Michael Brenner about his research interests and about mathematics and biology. The last I mentioned of him was shortly after I had picked classes where I mentioned how Brenner was a great lecturer. To be honest, I’ve been very blessed this semester with good speakers (although not necessarily good classes). But, Brenner has this … youthful exuberance about him. He’s able to convey serious amounts of enthusiasm and just a general sense that “he’s there for you” while he talks. Its rare for me to find professors who are actually able to demonstrate that they are interested in the subject and that you should be interested as well.

The thing that astonished me was how .. fidgety he was. Its like he couldn’t sit still for longer than five seconds. His leg was shaking half the time; most of the time he leaned in such a way that two of his chair legs were off the ground; and he repeatedly got up to walk to his bookshelf (which was horribly disorganized, mind you) to attempt to find something (and fail). This is not to say that he was ultimately very rude to me, but I think it gives a real sense of the person inside the professor.

The guy is young. He’s not forty yet (and I believe he received tenure back when he was like 34 or 35). I had always known that he was young, but I never realized just how much so until I read that article above and when, on the day of the final, I see this guy who’s wearing horribly baggy pants and a shirt and looks like a hobo/college student cramming for finals walk in — and I’m like, who the heck is this? Harvard kids don’t get that scrubby, but when I looked more closely, I noticed that it was frickin’ Brenner!

Anyways, we had a very interesting discussion where he suggested some courses to me, and pointed out to me that the new major they just created (Chemical and Physical Biology) was geared towards people of my interests (bad timing for me, I guess) but ultimately bemoaned how there was a lack of courses and material for people like me. I was stunned at how knowledgeable this guy was. I mean, yes, he’s Harvard faculty, he can’t be retarded. But, its always astonished me how much Harvard professors know — they’re not only experts in their own field, if there’s something they’re interested in, they know more than probably the average undergraduate majoring in that field. Brenner knew like everyone in the MCB department (could be because they’re mostly famous) and was wel versed in some of the details of cell cycle signaling and gene expression. And he was able to relate it all back to mathematics. Quite a feat I think.

I finally finished my final paper for Biochemistry 91R, wrapping up a tumultuous semester of research in lab with an all-nighter. I can honestly say I’m very proud of it. It wouldn’t have been possible without LaTeX and JabRef handling the layout and bibliography (although I spit at Photoshop for making figure design so difficult — I really must get my hands on Adobe Illustrator). Nor would it have been possible without the postdoc I’m working with (who coincidentally… or maybe it was fate… is named Ben and who’s last name also starts with a T) making things much simpler by creating cute little cartoons and diagrams of the pathways I’ve been working with.

And although I cursed the literature and my computer and my paper for hours, it seemed, I do feel like I’ve learned a great deal from the effort — and I am excited, upon reviewing the data, to further pursue this. Almost makes me feel better about not being home this summer … almost

And then it hits me.. finals are coming up.. and I have a big paper to write which I haven’t started yet on Huang ZongXi’s “Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince” (which is actualy quite interesting, as its the first example of a liberal [not left-leaning, but classic liberal] intellectual tradition that I can think of from the Far East).

In case anyone’s interested, my article on Avian Flu (which I have to admit is very long) for NextGenMD is up! I got a chance to talk with Dr. Frederick Hayden (professor of clinical virology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine) and Dr. Michael T. Osterholm (director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy as well as associate director of Homeland Security’s National Center for Food Protection and Defense) about their research and its implications with regards to the spread of bird flu and what we can do if (more likely, when) an epidemic happens. Take a look and tell me what you think!

I loved Applied Math (although I can hate the problem sets). Problem 1 from my problem set for this week:

“Consider a population of bugs. The bugs divide, and they also migrate randomly over the region that they occupy. At the borders of the region, there are terrible bug-eating monsters that eat the bugs.”

(no joke, that is verbatim)