Writing is….slow. Just two short weeks from now I have to turn in the first real chunk of my thesis, the Introduction, and so far it has been an exercise in patience and deliberateness. The thesis I am working on covers everything from the transcription factor NFE2 to the developmental Hedgehog pathway to justification of what I am doing and the time points I am doing it to the use and usefulness of the zebrafish as a model organism. Bringing all of that together and making it flow is not only challenging, but also very time consuming because everything written down must in some way be linked back to the resource from which it was taken. I find myself completely in awe of how far I have progressed in my knowledge of the topics I am studying. I can only imagine how much easier my summer would have been if I had known what I know now. Although, I guess that’s the point, chipping, struggling, and working away at something to ultimately reach a greater understanding.
My research and data collection is much the same, slow and steady. Now that the semester is in full swing, not to mention almost over, it is more difficult to take the time to work in lab. But while it is challenging to take that time, I am still finding my work interesting and rewarding, and in fact wishing I had more time to devote. So until our next break for Thanksgiving I will be feverishly working away, hoping to accomplish things that I never have before and surviving the rigors of Thesis and senior year!

–Dan