My Time in Dresden - EMBO Light Sheet Microscopy

I held a lot of preconceptions about Germany, and many of them were correct. People ate pretzels, and there was a lot of beer. People were blonde and incredibly respectful and thoughtful. I didn't know a word of the language and I'd never held a euro coin before.

I went as a part of a 14-day immersive EMBO course on light sheet microscopy, the field which I am very familiar and love dearly. I traveled 26 hours to Dresden, a small-ish town two hours (by train) south of Berlin, on the eastern side of Germany, near the Czech Republic. The main town of Neustadt was unspeakably gorgeous, who's pre-WWII stone structures follow the winding randomness of the Elbe river, in an intentional yet stochastic distribution. Golden statues remembering another time spectrally contrast the dark stone in a way that makes one contemplate life two or three centuries previous. I got to see this place, for but a single Sunday, during the Dresdner Stadtfest.

I went to this place mainly to work at the Max Planck Institute of MicroBiology, where I assembled, tested, tuned, and imaged with many lightsheet microscopes. I may confidently say that for that time, I was at the birthplace of the field which I love, where visionaries like Ernst H. Steltzer collaborated with the likes of Eric Betzig, Jan Huisken, Pavel Tomancak, Philipp Keller and others to cradle the development of imaging modalities with tremendous ability. These people are sort of, my mental mentors. Their works have influenced the manor with which I approach questions, in profound ways. Just being there, and being able to speak and drink much too much espresso with many of them was an incredible pleasure that I will never forget. Not only that, but talking with young, up-in-coming people in the field like Ulrik Gunther and Loic Royer was an amazing opportunity.

While I was there, I built a sheet illumination microscope and imaged a random insect that was found in the dirt in front of the institute by the in-house Biology expert and one of sheet illumination's founding contributers, Emmanuel G. Reynaud.

Three views of a random creature, taken in the 532nm laser line, with a T-configured SPIM

The Texture of Trees

Finding the beautiful complexity in the most simple things can be very eye opening. Something as simple as a tree's bark, can leave one impressed, if not touched, by its intricicy.

Creatures of Obsession

“Ritualistic methods of self obsession often lend themselves to addiction.” -Someone

See, people tend to seek self-support in things, as a means to validate and concretely position themselves along the infinitely-extending axes of life. An Audi would seem pretty important if that's how you judge yourself. I think I do the same thing in people. Seeking approval and feelings of validation and agreement lead me to a mental place that feels remarkably steadfast. I'm okay with being weird - really, it's a blessing. But being empowered in your weirdness by the care of someone else is a different phenomenon, regardless of how weird they are.

We are all creatures of obsession.

Trauma and the Brain: It’s all in your head; my 2012 perspective.

INTRODUCTION:

_____________________________________________

Severe trauma has been estimated to directly impact 60% of Americans at some point in their lifetimes (Feliciano, 2009). Psychology tells us that some trauma is severe enough to lead to changes in overall personality, and cause severe conditions such as Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD). It is my aim to examine the importance of examining trauma from a neurological standpoint. I will explore how specific elements of the brain are impacted by traumatic experiences.

I view trauma as a function that modifies normal behavior through manipulation of brain chemistry. Some research questions I have to include: Why is analyzing trauma from a neurological perspective important? Does neurological research explain or contradict any observed and established psychological diagnoses? Are there any differences between PTSD-causing trauma between men and women? Altogether, it is my goal to explore this phenomenon of trauma and argue that a neurological perspective is necessary to fully examine it.

BACKGROUND:

A neurological perspective aims to explain how a process works in terms of chemical changes or reactions that take place in the human brain. In the case of this examination, I aim to explain the brain chemistry of trauma. This perspective will show how these reactions and alterations in brain chemistry can and should be used as an important method of further understanding.

Traumatic stress is something that triggers many reactions within the brain and body. In cases of extreme trauma, symptoms such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can occur, leading to lifelong struggle. From a psychological standpoint, PTSD is defined as “an anxiety disorder characterized by re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal symptoms that can develop after exposure to a traumatic event” (Feliciano, 2009).

In America, roughly 9% of people suffer from PTSD, which for a first-world nation, is relatively high. However, in regions experiencing more frequent civil unrest, such as terrorism, violence and governmental instability, the percentage of people experiencing PTSD can jump to as high as 30% (Feliciano, 2009). My specific research aims to treat or prevent such high rates of PTSD from occurring all across the world.

Spontaneous Background

The brain is too complex to understand. I learned this a long time ago, certainly before I was seven years old. From then until now, I've worked diligently to re-assure myself in that fact.

However, it is noteworthy, if not understandable, to seek out the understanding in yourself. I think that's why I wanted to learn about biology in college. I think that's why I started developing microscopes. I think that by the time I die in fifty-so years, if we understand 10% of the human brain, I'd be astounded. 2060 isn't self-driving cars to me, it's understanding the product of the last 14,000,000,000 years. I keep thinking about the divide between quanta and macro-scale physics, and how analogous it is to the understanding of ourselves. I feel as though we can rather simply comprehend the various neurological quanta - in the transmitters and cells that comprise a brain. But extrapolating to the 100,000,000,000 neurons in a brain seems impossible. It seems blindingly clear how and why an apple falls from a tree, but to understand and aptly describe each subatomic particle involved, and the fundamental forces of electricity, magnetism, gravity, weak and strong at work there, is a task existing outside of today's technical possibility. Not only that, the theories themselves don't even play well together.

By the time I die, I'd feel satisfied if we knew how even 10,000,000,000 cells interact, coordinate, communicate, and act together to recall an image of my mind, of the time I woke up, at 4AM, near the top of Mt. Whitney. These processes seem too difficult to comprehend, 10% is ambitious, but realistic. I think I want to be a part of that, and I think that's why I do what I do.

Nas' Illmatic & Franklin's BBQ: The Ultimates

Opinions drive progress and determine an individual's status within a community. Every discipline or field hosts a wide variety of specializations and regional specialties. One could think of the heavy black pepper used in central Texas barbecue, and the contrasting liberal use of apple cider vinegar in Northern Carolina style. Likewise, hip hop music has spread and diversified itself in an incredibly fractal fashion. The fast, cutting high hats in "dirty South" trap-style hip hop popular in areas of Alabama and Georgia, can be contrasted by the traditionally soulful, almost jazzy variety found in Chicago and New York. Among these varieties, very rarely is there a consensus among the various sub-populations; each group usually tends toward their own homeostatic preferences. Sometimes in exceptional cases, like Franks BBQ in Austin, TX and Nas's Illmatic record, everyone seems to automatically and unanimously agree: this is some fantastic shit.

Nas released Illmatic on April 19th, 1994, I was exactly 731 days old. Because 2-year-olds don't usually hit the record store in search of the hottest new street drops, I discovered the album later on, when the XX version was released. Reading about the album and the influences it seemed to have made me feel bad for not hearing it earlier. Songs like "The World is Yours" and "NY State of Mind" sounded great on first listen, but as it the case with these things, it takes a good amount time to appreciate and understand. But, what I immediately felt was the theme of the record, the sort of driving mantra behind it. Themes of positivity, perseverance and triumph are there, and while being contextualized by the obviously hard street-vibe, provides almost a hood professor-student interaction between Nas and the listener. It's something Nas does incredibly well, and it works beautifully.

"Beef with housing police. Release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's Yet I'm the mild, money-gettin' style, rollin' foul. The versatile, honey-sticking wild golden child Dwelling in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled. Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle."

Maybe for this reason, and his immense technical rhyming abilities, people started really praising the album, regardless of their regional affiliation.

Franklin BBQ is a restaurant in Austin, TX, and it's open from 11:00am - 3:00pm only. Aaron Franklin started the business in 2011, following a success with a mobile barbecue trailer. If there's anything you should know about this place, it is that it has sold out of brisket every single day it's been open, since it was established five years ago. In that sense, it isn't a restaurant, it's an institution; with people ceremonially starting to line up out front at five in the morning, just to get lunch six hours in the future. People may be strange, and not always rational, but there must be something about the food to warrant such a wait. Pilgrimages are often made by meat-lovers from other states, with completely different flavor profiles associated with their region, because somehow a mutual agreement has been made between them and Aaron. Something about his style is accepted by all, and because of that, his is considered to be one of the greatest BBQ restaurants in the entire world.

"Barbecue isn’t about recipes. The more you do it, the better you get at it. You learn to look at things, smell things, hear things, and that’s what I wanted to get across in the book. You flip through [recipe books] once, you get the idea and then you’re done. Books like On Food And Cooking or Modernist Cuisine are more like reference books, that’s what I wanted to create. Something you keep coming back to, to jog your memory. I don’t really follow recipes myself, and I’m much worse at actually writing them, so I thought more words and pictures was the way to go."

Few things are considered constant among sub-cultures despite regional preferences.

I think these things are, and while they are incredibly different, they share in a narrative which holds a unique gravity and influence. Such things are worth reflection, contemplation, respect, and praise.

"277" 1971 Porsche 911 Race Car

Few designs are as iconic or universal as the 993 Porsche 911.

It's air cooled, it's simple, it's cool, it's purpose-built, it's incredibly fast, and it's timeless. Something about the aesthetic resonates with people, including me. It's rebellious, yet refined, it's for burning tires, and generating smiles. I'd like to think your son would like to take this car to prom, and the next day, you'd take it for a rip in the canyons, and garner the respect of both fancy guys in Ferraris, and burly Harley Davidson bikers. Something about these cars speaks to people, indiscriminately. Few designs are able to do so, I think that's why this one, is so special.

Thanks to Magnus for the images: