Posts Tagged ‘Jackie Wirz’

By Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. OHSU is filled with all sorts of brainy people, ranging from your local faculty superstar who is a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator to hardworking students who won their first major grant to fund their graduate research.  Speaking of students, OHSU is home to more than 2,800 students enrolled in 42 different academic programs.  That’s a lot of brain power!   For one of those programs, 2013 marks a significant anniversary: … Read More

By Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. For those of you who don’t know me, I am an uber nerd. I love graphs, am conversant with Star Trek and Star Wars, and was even a Mathlete in high school. (Amazingly enough, I did have a date to junior prom, but in all honesty I probably would have been happier if I stayed home and watched the X-Files.) I lean towards quantitative science, and have always found comfort in … Read More

By Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. Any of you ever watch The Big Bang Theory? For the uninitiated, The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom that documents the lives of physicist Sheldon, fellow physicist Leonard, aerospace engineer Howard and astrophysicist Rajesh. Okay, that sounds far less humorous than the show actually is – trust me when I say it is hilarious. Or maybe that’s just my geek showing… In any case, one of my favorite Big Bang … Read More

Written by Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library” – Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Luis Borges was an influential Spanish American novelist, perhaps best known for his inventive short stories.  His quotes have sparked literally thousands of essays by hopeful library students, much like the “two paths diverged in the woods” cliché for personal statement essays (see previous blog post here). Although I admire this quote and … Read More

Written by Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. There are many things that inspire me here at OHSU; most recently, I’ve been utterly amazed by the social behavior of drunk prairie voles. Wha….? Okay, a little clarification is needed here: I recently had the privilege of attending the dissertation defense of Allison Anacker, a Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program student. I have written before about the amazing scholarship that our students produce, specifically in the form of the blue-bound … Read More

Written by Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. What’s on your must-read list? High on mine is Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves by Harvard professor George Church. It hit shelves in the traditional paper and ink format on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Yet Dr. Church has carried billions of copies of his book stored in a small test tube that he carries around in his pocket since last spring. How is this possible? Dr. Church … Read More

Written by Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. Recent appearances by a large glowing ball of yellow in the sky have prompted me to get a new bottle of sunscreen. An undisclosed number of years ago, I studied the structural mechanics of DNA repair enzymes. If there is one thing I learned from my research findings it is that sunscreen is a very, very good thing. (Note: here at OHSU, the Lloyd-McCullough lab researches many different aspects of … Read More

Written by Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. Fall is swiftly approaching, and with it comes a new crop of students*.  It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my applications for graduate school and dealing with the universally awkward “Personal Statement” essay. One of my goals was to never use the words “destiny”, “passion” or “dream”.  And definitely no Robert Frost quotes**. To be sure, my attempts at squishing a lifetime of hopes and dreams into … Read More

By Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Portland premiere of Cirque du Soliel’s Ovo. It is an inspired performance that incorporates acrobats, aerialists, some pretty amazing trampolining crossed with rock climbing (!) and more than a few flamboyantly costumed bugs. The small size of the tent makes you feel like you are involved in a surreal dream that strangely involves feats of strength on a tightrope, acts of amazing coordination … Read More

By Jackie Wirz, Ph.D. Hello there – my name is Jackie, and I am the Biomedical Science Specialist and Assistant Professor at the OHSU Library.  Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it?  I have fancy business cards and everything.  But I have a secret to tell – I was actually a graduate student here at OHSU.  As such, I know all of the places to get food at 2 a.m., the warmest areas to catch a nap … Read More