What's your area and level of expertise?

Jon Richfield

My qualifications are nothing special, though I have an Agricultural degree majoring in entomology and biochem, it is very rusty because I went off into computer work many years ago, in fact shortly after getting my BSc.
However, my obsession with biology dates back to about age 3 and has never subsided, and I have more nerve than anyone who thinks that formal qualification is a substitute for cogency or mental flexibility.

Accordingly, one of my views is that the educated application of half-knowledge is a major distinction between the quick thinker and the dead.

Conversely, loud opinions cannot shout down empirical contradiction. Not indefinitely anyway! (Not that that bothers politicians!)

sdcraigcooper

I have a BS in Molecular Biology. I am intersted in bacterial resistances to antibiotics.

MarkitScience

hi everyone,
i finished my BSc in Biology & Psychology in 2008.
this summer i will be finishing my MSc in Experimental Medicine.
applying for entry into med school this summer.

TubbaBlubba

Well, I'm still in high school, but I aspire to become a physician and I have a very keen interest in physiology.

Jon Richfield

Sounds like a good place to start your active interest in your career. Physiology is a field that not many are good at because it requires a good aptitude for thinking logically about the way things work. You would be surprised how few people have that aptitude. Work good and hard at your comprehension of why mechanisms in the body work the way they do, why they fail, and what known mechanisms suggest about unknown mechanisms. Don't only think in terms of human physiology -- comparative physiology can teach you a lot about the way our bodies work. And get into biochemistry as deeply as you can -- without biochem there is not a lot of biology that you can understand in depth. Don't get discouraged; the rewards for sticking to it are enormous.
Welcome!

Jon

TubbaBlubba

Chemistry happens to be another one of my favourite subjects, organic- and biochemistry in particular. I'm currently quite interested in metabolism, especially amino acid catabolism.

Most of the concrete knowledge I have of the way the human body works comes from many, many years of tedious questions to my father (who is a physician), and the rest comes from research on wikipedia et al, with some miniscule fraction ascribed to school education.

Pythagorean

Have a B.S. in Physics,
pursuing a M.S. in theoretical/computational neuroscience

Actively researching Morris Lecar model, a nonlinear neuron model, for evidence of spatiotemporal chaos:

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Morris-Lecar_model

Snazzy

Will be obtaining my BSc in microbiology and immunology from UBC next May, and then hopefully in September 2011, I will be in med school or touring Europe and getting absolutely smashed a couple (or 365) more times before entering med school.

Kylebrad98

I have no education that it worth mentioning just some public schooling but according to standardize testing this is one subject that i know well.

Jon Richfield

Welcome anyway. Learn some, share some, teach some, contribute some.
It is the best any of us can do. It is a huge subject, but can be hugely rewarding..

bobze

Hello, Long time reader here, just now posting on this topic!

I did a dual degree (BS's) for my undergrad, molecular genetics and evolutionary ecology, organismal biology (EEOB for short!) and yes, that makes me a buckeye for any of you Googling that!

Worked for a while after that in research, mostly dealing with microbes (modes of caspase activation and induction in Legionella and Burkholderia infections)

Went to private industry after that and quickly found out that stable jobs in private research firms are about as reliable as a one dollar watch (and probably pay as often too!). So I decided to go back to school. I did a MS in biomedical science, with my emphasis on microbial pathology and got a job in clinical microbiology.

Which I liked but didn't see myself doing till retirement. So I've gone back to school again! I am currently a medical student, which is also why I have little time to post on a regular basis and you'll note my posts all seem to come in clipped-bursts :P

Kglocc

MCD Biology, undergrad senior. PF is great. Guilt-free procrastination before studying

nucleargirl

I have a undergraduate degree in biology, and some cancer lab experience and protein production experience (both were not great for different reasons).
I'm interested in... well not sure.
Perhaps evolution?- like why there is life, how life will evolve in future...
perhaps animal biology? - like how animals work? physiology maybe...
maybe ethology... I'd love to look at animals all day! like Geese! but there doesn't seem to be any funding for anything....

Jon Richfield

Welcome! Join us and look around. There are some good conversations going, and maybe you can start some of your own too.
Cheers,
Jon

nucleargirl

Thanks Jon :)

larrym3

MD, PhD (Cell and Molecular Biology)

Craigsly

A lowly third year undergrad student double majoring in Biomedical Engineering/Biochemistry. I hope to soak up some knowledge from you more experienced people. ^_^