FightSMA

Here's a link to a video about the disease I currently research.

This video talks about drug discovery for SMA therapies and briefly mentions gene therapy for the disease. That's kind of what I research. Gene therapy techniques have great promise for this particular disease as well as several other diseases.

However, another area of great promise for a therapy for SMA is embryonic stem cells. I know this is a hot topic for some people, but after attending a meeting for SMA researchers that patients and families also attended and seeing these beautiful, dying children, I must support any means to cure this terrible disease that robs these children of their future.

Just wanted to share a little about my research!

Graduation and Family Pictures

It's been a couple of CRAZY weeks! Everything's going by so quickly!

Tomorrow, family starts arriving for graduation. Dad and Kathy and Aaron's Dad and his wife get here tomorrow, then everyone else arrives on Friday. Graduation is Friday night. After a bit of a mess regarding who was walking me through graduation (in graduate school, your mentor walks with you), I've found someone to walk me. So, GAME ON!

We went and got family pics taken last night. Here's some of my favorites:

The next one is one of my favorites because you can see my GRADUATION GIFT from Aaron! He got me a journey necklace with 7 stones because it took me 7 years. It's BEAUTIFUL! It almost looks like a strand of DNA, so I love it. Good husband!