...that I love my job? I was wading through a patent on a type of biological sensor that's referred to as "lab on chip." As an electrical engineer, I thought the mechanics were totally awesome and really enjoyed learning about that aspect of the invention. It's really cool.
But the biology was a total mystery. Google helps with words like "lysis" and "denature" and "elution", but is less helpful with repurposed words like "discrimiator". And if you have the end product you want after 8 steps or so, why do you have close to 20 more steps of mixing stuff together?
So today I'm finally getting to explore that old Bio textbook my college library was selling 15 years ago, and now I actually have a clue what all my pre-med friends were talking about for semesters on end with their gels and their blots. And after a mere 5 pages of Bio 101, when I go back to the patent, the biology part actually makes general sense, and I can scribble all sorts of "look-at-me-understanding-stuff" marginalia and feel all excited at the cleverness of it all.
Still not sure what an RED reporter is, though, and reporters apparently aren't covered in Bio 101. Google gets a little useful for that one again, though. At least I think it does. Ah, well, I can't become an expert on everything in one day!
Seriously. I love this job.
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