Rising Pressure, page 15
Full ride offer to the Colorado School of Mines for football!
The Colorado School of Mines was a dream come true for Joe. He had always hoped to play football in college. Plus, it was a great academic school too. The only drawback was that Colorado was so far away from Georgia.
Addison stepped off the elevator and saw Zenia coming down the hallway. She waved good morning. Zenia stopped and waited for Addison to catch up to her.
“You look especially cheerful this morning!”
Addison beamed. “Joe just found out that he’s being offered a scholarship to play football in college. He’s been hoping for this for years.”
“Wonderful news! Please congratulate him for me. You must be very proud.”
“I am. Ryan is thrilled too. Joe’s coach gave him the letter this morning.”
“You will have to do something fun to celebrate,” Zenia said as they reached her office.
“Yes! We will.” Addison nodded her goodbye to Zenia and unlocked her own office. She set all her bags down on her desk and pulled out her phone to call Melinda.
“Addison? Did Martin miss the bus? I can give him a ride. Joel just got on, so we should still be on time.”
“Oh no, nothing like that. Joe just found out that the Colorado School of Mines offered him a full ride scholarship to play football!”
“Oh, yay! That’s awesome! Good for Joe.”
“I’m so happy for him. Even if Colorado is forever away, but it’s an engineering school, which is where his interests lie. I can always join a frequent flyer program.”
“Wait. Isn’t that the school that stole my fight song?” Melinda was a Georgia Tech grad.
Addison laughed. “I don’t know if I’d say stole…”
“It’s the same song!”
“True, but it’s a Division II school. It’s not like they would ever play against each other.”
“Fine. Well, I’m happy for him. Ryan must be over the moon.”
“I’m not sure which one of them is more excited.”
Melinda laughed. “Is he decided on Mines then? Or is he going to see if other schools are interested?”
“I’m not sure. He did apply to Tech, as you know, but he doesn’t think he could play football there. This scholarship could tip the scales in Mines’ favor.”
“Understandable. I wish Tanya would just fill out an application and submit it already. She has partially filled out five or six now, but hasn’t submitted any. Driving me nuts!”
“Hopefully, she can get them finished up soon. Well, good luck! I’ve gotta get back to it.”
“Congrats again, Ad. That is really exciting news. Maybe it’ll light a fire under my girl.” She laughed and they ended the call.
Addison grabbed her lunch and pulled her office door closed behind her. She would grab her mail and then go check in with the lab. As she walked down the hall, she reminded herself to check to see if they had any news regarding Juan’s paper. Occasionally, journals would request revisions after the manuscript went through peer review, but she hoped that they wouldn’t have to mess with that.
Her mailbox was empty, so she stowed her lunch in the fridge and headed over to the lab. Laina was going to try to patch a few cells this week. Addison thought Laina seemed fairly proactive and driven. She knew why Emmitt had chosen to send her for this project. She was a hard and diligent worker.
Addison had been looking forward to sharing Joe’s exciting news with Eleanor, but she didn’t even glance her way when Addison walked in. Normally, Eleanor asked about all of the kids and Liv had good news too—her cross-country team had qualified for the state meet! Addison frowned as she passed Eleanor’s desk, wondering what had changed to make her so quiet.
Laina was sitting at her desk, looking at her computer screen when Addison walked over. She had a paper pulled up on the screen that Addison recognized as Juan’s first paper with the lab three years ago.
“Catching up on some light reading?” She joked.
“Always. What’s up?”
“Nothing much, just wanted to make sure you feel ready to tackle patch clamping this week. I’m sure Emmitt is anxiously awaiting to hear how it goes.”
“Oh yes. Always.” She smiled. “I actually just finished getting my cells set up in tissue culture. Anthony suggested that I not transfect anything this week. That way I can get a feel for the technique without using any extra materials.”
“Sounds like a great idea. Good to take it one step at a time.”
“Yes, if it goes smoothly on Wednesday, then I’m going to try some of our constructs next week.”
“Speaking of those, do you need to amplify your DNA at all, or did Emmitt ship you enough?”
“I do need to amplify it. It’s been a while since I’ve done it, but I’m sure it’s like riding a bike.”
You’re welcome to use our kit, if you’d like.”
“Well, Emmitt prefers old school on that. He emailed me a file with the steps. I was just getting ready to open it.”
“I will leave you to it. Good luck.”
Addison stopped briefly to chat with Becky on the other side of the lab. She was hoping to hear how her experiment had gone last week. Becky had settled on a project at the beginning of the semester after trying out several options during the summer.
“How did your experiment turn out last week? Anything exciting?”
“I think it went pretty well. I wanted to see if I could maybe tease out the binding site by using all of the segments of the channel that we have in the lab. Several of them overlap, so I figured I could narrow the area down some if I tried all of them.”
“Right. That was a good starting point. What did you find?”
“It feels sort of inconclusive. I tried both halves, you know, and it only bound to the left side. But then, it bound to several of the smaller segments from the left half. None of the segments overlap.” She showed Addison the map she’d drawn. Several areas were highlighted.
“Ah, well this might be one place where looking at the structure of the channel will aid you. Our department chair actually published that a couple decades ago.”
“Really? Wow! So, is that going to require a trip over to the archives or is there a digital version?”
“It’s been modernized, yes. Just search Benjamin Watt and sodium channel 1.5 in PubMed.”
Becky opened up her browser and typed in the search criteria that Addison suggested. She found the paper of interest and opened it. It was a Science paper from 1995.
“Okay, so here’s the structure of the channel. Looking at that and comparing it to what you know about the binding areas, what does that tell you?” Addison asked her.
Becky looked at her notes and back at the screen. She would make note of an amino acid position on the screen and put a little star by it on her paper map. She did this for multiple locations on her map of the channel.
“Oh! So, my protein binds across the left side here, most likely.” She pointed to the screen, moving her finger across some coiled ribbons that were called alpha helices in the structure community.
“Exactly. It might be challenging to show scientific proof in our lab of the binding site on the channel.”
Becky frowned. “So did I waste my time?”
“Not at all. This is very informative. Just because we can’t pinpoint the site on the channel doesn’t mean that we—”
“Can’t find it on the smaller protein! Of course!” Becky finished for her. “Any chance you’ve already made the constructs of this protein?”
“No such luck. Why don’t you see if you can tease out some segments that you think would work well? We can go through them this afternoon if you’d like.”
Becky nodded and turned to a fresh page in her notebook. No one else was in the lab at the moment, so Addison went back to her office to check her email. She quickly deleted all the junk and then slowly scrolled through the others looking for one from the journal. She clapped when she saw it.
Accepted for print. Signature documents attached.
Addison grabbed her office phone to call Juan, then remembered that he wasn’t in yet. She dialed Eleanor’s extension instead.
“Hey Eleanor! Have Juan give me a call or have him stop by my office when he gets in, please.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks, bye.” She hung up. This was really exciting news for Juan. He’d have three good papers to round out his postdoc with her. He should be able to easily get a position at one of the local universities with these on his Curriculum Vitae (CV). She wondered if he had started checking any of the universities’ hiring pages yet. She knew most schools didn’t start listing positions until later in the semester and on into January. She clicked over to the postdoc webpage for their university. Sometimes schools would announce forums for aspiring instructors on their page. She went to the networking opportunities tab to see the recent postings. She was about to open one when her computer popped up a reminder from her calendar:
ADDISON: REMINDER! PHYSIOLOGY LECTURE NEXT WEEK. BE PREPARED!
“Shoot! Glad I made that reminder.” She said to herself. She pulled out the textbook and the bound notes that were required reading for the students taking the course. It was a med school class on basic physiology. Her lecture would cover high blood pressure physiology and recommended medications. The students always wanted to know if her questions would come from the notes or the book. She tried to do some of both because there was good information in both places. She put the two items aside on her desk to remind herself to go through her lecture from last year and update it as necessary.
She reset the reminder to go off again the following morning at nine and then went back to the list of networking opportunities. She knew that Juan was probably not ignoring this but wanted to help him in any way she could. She opened the first few to see how “local” they were. Several of the four-year universities were holding a joint conference on marketing yourself for the undergraduate classroom. She copied the link and sent it to Juan, suggesting that he register. She had just hit send when her office phone rang. It was the lab.
“This is Addison.”
“Eleanor told me that you asked for me to give you a ring.”
“Juan! Your paper was accepted!” She almost shouted the good news into the receiver.
“No revisions?”
“No revisions. It’s all set. Congratulations, sir.”
“This is fantastic! I can’t wait to tell Sophie.”
“By the way, you probably already saw this, but there is a local conference for people wanting to go into teaching—”
“Yes! I signed up last week. I snagged one of the mock interview spots too.”
“Oh, great! Well, just ignore my email then. I haven’t checked to see if any universities have posted job interviews yet, but definitely keep tabs on that.”
“I have been. Thanks, Dr. Fish.”
“I know that it’s rather unlikely that an assistant professor position will post for the second semester, but don’t feel like we’re kicking you out of here just because your project is complete. We can always use you here as long as you need it.”
“I really appreciate that. I’m not ruling out teaching as an adjunct at a community college yet. I feel like there are lots of options.”
“Of course. You just let me know how I can help.”
“Thank you. Ummm—Becky mentioned that she was going to be teasing out constructs for breaking up alpha9 into segments. I would be happy to help guide her through that if you’d like.”
“That would be amazing, actually. I have a set of lectures to work on for next week, so that would really save me some time.”
“I’ll get to it. Thanks again.” He hung up.
That evening, the Fischers went out to the new steak house to celebrate Joe’s offer.
“Congratulations, Joe!” Martin said after the hostess had seated them.
“Thanks, Dude! I think I’ve been smiling all day.”
“I can’t believe my big brother is going to be a college quarterback. I’m happy for you, Joe.”
“Thanks, Liv,” he said, giving her a hug.
“We’re so proud of you,” Addison said.
“I think I told everyone at work at least three times!” Ryan laughed.
Joe blushed. “Thanks, everyone. I haven’t accepted their offer yet. Coach said that I might get other offers still. I have until Thanksgiving Break to decide. I would be surprised if I got any better offers than this, though.”
“Will your games be on TV?” Martin asked.
Joe chuckled. “Probably not. We’re only D2.”
Addison exchanged a look with Ryan when Joe used the word we as though he was already considering himself an Oredigger. Before she could say anything, the waitress arrived to take their drink orders and tell them the daily specials. After she left, they checked out the menus using the QR code at the table. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, few restaurants used paper menus.
“How are things with Eleanor? Did you find out what was bothering her?” Ryan asked.
“I didn’t and she was still quiet, almost stand-offish today. I hope she would tell me if she had a concern with something at the lab.”
“Well, hopefully it’s nothing.”
It was a school night, so Addison was glad that the restaurant moved their meal along quickly. She could tell that Joe was embarrassed when the whole restaurant joined in a congratulatory song as the waitress brought out their dessert. He smiled and thanked everyone while Liv laughed at his awkwardness. She also knew that he hated being the center of attention. They thankfully got home before nine and Addison immediately instructed Martin to start getting ready for bed. Liv had her own bathroom and headed that way to go through her nightly routine too.
“I’m sorry that Taylor couldn’t join us tonight, Joe.”
“Me too, Mom. She said that she has a big project due this Friday and is behind on it. I think she is kind of overwhelmed by the idea of Colorado. She’s only lived here, so the idea of going to school anywhere else is kind of scary.”
“That’s understandable. What do you think about it? You’ve only lived here too.”
“I mean, it’s all really new still. I haven’t really had time to think about it. It will work out.”
“If you ever need to talk about it, we’re always here for you. Like you said, it’s still fresh and no decisions have been made. Growing up is hard.” Ryan patted Joe on his shoulder.
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you both in the morning.” He gave Addison a hug and then turned towards the hallway and his room, phone in hand.
“Don’t stay up too late, okay?” Addison called after him. She knew he was going to call Taylor and talk about the offer. They had been dating since their freshmen year of high school. She wondered how their relationship would withstand a test like this. Ryan squeezed her shoulder.
“I can see your wheels turning, Mama Bear. We have to let him navigate this one and just listen when he needs us.”
“I know. You’re a smart man, Ryan Fischer. Growing up is hard.”
CHAPTER 43
After five days of radio silence, Laina gave in and called Emmitt on Wednesday night. She waited until she knew that he’d be home so that he would have a real conversation with her. He was extra guarded at the office.
“It’s about damn time, Laina.” Emmitt barked when he answered her call.
“Oh, thanks, Emmitt. I’ve missed you too. How are things out west these days?” She poured on the sweetness to really get under his skin.
“Cut the crap. You are not to leave me out of the loop like this. We had an agreement.”
“No, you gave instructions and assumed that they’d be followed.”
“Damnit, Laina! I’m your boss. I give instructions—”
“Are you finished? I can call back tomorrow instead.”
“Get on with it.”
“This is a partnership. We both know things. We’re both in this. So, you are going to have to give me some freedom of artistic license here.” She waited for him to respond. She could practically hear him stomping around his apartment.
“We need to discuss how we approach the non-science portion of this adventure before springing a plan into action.”
“Fine, Emmitt. I’ll do my best. Now, I got to try the technique myself today under Anthony’s guidance. He says that I’m a natural. I got a patch on several cells this afternoon. I’m going to watch his experiment again tomorrow to pick up any pointers, but next week, I get to fly solo.”
“Great job, Laina! Who knows? Maybe you will wrap this up in half the time we expected.” Emmitt had calmed considerably.
“Okay, pay attention. I’m going to send two emails tomorrow. One will be just to you with my data file. The other will be to you and Addison with what looks like the same file, but it will have my tracker key attached. When she opens it—”
“Laina—”
“Excuse me. I am not finished, Partner. When she opens it, the tracker will embed itself into her computer and be activated. She won’t notice; it’s invisible to all the anti-virus software.”
“What if she does notice?”
“She won’t. I’m telling you. It’s virtually invisible.”
“Okay, so what’s your plan to keep next week’s experiment on the DL?”
“DL? Emmitt, please. Don’t try to be cool. I’m going to go in early. Do the bulk of the experiment before anyone else is there to see anything.”
“What about lab meeting? Won’t you have to give an update or something?”
“I will just say that I haven’t fully mastered the process yet and that I’m not ready to present.”
“What will you say if they ask why you are working alone?”
“Emmitt, we’ve already talked about this. Remember? I’m going to say that I’m trying to stay out of Anthony’s way so that he can get his project finished. Write his dissertation and a paper, you know. It sounds completely innocent and responsible. We went over all of this before I left. Why are we rehashing this again?”
