By Alex G.
“Yo yo yo yo”
We’re in the final stretch. I know this because today is the first day in which the faculty did not once force us to play a game—or even take a break.
We started off the morning at 8am PST with a special guest lecture from Nobel Laureate Dr. Jim Allison and his wife Dr. Padmanee (Pam) Sharma. Dr. Allison spent the first half of the lecture talking about the discovery of Ipilimumab and the mechanisms by which anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 enable T-cells to attack cancerous tumor cells. Though his lecture was much more involved than his documentary “Jim Allison: Breakthrough,” I was surprisingly still able to follow along (unlike his Nobel Lecture, during which I pretty much got lost after the first minute). Dr. Sharma led the second half of the lecture, focusing more on the current questions in immune checkpoint therapy and the research into solving these problems. Notably, she talked about how a unique clinical trial process shed light on novel immunotherapy targets and inspired our curiosity for the future of immune checkpoint therapy research.
Afterwards, I hopped on a call with Ms. Latus to help plan the SSP IU merch! We decided to offer 3 articles of clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, and long-sleeve shirts) in 4 colors (white, natural, light gray, and light blue).
When I came up with the design last week, I was inspired by the Virgil Abloh x IKEA “Receipt” rug. I added all the research groups into the general section of the bill (I definitely did not intentionally make our team the most expensive group). The TA’s iconic items went into the groceries section. Devin’s Dolla, aptly valued at $1.00, will always be my favorite part of this design (shoutout to Charis for this idea). Helen seemed disappointed that her iconic Lo-Fi beats were free, but at least they were a positive contribution to society (unlike Saj’s prison industrial complex, #freesajscat). Finally, the senior faculty’s iconic items were in the drugstore section. Ultimately, the entire SSP shopping experience was PRICELESS.
Afterwards, we spent most of Class Activity and TA Block finishing up our research project, with occasional visits from Sai variants. (This is a reference to Loki) These Sai variants made sure to address the entire group #UncancelSai #ForAllTimeAlways (see “A Very Sai-entific Day” ).
The day ended with an unboxing of my QOD prize. Following the spirit of the week 1 QOD prize (Matthew’s transparent puzzle), the week 2 prize was a completely white puzzle. Considering I cannot even solve a normal puzzle, I don’t know if I will ever get the courage (or boredom) to attempt this puzzle. But if I ever do finish it, at least I will be able to paint a custom puzzle
As the research paper deadline approaches (72 hours left), our sleep-deprivation becomes more and more apparent. Charis becomes more of a toddler, Claire actually makes mistakes, and I lose the ability to comprehend time zones.
Anyhow, it is past my bedtime.
I will end the blog how I started it—with the words of our beloved William:
“Peace peace peace peace.”
