The Great DBH Rant

For the first time in my PhD, I get to step out of the British Isles “on business” – to Erice in Sicily. This is a wonderful, almost purpose built town for international conferences set at the top of a mountain, so the views were absolutely magnificent, as were the Italian sunshine, food and wine. The pics are on my website (www.baptista.co.uk). The meeting was on ion channels and transporters, so right up my street, or so I thought. The meeting turned out to be a week-long crash course on structural biochemistry. Lots of colourful pictures and lots of Nature quality work, but all going straight over my head as well. It would have been nice if there had been a bit more functional data so I could at least act like I belonged there. I did present a poster on my own work but since it didn’t contain a lot of fancy figures and structural implications (well after all we don’t have a crystal structure for the ryanodine receptor), it did not generate a whole lot of interest. Nevertheless, I met a lot of wonderful people who I full intend on keeping in contact.