56th Annual ASMS General Meeting

Im in Denver at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) 56th Annual General Meeting. It's been going very well. Been seeing some interesting stuff. There a lot of men in Mass Spec so that equates to lots of testosterone and lots of ego. LOL.

Ive gone quite a number of conferences and when comparing this to previous ones there are some pros, some cons, and some surprises. LOL. This conference is very conveniently set up so the registrants are not bombarded. Whenever there are plenary sessions, thats all thats happening. And when there are poster presentations, thats all thats happening. Only time you need to chose what to do or where to go is the 2:30-4:30pm oral sessions and the 5-7:30pm workshops. It's really planned so the registrant gets the most out of it. Oral sessions are super huge (Denver Convention Center is no joke. Gigantic rooms). I cant wait for my mentor to see this convention center (AACR - American Association for Cancer Research will be here next April). Oh and the food is decent too. Staff here is awesome too; very polite and helpful. And the technicians are very on-point. I was at AACR this past April and there were 12-too-many technical problems during oral presentations. Here's its fluid. Flows and very on point.

As I said before there are a lot of men in Mass Spec; lots of egos therefore. Seen three presenters being torn up by what were supposed to be questions from the audience, but instead people going to the mic to tell them blatantly whats crap about their work and their misuse of words to mislead the audience. One person actually went to the mic and said 'let me clarify for the audience what you have misled them into believing..." I was like WOAH!!!! Never seen this before. WOW! Now Im happy I turned down the Oral Presentation and just stuck to a Poster Presentation only. Male egos are hilarious!

It's very cool because Im learning alot. Im happy I came - and to think I almost turned down the invite. Hmmmmm. And unlike other conferences that Ive attended where Im probably one of two ceramide presenters, here there are posters and oral presentations. Justl lovely. My type of Scientists. LOL. Ive heard some interesting stuff and seen some interesting work. Im at the point now that I read the literature and I come to conferences like these and knowing what I know from my work I have way more questions than answers. Im beginning to feel like I really dont know that much at all. LOL. I was working on my orals this evening and was like there are sooooo many angles from which I could look at my data and even more things to pursue. Im getting attached too that I want to see all the questions answered, but then I'll be a student forever. LOL. And Gyasi wont have it. LOL. Us in this is one and quarter income home. LOL. Anyways, I really like this conference. I really do. It's very beneficial and Im seeing even more how big the world is and how many career opportunities are out there for me based on what Ive been exposed to at Loma Linda. I see all these BIG shots and I hear them talk and Im like "I can do that" "I know that" and its a good feeling.

OHHHHHHHHHHHH! Have to share this with you; almost forgot. Today in one of the oral presentations, I GOT UP AND ASKED A QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!! Presenter was a Prof from UPenn presenting on using MS in Glycolipidomics... right up my alley. LOL. Was a good confidence boost that I actually had a question and had the courage to go ask it in front of all those people. LOL. Sphingolipid research is huge and important. I love my work!

Back to my writing. Much love until next time.