1861310 seconds-ish

After 3 years, 7 months, and 19 days I have submitted a 43,519 word document, entitled 'The role of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 in Alzheimer's disease', that only two people in the world will read. Sounds like a good read, doesn't it? Here is the only thing most people will care to read, the acknowledgements:

First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Peter “Doddy” Dodd for being my mentor, friend, and father. You taught me so much about life, science, and unfortunately statistics. I am grateful to have had the experience of working for you. A special thanks to my Aussie brothers; Rudi “Dr. T” Tannenberg, Dustin “Newbes” Proctor, and Florian “Flosi-bär” Gebhardt, I cannot imagine working in a place where a helicopter did not fly, where music did not play, and where laughter was not heard. My experience was better for having had y’all around. To Allison “Alli E” Eckert; for being an excellent example of what I want to be when I grow up. Without you, the lab would cease to function.

Thanks to Drs. Naomi Etheridge, Diane Dennis, and Scott Stanfield for their generous help in proteomics; to Dr. Niels Danbolt and Dr. David Pow for their charitable donation of antibodies; to Dr. David Innes for his gentle persuasion and sharing his molecular biology expertise; to Drs. Robert Vandenberg and Ann Mitrovic for their invaluable help with electrophysiological techniques.

I am indebted to the donors and their families, without which this project would not have been possible and to neuropathologists Drs. Anthony Tannenberg and Thomas Robertson.

I am forever grateful to Ryan “Wally” Walton for undertaking this adventure with me; to Rita Tower for teaching me the meaning of the words, hard-work and dedication; to Andreea “Schnelba” Saileanu-Martin and Jaklin “Kitten” Kaden for always reminding me that home was just on the other end of a phone call. A special non-thank you to Lt. Ellis “Mr. Flames” Caffin for coming up with ridiculously fun stuff to do while I was trying to write my thesis. This thesis is dedicated to my parents for their continual support, for telling me that I could be anything I wanted, for leading by example, and most importantly, for being my friends.

And lastly to Kate, my most significant other, I don’t know who I am without you. I could not have done this without knowing all the support, all the love that I needed could be obtained by picking up the phone and calling you.