学院的Nancy是个可爱的小姑娘，是华人第二代。她的研究是有关眼内微循环，正在完成她的博士论文 “Visualising the internal micro-circulation of the ocular lens in rodents”。Nancy给人的印象很阳光，开朗。去年开会时我们的talk在同一session, 并听过她的两次博士项目进展报告。她思路敏捷，语言清晰自信，讲座富有感染力。第二次报告会上她说刚从英联邦运动会归来（大会在印度举办，但击剑分项目在墨尔本）。但我们不知道她，这个小小个的姑娘，竟然获得击剑(fencing)项目的铜牌（团体一员）！

原来她因为身材不高，其他体育项目劣势，所以选择了击剑这个项目，从中学就开始练起。进大学更是如鱼得水。加之性格开朗，办事利落，当上了大学击剑俱乐部主席，还在国家队参加训练。

很欣赏这样学术研究之余不拉下体育竞技爱好的优秀人才。科学研究之路漫长而艰辛，运动一可休息，二可锤炼意志。要把体育锻炼提到与读文献一样的高度来重视！

附Nancy第二次博士汇报会abstract:

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Involvement of MP20 in the formation of macro-molecular diffusion pathway

Cataracts are the leading cause of  blindness. In order to understand  this disease, we must first understand the underlying physiology of a normal lens.Traditionally, intercellular communication in the avascular lens was thought to be mediated by gap junction (GJ) channels. More recently, an alternative and parallel intercellular communication pathway has been discovered, that develops in the inner-cortex permeable to large macro-molecules and do not normally pass through GJ channels. MP20, a putative lens specific adhesion protein has been implicated in the formation of this macromolecular-diffusion-pathway (MDP), since in MP20 knock-out mice the MDP did not form. In the rat lenses, MP20 has been show to be initially localised in the cytoplasm of differentiating fibre cells, and inserts into the membranes following nuclei degradation, suggesting that MP20 insertion may play a role in the formation of the MDP. In the mouse lens, MP20 insertion into the membrane precedes the loss of nuclei unlike in the rat lens.

To further investigate the relationship between MP20 and MDP formation we have utilised immunocytochemistry and Two-Photon-Excitation-Flash-Photolysis (TPEFP) on half-cut rodent lens loaded with the GJ impermeable caged fluorescein-dextran (MW=10kDa) to correlate MP20 insertion with the formation of the MDP in rodent lens. By exploiting the species specific differences in the differentiation dependent insertion of MP20 detected by immunocytochemistry, and the TPEFP induced transfer of Fluorescein-dextran as a functional indicator of MDP formation, we have shown that formation of the MDP correlates with the insertion of MP20 in both rat and mouse lenses.

In the absence of MP20, caged fluorescein-dextran is restricted within the source cell unable to diffuse to the neighbouring fibre cells indicating the absence of the MDP. This is the first time real-time functional technique has been used to show the importance of MP20 in the formation of MDP.

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