Graduation and Beyond

Five years ago, I started a journey that was more challenging than I had ever expected -- gave up my work in IT and began a study in a subject that was totally new to me. I guess the most difficult thing is that, as a PhD student in the States, you will never know when exactly you can graduate until the very last minute. Knowing the nature of research, it should not be anything surprising; however, getting through it is really another matter. Like what in the PhD comics, it is absolutely not easy to see all the achievements (buying houses, getting promotions, having children, etc) of your friends in the same year while you are still a student at the ground level :-P

I wasn't sure I had made a right decision, and I am still not sure yet. Nevertheless, I have certainly learnt a lot in many aspects throughout the years, which I am sure I would not have time to learn or even think about it if I were still working in Hong Kong. With no doubt, doing a PhD is definitely a tough process. But in retrospect, its certainly an unforgettable and fruitful experience for life. So yes, by the time of this writing, I have basically graduated or otherwise I would be still complaining this and that :-) I am delighted to annouce that I successfully defended my thesis on May 20 followed by the submission of it on May 25.

So what's next? there must be a reason for taking one and a half months to update this blog :-P In the past two months, I was super duper busy not only with preparing for my graduation, but also with packing things for relocation -- because I got a Postdoc offer at Stanford starting from June. (Postdoc is actually a postdoctoral training for one to three years after a PhD degree.) So yes, I am still sort of a student, and looking forward to get a permanent job some day :-)

Last but not least, my graduation would not be possible without the support from all my friends, families and especially my dearest wife. Thank you!

My Graduation Progress

Just submitted the first draft of my thesis and the presentation for the defense to my advisor. Now waiting for confirming the date of defense and I will be all set for my PhD! Can't wait to move on and start something new in somewhere new :-)

New Way To Locate Big Genetic Variants

Finally published my paper. And its on Yale News too!

New Haven, Conn. — Yale University researchers, analyzing hundreds of billions of bits of genetic information, have collated and standardized 2,000 signposts that mark the boundaries of large blocks of human genomic variants.


See more...

Citation: Lam et al. Nucleotide-resolution analysis of structural variants using BreakSeq and a breakpoint library. Nature Biotechnology. 2010 Jan;28(1):47-55. Epub 2009 Dec 27.

PubMed ID: 20037582

The Dolphin has arrived

My wife has finally come to the States. After separating for almost two years since our marriage, we are now experiencing the same 'honeymoon' period like the couple months after we just got married. It's sweet, it's life. Of course, I started to have a pretty 'up-scale' catering provided, as you can see from her new blog, Dolphin-icious:

http://dolphinicious.blogspot.com/