It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post, and this is for a couple (very good) reasons. First, I’ve been hard at work on a software package for making molecular dynamics data exploration more manageable. More on that in another post to come soon. Second, I had a major conference to prepare for, this being the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

I gave a talk at this meeting about our recent work on sodium proton antiporters. The talk was well-received and the questions allowed me to clarify details that I probably flew through during the 12 minutes I had to speak. I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to share my work to a full room.

Though the talk was a success, for me this last week was more a personal test in how quickly I can produce new data and distill useful information from it. I spent a significant amount of time over winter break and the first bit of January restructuring my workflow, and I am now significantly faster at this. It isn’t just pipeline, either; the new approach allows me to effectively explore my data to generate new inferences and quickly test them.

As an example: I discovered what would become a key element of my talk on Saturday night, and I gave that talk on Monday. It was a bit too much like playing with fire than I’d like to risk in future meetings, but it was well-worth it this time. The fast turn-around itself is encouraging, since it’s looking to be an indication of a very productive year.

The meeting also brought me in contact with a host of great peers (and giants) in the community. I’m glad I got to meet the faces to so many names in such a short period of time. I had great discussions and made new friends.

I’ll be spending the next few days relaxing in D.C., but I’m looking forward to getting back to the lab. Plenty of fresh ideas to work with in the coming year. Despite being physically exhausted, I am very pleased with my time in Baltimore.

— david