It was a lonely working day as almost all my colleagues were away in KL, attending a seminar.
The seminar, centred around Drug Development (Pre-Clinical Model), is jointly organised by ARF (Animal Research Facility) of Ipharm and IMR (Institute Medical Research) under a grant from MOSTI.
It was purportedly a very technical seminar conducted by a renowned cancer specialist from New York, Dr Elisa De Stanchina. I haven't read her resume yet (already downloaded her CV attachment given via our internal e-mail), but based on the circulating e-mail, she was described as an expert.
It could take up to two years to obtain result of carcinogenic study on rats, depending on the circumstances. Two years is a long time to conduct a study, more so for a flagging student like me. For comparison, I am currently halfway through an acute toxicity study involving rats (in vivo), which only lasts fourteen (14) days* to achieve the final result, and I am already exhausted.
Kak (Dr) Adel tried (unsuccessfully) to squeeze me in for a slot in the seminar, in view of my future study in this corresponding field. But her request was decently turned down by my Study Director, who insisted that I stay behind to take care of the animals.
Honestly I wanted to be in the seminar. Maybe lady luck was not on my side for this one.
There were only Syafif and Suraya left in this building. Both were stationed in Staff Room 1, which left me being a solitary person in Staff Room 2. Around noon, a short-circuit temporarily disrupted our internet connection (or a circuit test, I was given to understand that a test run was being conducted for our facility's wiring certification purposes).
Out of internet, and out of anything worthwhile to do since I had already wrapped up all my required task for today, I inserted my pen-drive and watched Captain America: The First Avenger on my laptop. Turning the speaker to full blast, I pretended as if I were the big boss of this room.
If only there were more days like this.
*Although the main observation (sighting) study of acute toxicity runs for a period of fourteen days, it is preceded by quarantine and acclimatisation stages, and subsequently succeeded by a post-mortem. Together all these steps run into a month before the final report could be issued.
*Although the main observation (sighting) study of acute toxicity runs for a period of fourteen days, it is preceded by quarantine and acclimatisation stages, and subsequently succeeded by a post-mortem. Together all these steps run into a month before the final report could be issued.
