Dear miRcorers,
I walked around a pond covered with snow this afternoon and realized that I could still enjoy winter despite the cold weather. Copying from someone, Happy December!
Though we have been slow in research progress this year due to the complex host pathogen interaction to understand, we will advance our research to get initial results of biomarker and disease hypothesis before the winter break. At the end of this weekend’s meeting, all groups will submit your research progress so that we can advise research advances for the December 13/14 weekend group work and your group’s winter break plans.
1) 13th MVP meeting agenda
1:30-2 pm ET: Office hour run by education committee
2-2:08 pm ET: String review
2:08-2:15 pm ET: Share your vaccine advocacy and research progress
2:15-2:20 pm ET: Student teaching
2:20-2:35 pm ET: Committee announcement
2:35-3 pm ET: New students: GO + KEGG | Returning students: Manuscript writing Introduction
3-4 pm: Group activities
4-4:30 pm: Committee meeting
2) December 13/14: Holiday party
As our MVP tradition, we will hold the student teaching competition on December 13/14 as our holiday party. This year, let’s add a student talent show. Please add your interest in either teaching competition (details from Education committee) or talent show in this weekend’s attendance projection form. First come first serve.
After December 13/14’s meeting, we will have a winter break and meet on January 10th, 2026.
3) From the NorCal Committee
Hi Norcal MVPers! We’re holding a bake sale fundraiser on Saturday 12/13 from 9am to 12pm. If you’re able, please come support us at Safeway: 15549 Union Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95032! Hope to see you there.
Note from me: While this will be a great way to add your mandatory fundraising hours, it’s an excellent way to have a local MVPers holiday party aligning well with MVP theme!
4) From the SoCal Committee
Here’s a reminder to buy Regals tickets through the MVP fundraiser using this link.
5) From the Education Committee
Are you interested in presenting on a topic that interests you? If so, we’d like to share an exciting opportunity! We will be hosting an MVP-wide Student Teaching Competition during the first half of the MVP meeting on Saturday, December 13. If you’d like to teach, please fill out the form in the email by Sunday, December 7th at the latest. All selected student teachers will be notified. Please remember that presentations should be no longer than five minutes and be somewhat related to miRcore content!
Feel free to reach out to Education Committee officers if you have specific questions.
6) Groups and attendance projection form
Consult the weekly email for the form link. Group: We updated groups before the last meeting and now it’s mostly settled.
attendance. Please respond as soon as possible. If you don’t submit the form by Friday 11 pm ET, you are not guaranteed to get this weekend’s meeting link.
Thanks for reading the important messages above as you pledged to sign up for MVP.
Inhan Lee, Ph.D.
Have Questions?
Visit the FAQ page to see commonly asked questions and their answers!
Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH talks to miRcore students about the role of genomics in modern medicine.
Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.Director, National Institute of Health speaks to miRcore students about COVID-19, health disparities, and precision medicine.
Jonathan Pevsner, Ph.D, Chief of Genomics Research Branch, NIMH, NIH speaks to miRcore students on the topic of Genes and Mental Health.
• March trilogy (graphic novel, multiple authors)
• Bone series (graphic novel, Jeff Smith)
• The Door Within (Wayne Thomas Batson)
• To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• Candide (Voltaire)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexander Dumas)
• Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
• I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai)
• The Cactus (Sarah Haywood)
• 1984 (George Orwell)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Kelly Barnhill)
• The Woman in Cabin 10 (Ruth Ware)
• The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
• Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein)
• The Farewell (2019)
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
• Office Space (1999)
• Vinland Saga (Summer 2019 Anime)
• What Happened to Monday (2017)
• Always Be My Maybe (2019)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Gattaca (1997)
• Re:Zero (Spring 2016 Anime)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• “I decided to memorize the dictionary. I got through six pages before I got too bored. I learned next to nothing.”
• Trust Me, I’m a “Biologist”
• “What’s the difference between a poorly dressed person on a bicycle and a well dressed person on a tricycle? Attire.”
• “Why should you save your pennies? Because it makes good cents”
• xkcd
• “Medieval medicine wasn’t always on point, but those medieval physicians sure had a sense of humour!”
• “Twin 1 is in prison for 20 years. After 10 years, he calls his twin.’Hey, remember how we always said we finish each other’s sentences?'”
• “We really need to stop talking about mitosis… it’s such a divisive issue!”
• “A chemist walks into a bar with his friend after work. He tells the bartender, “Can I get an H2O?” His buddy looks at him strangely. “George, you don’t have to say it like that. We’re not at work anymore.”
The first chemist walks into the bathroom and cries. His assassination plot has failed.”
• “Haikus are easy / But sometimes they don’t make sense / Refrigerator”
• “‘My ability to do calculus is limited.’
‘Is it approaching zero?'”
• “‘You got any sodium jokes?’
‘Na!'”
• (^in response^) “I slapped my neon that one!”
• “‘I tried to sue the airline for losing my luggage’
‘Did you win?’
‘I lost the case'”
• Checklists/scheduling
• Planning something enjoyable after studying
• Switching between studying and relaxing
• Using a dedicated study room to shift mindset
• Forest app
• Pomodoro method
• Turning off notifications (Do Not Disturb)
• Classical music/marches
• Turn off any music so it’s not distracting
How to Use Zoom, MVP GDrive, and Skribbl.io
How to use Zoom
Zoom is a free platform that offers video conferencing, screen sharing, and chatroom functionalities. You can seamlessly set up online meetings, send out invitations for people to join, and add meetings to your Microsoft Outlook/Google Calendar using Zoom. All miRcore volunteers are expected to have Zoom installed for use in group research meetings and committee meetings.
You can download the Zoom Desktop application (the “Zoom Client”) for Mac or PC here: here.
Instructions for setting up and using Zoom are available here.
The Zoom application is also available for mobile devices: Zoom at the App Store and Zoom on Google Play
How to Navigate the miRcore Volunteer Program’s Google Drive Folders
At the beginning of each volunteering season, miRcore volunteers receive access to several Google Drive folders containing resources for research, fundraising, and other miRcore activities. Depending on the folder, volunteers will have “View only” or “Editing” permission in each Drive folder.
Please see this presentation (courtesy of Rhea Cong, miRcore Volunteer Program Vice President, 2019-20) for details on how to navigate the Drive system and set up research folders for your research group: https://docs.google.com/
Google Drive Hierarchy (Folders and Subfolders)
• 2019-20 MVP Resources
• Useful files
• RNA division
• Practice Data
• Meeting Slides
• 2019-20 MVP Research
• MVP RNA
• MVP DNA
• MVP online
• MVP general
• Fundraisers
• miRcore Officers 2019-2020 (this folder is accessible only to miRcore Officers)
Skribbl.io Instructions
How to Join:
• Have one member go to skribbl.io
• Have that member click ‘Create Private Room’
• Change the settings to 8 rounds and 40 seconds per turn
• That group member will send the link (at the bottom) to the other people to join
• Once everybody has clicked the link and is in the room, press start!
The goal of the game is to try to guess what other people are drawing. When it’s your turn to draw, try to make your drawing convey the word you are given so that other people will be able to guess. The person with the most points wins.
Today’s game should start and wrap up in about 10 mins.