What Turns Me On

I am tired. VERY tired. I just submitted a grant a few weeks back, I am back at the bench, and have been sick on and off. I feel totally exhausted. So, each day I have been asking myself, "Why am I doing this?"

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have an answer. You see, ever since I can remember, I have always been interested in how things work. It has never been enough for me that things simply go from point A to point B. I want to know how things go from point A to point B. I also want to know what things influence something going from point A to point B. Also, my favorite part of organic chemistry was the mechanisms. They always seemed nothing short of beautiful to me.

So, THAT is why I do what I do. That is why the above mechanism rules my waking hours, and sometimes my sleeping hours.

For those so inclined, more details can be found in a wonderful mini review:
Stuehr,D.J., Santolini,J., Wang,Z., and Adak,S. (2004) J. Biol. Chem. 279, 36167-36170.

Knowing what makes something go from point A to point B turns me on.

Yeah, baby!