Why hello there, goosegrass. :)

My mother being a Chemistry teacher asked me one day during my summer break about my plans on my thesis topic. To be honest, I haven't come up with anything at all. I mean, I just got back from my on-the-job training in the lovely terrains of Leyte at that time and seriously, the idea of coming up of a thesis topic was not part of my summer itinerary. Although that should have been my primary concern at the time since my first semester of my (hopefully) last academic year in the university is just a few weeks away. And ideally, my senior year as a science major should be devoted to the creation of my thesis. So there, I told her NO. Without hesitations. She's my mother and even if I attempt to give her an un-unravelable (word borrowed from Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper of The Big Bang Theory) lie, she's experienced enough to untangle the knots of lies I tied for her. Well, lucky for me she had something in mind or rather her aunt had something in mind. Her aunt, who currently resides in the United States called her and honestly I didn't know what they were talking about and how they'd end up discussing a certain weed used as febrifuge in our country. So my mother said, "Why don't you try and look for the scientific name of this weed? It'll do you good one day." And I did. But I found nothing. I mean, my resources are scarce and frankly, I don't even know how this weed looks like. My motivation to do some research on the weed vanished as soon as I got calls from friends who wanted to meet up. I was away from home for several months and it was summer break. The thought of still not having been able to come up with a thesis topic was far from daunting. So I spent the remaining days of my summer completely ignoring my responsibility as an incoming senior science major. 

I returned to the university without any progress on my thesis topic. I became preoccupied with the hype of starting a new semester. Just before the end of June, my mother sent me a text telling me that the English name of the weed is goosegrass. I thought: Well, I could start from here. I did my part of the research. I learned that its scientific name is Eleusine indica L. Gaerth. This grass (or weed) is from the Poaceae family. Based on the number of published journals I found on this weed, I'd say, this weed wasn't that "ignored" after all. Its antioxidant and antimicrobial activity has already been studied. Due to the wide variety of uses of this weed, several ethnomedical and ethnopharmalogical studies had been made about it. The list isn't that long yet but the results of the studies are promising. It has been studied for antiplasmoidal activity, anti-inflammatory activity and even anti-carcinogenic activity. I emailed my adviser immediately after scanning a few journals. We met a few days after she replied to my email. We discussed a bit on the possible things I could do with this weed but yeah, like any other thesis student, I was told to read more about the weed. At that time, I still have no clue as to what bioactivity of the plant I'd like to focus my research on. But I knew that I wanted goosegrass to be the subject of my research.

Come Chem 196. The essential push I need to get my ass working on my thesis. To be honest, I squandered the first two months of my first semester on some things that didn't matter. I feel a bit regretful for not going full-time on my research for the last two months. I mean, two months?! Come on, that's a significant amount of time given that I'm only have a year to finish my research. See, my professor in Chem 196 "ordered" us to submit our thesis titles last August 6. Well, I did submit my title on that day but I wasn't able to beat the 12:00 nn deadline he gave. So yeah, I have no idea what will happen to me now. haha! I spent an afternoon coming up with a decent informal proposal to my thesis adviser. I researched more on the medicinal uses of goosegrass. I found something I thought was doable in my adviser's lab so I emailed my adviser before the set deadline. Imagine the happiness that flooded in me when I got her reply which was a big YES!

So there... I am all set to do my research for my final year in the university (hopefully). I'm currently wearing my game face on for my thesis. I now have with me some journals I'll be reading for the next few days. I'm also trying to readjust my schedule to make more time for my thesis. Basically, I'm doing some prep work here. Because you see, being prepared and motivated to do your thesis is just as important as to actually doing and finishing it.

Behold! The Indian Goosegrass (Eleusine indica) Photo taken from   http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/images/ipm1007goosegrass03.jpg

P.S: I thank the universe for conspiring the events that took place at the day my mother and her aunt discussed about goosegrass. Why hello there goosegrass. :) I'll be working with you for the next several months. I'm a bit nervous about my research on you but there's no turning back now.