Acknowledgements:
I'd like to thank everybody that helped me get this far. First, thanks, Mom and Dad. You put up with a lot of shenanigans from me, and I'm happy I got to give you a 6-week vacation. Love you guys. Second, thank you, Lori Ball, for selecting me for the program. I hope the gamble paid off well. Third, thank you, Dr. Patrick Burns, for letting me rampage the lab for 6 weeks. I've learned so much, and if anybody asks, I'll be sure to tell them that science isn't fun. Fourth, thank you, Michele Plewes, for putting up with me. I know I can be a lot to handle sometimes, and I would like to thank you for keeping your cool through it all. Fifth, thank you, Pete Graham, for helping me straighten my paper out. And I'm sorry, but now that there's a website, the whole world knows what Pete at UNC I'm talking about. Sixth, thank you, Amy Dunn, for reading my paper over and over again when I'm sure there were more fun things to do than read about lipid microdomains and proteins. Seventh, I'd like to thank my sponsors. Thank you Adolph Coors Foundation. I couldn't have done it without you. I am so happy that I was able to take such an opportunity. And finally, thank you to all of the lab assistants and FSI staff. Thank you so much for teaching me and helping me grow as a scientist as well as a person. Life is a journey. Thank you everybody for helping me take the first stumbling steps. With you, I'm not as alone as I like to think I am. But we all know I'm not ready to take off quite yet.