"We show here that the photoinduced changes in the size and hydration of a "smart" polymer chain coil can be used to regulate substrate access and enzyme activity when conjugated to the enzyme at a specific point just outside the active site. The photoresponsive polymers thus serve jointly as antennae and actuators that reversibly respond to distinct optical signals to switch the polymer–enzyme conjugates on and off, and work when the conjugate is free in solution or when immobilized on the muscle tissue."
Dr. Markku Varjosalo watched Micheal-ann with such a dominating stare, his already dark red thin lips were almost non-existent. His bright blue eyes practically bored a hole through her forehead, but she refused to be intimidated.
Although her eyes held small bags underneath them, and her white dress shirt was slightly wrinkled from her rush out of the door in the morning, she knew what she was talking about and that's all that mattered.
Gesturing to the slideshow she'd prepared she pointed to a picture of the changing muscle patterns in Simon, a little boy she'd worked on for over a year at Vassar's medical institute. The eleven year old blonde boy had the largest green eyes she'd ever seen and it had broken her heart nearly every day when she saw the way he fought to do things by himself. He'd snapped at the group of doctors she'd been integrated in so harshly the first time they'd come most of them asked to be re-assigned to different patients.
Her mother had taught her long ago that when things attack its because they are scared, and took that with a grain of salt and went back that same afternoon to talk to the little boy without her lab coat.
Soon, Simon had warmed up to her, and whenever she'd come in he'd show her new action figures he had received from his grandparents, as well as new comic books that had some funny new villain.
She never looked at him like a wounded thing, and because of it, he'd never been mean to her.
"Well, how do you know that it is the polymer repairing?" Dr. Varjosalo's tone was nasty and she wanted to shove her foot straight into his arse, sending the stick that was already there through the roof of his skull.
"The team I was on, did tests and research for over a year on Simon Dufay, and until we administered the polymer-enzyme had no changes whatsoever in his muscular tissue."
Micheal-ann felt like she was standing in the middle of a room, with hundreds of arrows pointed straight at her, only moments away from striking. She'd woken up late and in that it had given her no time to worry about her incoming presentation she was required to deliver, and now that worry reaped havoc on her.
The exhaustion of the night was bearing down on her shoulders as well. She'd spent more than half the night rolling from side to side her body refusing to relax, and the other part with nightmares that jarred her awake several times.
"Ms. Welsh, did you not hear me?" Jumping back to reality Micheal-ann smiled slowly at the annoyed doctor and cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry; I was distracted for a moment." After she spoke the words she knew she'd said the wrong thing and stopped herself from smacking herself in the forehead, and sure enough the doctor jumped on the weakness.
"And how, if distracted so easily, am I to believe you'll be an asset to my team in FIMM?" The Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine, that's what he used against her. The research she was sent here to do.
Micheal-ann bit her lip and nearly squeaked at the pain it delivered her, and out of reflex reached up to touch her still busted lip. Her fingers moved up to slowly run over her still bruised nose as her brain raced with an answer to cover her slip.
She'd been chosen for this, and now she couldn't even rebut a simple question. She should easily be able to do so, even if it was aimed in an attempt to embarrass her.
As her mind reeled, the doctor got a smug expression on his face and turned motioning to a woman who had shown her in, who began to stand up, no doubt in an attempt to shoo her off the podium.
Micheal-ann couldn't and wouldn't let that happen as she slapped the few papers she was holding on the small wooden podium before her and stalked out from behind it.
"You're to believe I'm an asset Dr. Varjosalo because I am the highest recommended lab assistant from the entire United State's bioengineering circuit, and I know what it is I'm talking about. I leave nothing to chance, and I work for everything I have. I am determined, and my intelligence, as well as my work are an asset to you whether you like me personally or not."
She felt practically giddy at the authoritative tone she managed to gain as she whipped the Finnish doctor into place with her mere words. His eye's widened and his mouth waggled open like a fish trying to breathe out of water.
The four other people in the room (Three women, one male), excluding the first woman, were staring at each other, not even bothering to whisper what all of them were thinking.
As she stood their, Micheal-ann suddenly began to feel foolish, and she was right in doing so as the anger that coursed through the short Finnish doctors eyes became more rapid as he stood from his seat his knuckles white.
"You will do well to remember Ms. American-sass that you are a part of my team, and talking back to me will get you sent back to your fat country faster than you can even utter polymer again, do you understand?" The three woman that had been watching her presentation had sick looks of satisfaction on their faces, as the male was biting his lip his own face holding a look of pity.
Micheal wanted to scream at him, to tell him exactly why her 'fat' country was better than this hell hole of ice, and to let him know exactly where he could put his team.
Instead she simply nodded and turned back gathering the papers she had thrown down, refusing to look anyone in the eye. She heard chairs scrap against flooring, as the others must of stood.
"Now, if you think to be compliant, follow us to the work station you'll be at for the next six months." Micheal didn't bother to even look at any of them as she strode to the projector, turning it off, and trudged down the few steps of the raised platform.
How stupid was she, trying to use sheer attitude to get her way. This wasn't American, and she'd been dumb enough to forget it. She might as well pack her bags and leave now, because no matter how hard she tried from that moment on, she knew the doctor would hound her like a mosquito on its blood source.
"For what it's worth, he didn't like you the moment he found out you were American." Startled that someone had spoken to her, Micheal-ann glanced up to find the one male who'd at least looked at her in pity.
He was about four inches taller than her, a lanky build with absolutely no muscle or color to him. He was as white as a sheet of paper, in fact so white his skin had that red sheen that told of over sun exposure. His orange hair was cut to a shaggy length, almost reaching his eyes, which matched hers with eerie precision. He also wore a white shirt, underneath a black day blazer and skinny tie that was sloppily thrown over the entire ensemble.
All in all, he looked just as tired as she felt, and friendlier than she most likely deserved.
"So I'm to assume, I didn't have a chance to begin with?"
"No. You didn't even have an inkling of a chance." Micheal-ann chuckled as she slapped the papers in her hand against her thigh, as he fell into step at her side, as they both followed the three women and the doctor they were cooing over.
"That's comforting." The man stuffed his hands into his black slacks and shrugged his shoulders, before he smiled at her and re-pulled a hand from one of his pockets.
"Hannu Tähti"
"Micheal-ann Welsh"
Grasping onto the thin man's hand, Micheal-ann earnestly smiled at the man, before motioning to the group ahead of them.
"And, I'm guessing they slept their way here?" Hannu full out laughed, bringing all three girls to glance behind them before turning back to the doctor whispering amongst themselves.
"You could say that." Hannu's accent was thick and Micheal-ann realized that he didn't normally speak in English and was happy that he'd bothered at all to make her feel included. It was nice to realize that at least one person would be on her side in this.
"And you?" Micheal-ann motioned towards the red-head and he grinned very goofily and placed a hand on his chest.
"I'm not so easy, besides I don't think I have enough cleavage to tempt the good doctor." The laugh that erupted from within Micheal was deafening as it tore through the quiet hallway they were moving through, and brought more than the four sets of eyes from the ones ahead of the.
Hannu glanced around at the staring Fin's and felt bad for the cute American. She was clearly a pistol and his countrymen were more the most judgmental on the planet when it came to being proper in public. They were going to have a field day with her clearly evident by even her appearance.
Her white dress shirt was slightly wrinkled, over a pair of black leather pants that were slightly baggy on her, her feet clad in a pair of leather sandals.
That amused him most, Sandals in Finland, she really was American.
Her hair was half pulled back by a very sparkly green butterfly pin, and her face was bare other than the bruise and cut that marred her beauty.
Micheal-ann Welsh was every bit the beautiful scatterbrained scholar Hannu had not expected.
"Sorry. I deserved that. Don't mind me." Micheal ran a hand through the bottom of her hair, twirling a strand around one of her fingers as she smiled apologetically towards the other workers around FIMM.
Hannu nudged her arm with his elbow and gestured towards the large double doors that the foursome had just disappeared into.
"Please keep your hands and feet in at all time, if you have any baggage please leave it at the terminal. Welcome to Hell American."
What felt like hundred of hours later, Micheal-ann practically fell out of the lab with her sanity half intact.
All day she'd received scathing insult one after another, not only from Markku Varjosalo but from his three lap-whores: Anneli, Johanna, and Veera.
The three women, who looked freakishly alike in appearance with matching black hair and muddy brown eyes, were viciously obvious with their attitudes and gossip. They had refused to speak English at all, and had taken pleasure in insulting her in Finnish all day. Of course she couldn't understand exactly what they said, but their mocking laughter and glares were enough to tell her the gist of what they spoke of.
Her only real saving grace all day had been Hannu, who'd snapped at the three harpies on more than one occasion in English, letting them have a piece of his mind. This clearly upset Johanna, who she could tell apart from the others only because of a small mole above the right corner of her mouth, whom glanced at Hannu with goo-goo eyes every time he turned to his work.
Hannu had kept her entertained with stories of nothing at all, and had often forgotten a plot or even a main character in most of the short ones he had attempted to tell her. He never outright laughed, just chuckled and she found him refreshing to say the least.
Dr. Varjosalo, clearly sexist, had really only given instructions to Hannu who then dolled out the work between the four of the women. Micheal had quickly realized that Hannu gave her the stimulating work, while the three harpies were given the left over's, or anything that wouldn't garner them any praise at all. Fool's work really.
It nearly broke her heart to realize that no matter the caustic wit of Hannu, she hated where she was at. At least back at Vassar she had Simon and a few friends that had lightened the depressing work, as well as truly gave her the inspiration to actually excel at her work. Here she could feel her brain wither away; focused more on how uncomfortable she was, rather than the complex forms of isotopes and other basics of the research.
"You survived." The matter of fact tone made her glare at Hannu who stood in front of her with his ever present stance of hands in his pockets his head cocked to one side.
"Barely. I might as well just serve up my jugular to the three witches and be done with it."
"I'd watch what I say, they might take the invitation." Blowing a raspberry, Micheal finished buttoning her dark blue pea coat, and then fluidly threw the strap of her bag across her chest. She was ready to get back home, and sleep. Be damned the equations she needed to finish, she could do that either when she woke up, or the next day between her breaks.
Hannu held the door to the front of the building open, and she slipped out onto the University's campus, into the crisp chilly air.
The campus was absolutely breathtaking, the architecture classic, and was blissfully clean. She'd seen so many dirty streets and areas in New York; she was nearly giddy to find Finland to be far cleaner than any where she'd ever been before in her life.
Shoving her hands into her pockets, Micheal-ann headed towards the main building, as well as the main street that ran in front of it to catch a cab.
"Well aren't we in a hurry." Micheal glanced to her left, and felt slightly ashamed. In the hurry he spoke of, Micheal hadn't even thought to offer to walk with Hannu who had ate up the distance she'd made quickly with only a few quick strides.
"I'm sorry, are you heading towards the administration building?" She fell into step next to his side as he offered his arm to her.
Micheal felt a tremor of sadness run throughout her as she thought of Ville and the fact that she hadn't heard from him after last night. Of course she'd coldly left him outside the pub, but she knew if she'd have lingered his eyes would have easily coaxed her into bringing him home with her and she needed to be focused.
A lot good that did, Micheal thought bitterly.
Hannu, slowly lowered his offered arm when a look of anguish past over Micheal-ann's face and awkwardly walked beside her as she began to stomp her feet her expression now dark.
Looking to her quiet companion, Micheal realized that she'd been throwing a silent tantrum and quickly fixed her loud steps and smiled halfheartedly at Hannu.
"Sorry, I was thinking of something."
"Well, I can honestly say I would not like to be that something." She grinned honestly and rolled her eyes looking forward across the open quad.
As they moved closer to the main building, she noticed the amount of people begin to increase with such a thickness she began to have to step around small groups of people clumped together with more and more frequency.
"What the heck is going on?" She asked Hannu as the crowd literally got so thick she couldn't see the street opening at the side of the administration building she'd entered that morning.
"Must be some celebrity."
"You guy's have those here?" The drole glare that Hannu gave her made her laugh as loud as she had earlier that day making several people around her flinch and move away from her.
She didn't have the time to be hurt or anything by them because a moment later she heard a woman to her right say a name she'd just been thinking about within her Finnish jabber.
"En ole kuullut noin Ville Valo luennointi tahansa kampukselta tänään! Jumala, jos vain voisimme päästä ja hänelle Stefania, en olisi kirjaimellisesti raiskaus hänet.." She didn't understand a damn thing the woman said other than Ville Valo and that had been enough.
She completely forgot about Hannu as she took a football stance and practically plowed down anyone in front of her as she fought her way through the dense crowd.
Micheal couldn't see where she was going, nor did she even know where Ville was, but she merely just followed the way people were facing, expecting them to be able to see far better than she could.
More than once she was yelled after by disgruntled Finnish people, as she literally began to elbow and shoulder her way through the dense crowd.
Just as she got through the very worst of it, she was stopped by a huge, fat man, who she literally could not get around. Short and squat, his width spread nearly three times her diameter and stumped her right then and there.
"Could you have eaten one less hamburger?" She hissed in the man's ear and his fat neck bulged as he turned to look at her confused, clearly not speaking English.
As she attempted to motion to him to please get the hell out of her way, the chattering and partial screaming increased to a monstrous din.
Looking past the fat man who had now turned back to face front wards, A very lithe body came into view, and she couldn't help smiling so widely her face immediately began to hurt. Her heart fluttered and she pulled a hand to her lips, wanting to squeal in a very unlady like way so badly it was bursting from within her.
Ville worked his way through the crowd of clambering students, very careful to protect to two large red sunflowers that he'd brought to surprise Micheal-ann after their first day apart since meeting. He'd specifically chosen both red for passionate love and the sun flower for adoration, and felt like a child with a macaroni necklace waiting for his parent to see what he'd done just for them.
He was trying to find the FIMM building where he'd been instructed to go for Bio-engineering and had only gotten a few paces from the main building when the hoards of students began to show up. He tried to be patient and nice to each and ever person but soon, he felt overwhelmed and worried he'd end up missing Micheal-ann.
So when he saw her tan face behind a blubbery man, he easily could have clicked his heels together and danced in place. He was blown away by how gorgeous she looked, all disheveled and with an angry expression across her delicate features.
He'd literally pushed past the people now in front of him, and he caught her eye finally as she looked up past the fat man she'd said something to. The smile she gave him in a movie would have made her look like a goddess but because it was reality she only looked really, really good.
Coming up to the fat man who looked close to popping out a few cakes, Ville could hardly contain himself as he asked the man dryly.
"Voisittekosiirtyäpoistieltä, jottavoinsuudellasulhaseni?" He moved so quickly, he might as well have not been there at all, and blissfully Ville was graced with Micheal-ann... wearing his leather pants.
Sheepishly holding the sunflowers towards her, Ville smiled wickedly.
"Here I thought I'd be sneaky and suprise you." Micheal-ann laughed and took the flowers from Ville's hand, completely enraptured with him. How he'd known sunflowers were her favorite was beyond her, and it made her that much more enthralled.
"It's the thought that counts."
"Does my thought earn me a 'hello' kiss?" Wagging his eyebrows, his smile grew even wickeder and Micheal-ann literally melted as she shyly smelt the flowers all thoughts of her horrible day retreating to the back of her mind, practically lost.
"Not a one." Ville gasped in horror as he stared at her, and Micheal-ann began to laugh immensly loud, again making several people around them flinch. It only made Ville's eyes smother her with admiration as he moved forward and gathered her in his arms.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, her sunflowers pressed against his back as she looked up at him, and was treated with a kiss that stuck her feet to the very concrete they stood on.
A whoop ran through the crowd as well as a groan, and people began to dissipate from around them, feeling awkward being so close to the kissing couple.
Ville felt calm for the first time since the night before and slowly pulled his lips away from the tingling kiss and pressed his forhead to her own staring into her big green eyes.
"You, Villie, are incredibly charming."
Micheal-ann didn't and couldnt acknowledge the people that still milled around them as he filled her entire presence of mind. Ville pulled an arm away from wrapping around her shoulders and pushed her hair away from her neck slipping his hand to rest against her jawline and cheek.
"Shut up."
Ville re-captured her lips, and Micheal had no problem with doing just that.
En ole kuullut noin Ville Valo luennointi tahansa kampukselta tänään! Jumala, jos vain voisimme päästä ja hänelle Stefania, en olisi kirjaimellisesti raiskaus hänet - I have not heard about Ville Valo lecturing anywhere on campus today! God, if only we could get to him Stefania, I would literally rape him.
voisittekosiirtyäpoistieltä, jottavoinsuudellasulhaseni? - Could you please move out of the way so I can kiss my fiance?