Dan Trcka

Updated September 2013.

....Dear reader, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Daniel Trcka and much like yourself, I am a wine enthusiast.

My wine story
....I am inherently curious and have always had the need to figure out how things work – this drive has led me to become as I am today. It is always interesting how passions evolve before they become entities that engulf oneself and become him or herself. My passion began the day when I decided to make my own wine. Thinking that my creation must fare better than the cheapest 1.5L table wine I went ahead and surprisingly achieved it. Naturally, this then led to a simple question “what makes one wine better than another”? The somewhat complicated answer took me on a quest to learn about the complexity and the range of ‘tastes’ – first seeking the answer in a pursuit of knowledge (I highly recommend reading a 926 page book titled WINE by Andre Domine), and then finding it by training my sense of smell (54 scent Les-Nes-Du-Vin kit, also highly recommended) and learning how to listen to it. Subsequently, natural progression (for me) was to share my passion and the newly gained knowledge, and so I started reviewing wines on the WineAlign website, and Natalie MacLean’s site, but these not fully satisfying my need to express myself, I developed this webpage and launched it on July 19th, 2012.

My palate
....Let’s face it, I love red wines and even though I appreciate white wine, I really enjoy reds. My palate is quite varied, meaning that I enjoy all sorts of wines ranging from light bodied aromatic Pinot Noirs, fruity Barberas or tannic Nebbiolos to full-bodied green Carmeneres, refined Cabernets or jammy Malbecs or Shirazes. If I go by the numbers, then in the not-so-distant-past, Rioja’s Tempranillo followed by Piedmont’s Nebbiolo and Tuscan Sangiovese were the most common guests on my dinner table; though recently Ontarian wines (mainly whites) have become quite frequent and welcomed visitors. I enjoy wines that spent some time in oak, acquiring some toasty/woody notes that add to their complexity; prefer mid-aged (integrated) wines, but don’t shy away from youthful and fruitful ones; and I pay attention to the trueness of the grape. I hope that knowing this will help in deciding whether my palate matches yours.

Other than wine, what do I do
....I am fortunate to work in a prestigious research institute, on a fascinating, cutting edge project, for a professor who is one of the smartest men I know and with colleagues that are a friendly, knowledgeable bunch. We are trying to understand what makes stem cells – stem cells; specifically, we convert regular cells into stem cell like cells, using mice and mouse cells as our model. We then use these cells to generate mouse embryos, from which we isolate differentiated embryonic cells and induce them to undergo secondary, synchronized reprogramming into a stem cell like cells. We can study this secondary reprogramming and gain insights that bring us ever closer to personalized medicine in hope that one day we, the mankind, will be able to convert one’s cells into body’s deficient or damaged cells thus restoring health.

My contribution to scientific advancement
– MBNL proteins repress ES-cell-specific alternative splicing and reprogramming.
.. Nature June 13th, 2013.

– A late transition in somatic cell reprogramming requires regulators distinct from the pluripotency network.
.. Cell Stem Cell December 7th, 2012.

– Discoidin domain receptor-1 deficiency attenuates atherosclerotic calcification and smooth muscle cell-mediated mineralization.
.. American Journal of Pathology. November 5th, 2009.

– Collagen stimulates discoidin domain receptor 1 mediated migration of smooth muscle cells through Src.
.. Journal of Cardiovascular Pathology. January 19th, 2010.

– The in vitro real-time oscillation monitoring system identifies potential entrainment factors for circadian clocks.
.. BMC Mol Biol February 16th, 2006.

Contribution Acknowledgement
– Matrix-dependent adhesion of vascular and valvular endothelial cells in microfluidic channels.
.. Lab Chip August 7th, 2006.

– Transcriptional oscillation of canonical clock genes in mouse peripheral tissues.
.. BMC Mol Biol June 16th, 2004.

– Fez1 is layer-specifically expressed in the adult mouse neocortex.
.. European Journal of Neuroscience December 2nd, 2004.

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