Week 1:
University of Iowa Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

June 3, 2013

My first week has been super busy! I am working in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology under Rob Cornell. His lab is looking at neurodegeneration in zebrafish and how it specifically relates to Parkinson’s disease. I am also a part of the  FUTURE program, so my time will be divided between the research I complete in lab and this program. I moved in a few days before I actually started. I am subletting a room in a house that is not too far from the building I’m working in. I will be living with six other people, and it’s been really fun getting to know them!

I had orientation on Wednesday through the FUTURE Program, and I met the other students and faculty involved in the program this year. Orientation included tours of the DNA facility and the Microscopy lab. We had our pictures taken both in a large group and with our respective faculty member and PI. I will be attending weekly meetings on Mondays, and they also offer seminars on Thursdays.

Most of my time in lab has been spent getting acquainted with where everything is and completing basic procedures. This was just to insure that I could accurately perform these tasks because I will be using them often as I conduct my research project. One of my favorite parts has been breeding the zebrafish and watching their embryos develop.

I have also been in the process of reading A LOT of scientific literature including 9 articles, 1 thesis paper, and 1 other paper, but who’s keeping count? We have weekly lab meetings on Fridays, so I just recently went to my first one. I was a little intimidated, but it was really interesting to hear about everyone’s project that they are working on and how that contributes to the overall goal of the lab. I’m very thankful that they have been so patient  with me and are willing to explain various concepts to make sure that I understand the point of the projects.

I have started one project that I am very excited about. Essentially, it is testing the affect of a combinations of drugs (PTU and NFN1) to see how they affect the melanocytes in these embryos. Due to how these drugs work, we are hoping to see PTU block NFN1’s ability to cause melanocyte death. For this project, I had to tear open a few of the embryonic sacs that the embryos are in, so I could fix them in a solution. These embryos are super tiny making this extremely hard to do. I can’t wait to see the results during the second week!