Week 5:
Carver College of Medicine

June 25, 2014

Fifth week already and I just realized that I never really posted a picture of the lab. So, here it is:

Well, this week we mostly focused on a single project (#1), since we’re still trying to insert a mutation in the DNA. So far we haven’t had much success, so we’re trying different approaches now. We’re going to start using a different set of primers to try and get this project going. I also worked with John Lueck, from the lab across the hall from us. I’ve actually been working with him for a while now, I’ve been working on the molecular biology part of his project, such as purifying DNA from a culture of bacteria, and running gels to check if what we have is actually what we were looking for.

I guess I never really mentioned this, but our jobs as undergrad students is not as glamorous as it sounds. We’re the ones to have to do the dishes, prepare media for the bacteria cultures, prepare agar plates to grow the bacteria,  autoclave (sterilize) everything, and take care of the biohazard and recycling bins.  It’s ok, it’s not like we have to do that all the time, but I guess mentioning it gives a more realistic perspective of what working in a lab is about. It’s a lot of fun though, mostly if you’re working with other undergrad students. I guess when I first started working there, I only had basic tasks such as the ones I just mentioned, but once you learn where everything is and you start understanding the projects more, you starting getting more independent and ”respected”.

I think that the most important thing about working in a lab though, is not only learning new lab techniques, but also learning new concepts of science. Gibbs (the alumnus I’ve been working with), who’s pretty much my buddy already, has been helping me a lot and teaching me so many ”interesting” things (as he would say). So basically, these last five weeks have been great, and I certainly learned a lot from my coworkers.