August 4, 2021 | My last week in Dr. Yuan’s laboratory was the end of an experience for me but the start of something new for the lab. I continued working on my previous experiment. It looks as though all our samples will be completed by next week by the other lab members. As I prepared to leave Blacksburg, […]

July 27, 2021 | This week in the lab, I continued working on my previous experiment and took care of some housekeeping around our lab. We ran into some trouble with the freezers storing all of our samples, so a few other lab members and I worked to quickly move everything to another freezer. This created a new hurdle […]

July 21, 2021 | More and More Assays This week I spent a good amount of time helping to run samples for antigen ELISA and antibody ELISA. I had not been able to look over the protocol and completely understand the antigen assay before now, so it was nice to help run it and further my understanding. We do […]

July 14, 2021 | Science is Cool I officially finished testing all antibody ELISA samples this week and have done some preliminary data analysis. Everything from this round of the study seems to match up, as expected, with the previous two rounds. This is good news, showing that our data is consistent, which will allow for better analysis. I […]

July 8, 2021 | Some Trial and Error As I have described before, the Yuan laboratory I have been working in this summer does research on rotavirus vaccines. On top of that amazing work, Dr. Yuan and her lab also work on norovirus vaccines. Norovirus causes symptoms similar to rotavirus, including diarrhea and vomiting, fever, stomach pain, and more. […]

July 8, 2021 |    Work Hard This week I began testing the large number of samples I had taken last week. The lab and I began by analyzing the data from some of the samples we tested during our sample collection. I had the opportunity to practice analyzing antibody ELISPOT assay plates. This test is done to mark antibody-producing […]

June 23, 2021 |     Valuable Long Nights This week, the lab and I concluded sample collections for this round of the current rotavirus vaccine study. The next round of the same study will begin in August, and in the meantime, we will be analyzing the samples we have taken. This week was full of long hours and […]

June 15, 2021 | This is Real Life “By age 5, nearly every child will have an episode of rotavirus gastroenteritis.” -Umesh Parashar, CDC publication Rotavirus is an enteric virus that causes gastroenteritis and other gastrointestinal issues. The main symptom is diarrhea and resulting dehydration. Umesh Parashar CDC publication tells us that by age 5, almost everyone has had […]

June 8, 2021 | June 6, 2021 Work Week Whirlwind This week was an absolute whirlwind. I had not been able to do more than a shadow in the lab until this week because I had issues registering for the required training. Once I finally registered, I was able to learn lab techniques in a professional setting. I saw […]

June 2, 2021 | 29 May 2021 After 24 long hours in the car, I finally arrived to Blacksburg Virginia last Friday night. I am an intern in Dr. Lijuan Yuan’s lab at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (Virginia Tech), which does research on vaccine efficacy on enteric viruses. Mouthful, I know. My mom and I pulled up […]