Week Six

Our Monday meeting was pushed to Tuesday so we could take off Independence Day if we wanted to. I took most of the day off, but I had to come in for a short time to split the cells I had been working on since they were starting to become quite confluent and I was going to have to split them for another drug trial anyways. However, the concentrations were way too low that day so I split the cells normally so they could grow another day and hopefully when I checked again, the concentrations would be what I needed. I was excited to get ahead with my trial, but with the point that the cells were at, the overall protocol would be done by Friday even with another day of waiting for the cells to reach the needed concentration. However, it was definitely not the start to the week that I had wanted.

Small issues continued to appear and hinder me from being able to complete tasks on the days I planned to, but by the end of the week I was able to get the results I was aiming to and that's what really matters. In our lab, we make the gels for our Western Blots - they are available for purchase precast, but as many lab materials, they are quite expensive and we run Western Blots quite often. Below is a video that accurately explains how to make the two gel layers, in which the exact reagent amounts will depend on the percentage gel desired (labtricks, 2010).

When I went to take the comb out most of the wells were not present and others had merged with the wells next to them, so there was no way I could load the gel and run it with no where to put the samples - this simple issue set my Western Blot back a day. Again, I was still set to be finished by Friday, but it was nevertheless frustrating that my plans were changed outside of my control. However, problems that come up during lab work must be taken in stride, and often can make you a better scientist as you then must go back and reevaluate your techniques or the theory behind the procedure to fix what was wrong.

Figure 1. My representation of what a Western Blot gel with all of its wells after the comb
has been removed looks like versus what my gel looked like when I removed the comb. 

I was shown how to quantify the bands from the Western Blot on the computer so I could more precisely compare them. The program we used to analyze the raw quantification data was Microsoft Excel, just the same as is used in most laboratory courses. I figured as I learned how to use Excel in lab classes that I would need to have the skills to use it in the future as it is a helpful tool for organizing data and streamlining calculations, and it was nice to see the skills I learned were applicable in a practical setting outside of the classroom. Once I had quantified my Western Blot, my results gave me guidance on what I would need to do for the next week and allowed me to analyze how effective the drug had been.

Every month, a large group of the people who work on my floor get together in our common room and we have a potluck. I was able to participate in the June potluck before, but I simply bought salsa and chips. However, this month we were having an Independence Day themed potluck on July 5th when everyone would be back, and I decided to make pasta salad as I felt it fit the theme since I had often encountered various types of pasta salad at summer cookouts. One of the women who works on my floor brought her daughter to the potluck and later in the week told me me that most of what she ate was my pasta salad, which really made my day. I honestly have never enjoyed cooking that much - I prefer baking - so it was encouraging to hear that people liked what I had made. I have also found myself more inclined to cook since I had started in the lab because cooking in many ways is so similar to the systematic approach that is required for the lab work I enjoy, and also gives me a meal in the end.

Figure 2. An accurate depiction of my thoughts as I have
been working in the lab (Sketching Science, 2016). 

References:

labtricks. 2010. How to Make an SDS-Page gel. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDi_n_0NiF4>.