Well, I figured I haven't blogged in a while, and I may as well because I have some semi-exciting things I could write about.
So last Thursday, my mom came up to Logan to spend the day with me. I called her the night before just to chat, and I think she could tell that I really needed her to come up or something, because I really did. So we worked out that the next day I could just miss my Institute class and the first part of work and she could come up and I could spend time with her. We ended up just going grocery shopping, and then going out to lunch to Sizzler together. It was soo great to just get away from my little world that I live in every day and get back to reality and realize what really matters! (I love you mom!)
On Friday, my friend Siri had an Oktoberfest party. Don't worry...it was completely non-alcoholic :) Basically the whole point of it was for her to teach us how to cook German food, and then we ate it! She's half German, so it was even pretty legit. I don't remember the names of anything really, so my descriptions will be pretty vague...but regardless, it was all really good! First off, we of course had Bratwurt, and then we had some egg noodle/dumpling things (they taste JUST like egg noodles we make for stroganoff, but they're homemade!), and then some potato/onion stuff. For dessert, we had poppyseed cake. To drink, I brought some apple cider. The entire meal was super delicious! We didn't have saeurkraut (sp?) because none of us liked it. It was really fun to learn how to cook all of these things and then be able to eat them!
At work, one week ago today, I was given the assignment to calibrate the Real Time PCR machine, which *should* be an easy task. All you have to do is put some pre-made PCR plates in the machine (or, for the background, a plate with H20), and run some tests, and hopefully the machine will still be calibrated correctly. If it's not, then you just have to do some minor cleanings or fixings depending on what's wrong. Well, I ran my background calibration plate, and it said that there were a bunch of contaminated wells! So, I followed the directions, and I cleaned the metal plate in the machine with H20. I ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. I cleaned with EtOH (Ethanol), then H20, and ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. So I cleaned with bleach, then EtOH, the H20 (this is all as directed in the instruction booklet). Still contaminated! LONG STORY SHORT: I spent all through Friday cleaning and calibrating. On Friday, I was down to 10 (out of 96) contaminated well. First off, I have NOOOO idea how they got contaminated, and I had NOOO idea how they were to get any better cleaned then what I was doing.
The cleaning involved a tedious process of suctioning the fluid into the well, and suctioning it back up, and then carefully scrubbing/drying it out with the end of a Q-Tip that had had the cotton ripped off equal just the perfect amount. For each. and. every. single. well. It took hours. All my work hours last week.
Anyway. I left the machine to dry completely on Friday absolutely confident that I could come back on Monday to a perfectly clean machine.
On Monday (yesterday) I went to the lab, and put in the background plate for the calibration. I sat there and anxiously awaited the results. Remember...10 previously contaminated wells. The results popped up... 55 CONTAMINATED WELLS. WHAT!? oh no :( how is that even possible?! I didn't even touch the other 86 that weren't contaminated!! I talked with the lab tech for a while, and we couldn't think of a solution.
We got in new Real Time PCR plates right as I left the lab on Monday. The lab tech said we could test those the next day. I guess that gave me incentive to continue...
I got to work today, and the lab tech said that Sam tested it earlier with the new plates and (drum roll please)...IT PASSED!!! AND...(get this)...it was three times cleaner than it had to be to even qualify as non-contaminated! Which totally makes sense given how many hours I spent cleaning the thing..
Sorry to spend ranting time talking about how I clean a Real Time PCR machine. No one in the world even cares about that, I know. But hey. I had to write about something :) And considering that all I do is lab work and homework, I figured I'd write about the more interesting of the two...
Oct 18, 2011
Oct 7, 2011
Experimental Parasitology
Just a blog on some interesting things that have been said to me this past week:
(number 1 requires some background info. but I promise it's GOOD. So keep reading...)
1) Background info part 1: While I was doing my internship at Johns Hopkins, I was required to do a final presentation on my research at the end of the summer in front of the entire Stanley Division. In order to prepare for this, my PI had me do a journal article presentation at one of our lab meetings during the summer in order to practice my presentation skills and stuff. It went really well, and I just did a journal article related to some of the research that was going on in the lab. My presentation was about 10 or 15 min long, so it was legit, and I knew all about it.
Background info part 2: I'm in English 2010 right now. I was super bitter about having to take this class initially. Why? I hate English. But now, it's my favorite. The ENTIRE purpose of English 2010 is to write a persuasive research paper. So. At the beginning of the semester we had to choose a research topic. I chose laboratory animal studies (basically, I have a more specific thesis statement) because that is what I worked with over the summer. My stance on it is that it is good, and that it is better that the animals die for research than millions of people with disease. (You should read my papers, they're much much MUCH better than that last sentence I just wrote, because I'm really passionate about this topic, but you get the idea). So, this whole semester, we've had assignments revolved around this persuasive research assignment, which is easy for me, because I already know all about my topic.
Now to my point: Our most recent assignment, this last Tuesday, was to bring an article with us to the library for class. It did NOT say a news article, it just said an article. So...therefore, me having lived in the scientific community the last however long, immediately thought of a journal article before a news article even crossed my mind. And therefore, I was really happy because I had the article that I had presented to my laboratory group already prepared pretty much and neatly filed away in my bedroom ready to take to class the next day. I didn't have to look up anything at all. I grabbed the article, took it to class, and went on my way. I knew ALL about the article already. I had read, studied it, and PRESENTED it to my lab group at Hopkins. I knew my article inside and out.
I got to the library, and our class was being lead by the class librarian (yes, we have a class librarian...). The girl next to me in class was doing her research topic on whether or not facebook is a good or bad thing, and another kid was doing his on video games. Let's just say my research topic is a little bit...different from everyone else's. I'm pleased. The librarian asked if anyone's "news article" referenced any other articles. I sheepishly raised my hand (because mine was NOT a news article). And of COURSE a journal article references other articles. One other kid raised his hand. Oh boy. Later in class, she came around. (THIS is where the story gets good). She looks down at my article and says to me: "Are you sure you're ready to read 'Experimental Parasitology'??" Did she REALLY just ask me that!? REALLY!?!?!?! Yes. She. Did. Oh my heck. Ha! I looked her in the eye and said "Yeah, I think I'm ready." And then she walked away. That was all she lasted with me! But yeah. I can't believe she asked me that! If only she knew how much I knew about that article she wouldn't question me. Granted, it's not like I wrote the thing, but I'm sure most people in the class didn't even read their stupid NEWS articles, let alone present their Journal Articles at Johns Hopkins over the summer. Just sayin'.
Anyway. That turned into a longer rant than I thought it would.
2) Today as I was biking from the Engineering Building to the Institute across the TSC Patio, there was some sort of event going on. Like, there was a stage thing set up, and there was a dude standing on it with a microphone. I have no idea what for. But it was there. Back up. It was REALLY cold today. Like 35 or 40 degrees. And considering that on Saturday it was 90 degrees, jumping down that quickly, feels SUPER cold. And it was raining at this particular instant, and it was really misty and foggy too, and there was snow on the mountains. Now the scene is much better set :) Anyway, I'm riding my bike though this. And it's in between classes, so there are a TON of people that I'm going through, so it's like a maze. No one was riding bikes today because it was so cold and wet. Well. Right as I was going though, the guy with the microphone said something to this effect "Oh here come another bike rider, and she looks like she's super stoked to be riding her bike in this freezing cold rain today!!" Oh, you better bet I was! I'm super stoked to be riding my bike any day!! (Oh. note: this isn't my super nice bike that I wrote a blog post about before. I have two bikes. That nice bike, and a relatively crappy mountain bike that I usu. ride around campus that I can lock up and ride in bad weather etc.) And they better believe it too when the see me riding it around in when it's snowing too :)
Anyway, those were the highlighted things that were said to me this past week. The crazy librarian lady who thought I wasn't ready to read my journal article, and the guy who announced to everyone by the student center just how happy I was to be riding my bike.
(number 1 requires some background info. but I promise it's GOOD. So keep reading...)
1) Background info part 1: While I was doing my internship at Johns Hopkins, I was required to do a final presentation on my research at the end of the summer in front of the entire Stanley Division. In order to prepare for this, my PI had me do a journal article presentation at one of our lab meetings during the summer in order to practice my presentation skills and stuff. It went really well, and I just did a journal article related to some of the research that was going on in the lab. My presentation was about 10 or 15 min long, so it was legit, and I knew all about it.
Background info part 2: I'm in English 2010 right now. I was super bitter about having to take this class initially. Why? I hate English. But now, it's my favorite. The ENTIRE purpose of English 2010 is to write a persuasive research paper. So. At the beginning of the semester we had to choose a research topic. I chose laboratory animal studies (basically, I have a more specific thesis statement) because that is what I worked with over the summer. My stance on it is that it is good, and that it is better that the animals die for research than millions of people with disease. (You should read my papers, they're much much MUCH better than that last sentence I just wrote, because I'm really passionate about this topic, but you get the idea). So, this whole semester, we've had assignments revolved around this persuasive research assignment, which is easy for me, because I already know all about my topic.
Now to my point: Our most recent assignment, this last Tuesday, was to bring an article with us to the library for class. It did NOT say a news article, it just said an article. So...therefore, me having lived in the scientific community the last however long, immediately thought of a journal article before a news article even crossed my mind. And therefore, I was really happy because I had the article that I had presented to my laboratory group already prepared pretty much and neatly filed away in my bedroom ready to take to class the next day. I didn't have to look up anything at all. I grabbed the article, took it to class, and went on my way. I knew ALL about the article already. I had read, studied it, and PRESENTED it to my lab group at Hopkins. I knew my article inside and out.
I got to the library, and our class was being lead by the class librarian (yes, we have a class librarian...). The girl next to me in class was doing her research topic on whether or not facebook is a good or bad thing, and another kid was doing his on video games. Let's just say my research topic is a little bit...different from everyone else's. I'm pleased. The librarian asked if anyone's "news article" referenced any other articles. I sheepishly raised my hand (because mine was NOT a news article). And of COURSE a journal article references other articles. One other kid raised his hand. Oh boy. Later in class, she came around. (THIS is where the story gets good). She looks down at my article and says to me: "Are you sure you're ready to read 'Experimental Parasitology'??" Did she REALLY just ask me that!? REALLY!?!?!?! Yes. She. Did. Oh my heck. Ha! I looked her in the eye and said "Yeah, I think I'm ready." And then she walked away. That was all she lasted with me! But yeah. I can't believe she asked me that! If only she knew how much I knew about that article she wouldn't question me. Granted, it's not like I wrote the thing, but I'm sure most people in the class didn't even read their stupid NEWS articles, let alone present their Journal Articles at Johns Hopkins over the summer. Just sayin'.
Anyway. That turned into a longer rant than I thought it would.
2) Today as I was biking from the Engineering Building to the Institute across the TSC Patio, there was some sort of event going on. Like, there was a stage thing set up, and there was a dude standing on it with a microphone. I have no idea what for. But it was there. Back up. It was REALLY cold today. Like 35 or 40 degrees. And considering that on Saturday it was 90 degrees, jumping down that quickly, feels SUPER cold. And it was raining at this particular instant, and it was really misty and foggy too, and there was snow on the mountains. Now the scene is much better set :) Anyway, I'm riding my bike though this. And it's in between classes, so there are a TON of people that I'm going through, so it's like a maze. No one was riding bikes today because it was so cold and wet. Well. Right as I was going though, the guy with the microphone said something to this effect "Oh here come another bike rider, and she looks like she's super stoked to be riding her bike in this freezing cold rain today!!" Oh, you better bet I was! I'm super stoked to be riding my bike any day!! (Oh. note: this isn't my super nice bike that I wrote a blog post about before. I have two bikes. That nice bike, and a relatively crappy mountain bike that I usu. ride around campus that I can lock up and ride in bad weather etc.) And they better believe it too when the see me riding it around in when it's snowing too :)
Anyway, those were the highlighted things that were said to me this past week. The crazy librarian lady who thought I wasn't ready to read my journal article, and the guy who announced to everyone by the student center just how happy I was to be riding my bike.
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