Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the extremely late second post. I promise to keep them more regular from now on.
So... I can't believe I've already spent two weeks in the lab... The time has just flown by and I've already learnt so much!
Today I thought I would tell you all about my first week in the lab; including how I'm finding working on my project and in the lab in general. I'd like to start off by saying how awesome it is working on this particular project. This is because, not only has it given me the opportunity to learn and carry out ample methods and techniques, but it is also fascinating! In addition, I'd like to add how awesome the atmosphere and the people in the lab are too and well... it's just great!
I began my placement on Monday 7th June, by attending the weekly lab meeting (which entailed giving and watching/listening to presentations given by members of the lab). I find the lab meetings a great experience for learning about break-through research, related to your field of work, and a chance to brush-up on some of those presentation skills.
Following the meeting, I was provided with some background information on my protein (Pds5A). Luckily... this all made sense as I had already done some reading around the subject (thanks to Dr Patel). I was told that I would be localizing a truncated (that means a chopped protein) and full length version of Pds5A and that I would start the week by purifying a plasmid construct, composed of Pds5A DNA attached to DNA of a red fluorophore. I was glad - because I was going to get stuck into the fun stuff straight away! I was given full guidance, by Dr Patel, when purifying my plasmid and the Masters and PhD students were a massive help. They helped if I ever got stuck and they also made sure I knew where things were kept, when I forgot (well... the lab is a big place with lots of chemicals and equipment). They instantly made me feel welcome in the lab which made me feel at ease - something I was weary of before I started.
By Thursday evening I had purified my plasmid DNA and carried out electrophoresis to confirm that I had purified the correct Pds5A DNA.
I also split my own set of HeLa cells which I transferred to coverslips allowing me to transfect them with the Pds5A DNA on Friday.
Thus, I did a lot in my first week allowing me to learn and carry out some new techniques, using equipment that I have never used before. Something I found really amazing was how easy it was to perform and understand these techniques, after learning about them over the past two years.
I really, really enjoyed my first week and by the end of it, I feel I was able to find and do many things independently and think more logically in general. Luckily... nothing went wrong all week!
I should be posting more on my second week in the lab over the next couple of days, so please keep a look out.
Until then take care,
Karishma
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