Blog Post Week 8

Good afternoon everyone! Hope you are all having a great week. This wee was filled with lots of fun and work. I got to do my protocols once again and this time I was able to do them where I took half the time as last time. I learned how to choose carefully which steps to take so that I would save time. For example, if something needs to be centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 mins then I would see where another protocol I have to do the same and I'll do both together, instead of doing one at a time. This week I am also focusing on my template and will keep on editing as I go. With a few more weeks for the conference I will do one more set of data so that I can have 3 all together to present. Once again thank you to all who is making this possible and I look forward to keep on working here.

These are five of six protocols in which I am using to conduct my project.
(sixth one is a Kit, therefore it has its own protocol)

Blog Post Week 7

Good evening everyone! Still very excited to be able to be with you all at the conference. This week I have inoculated a new broth and my first samples were practice samples. I was still confused because my project is a bit different but that’s why we have mentors haha. Josh has been helping me and it’s been really helpful to have his insight. I have an idea now and all I need is the long periods of time so that I can do all my protocols at once in order to have a control. This would be having the same bacteria, from the same culture, right from when I take it out after being incubated. I have also re-learned how to use the spectrophotometer to calculate the concentration of my bacteria. 

This shows the spectrophotometer and my tubes that I will be using to
obtain my zero and then have my reading from my bacteria.
It will be set to 600 nm for a reading.

Blog Post Week 6

Good evening everyone! So this week I’m sure you guys found out if you were accepted and we all were! That is awesome! I can’t wait to be there with all of you and share these unforgettable experiences. Well this means that I have to start working on my project to have data for the presentation. I’m sure all of you know how Science goes but I’ve had to inoculate and re-inoculate my tubes because I need a fresh 24hr or less bacteria growth. However my time sometimes doesn’t allow me to come in to be under the 24hrs. However I have had some data and I have started using the pipettes and the micro centrifuge tubes. So I’m getting hands on and I’m learning so much more. Here are some of a few samples that I have been working on with the protocols.

As you can see I have lined my samples (1st row left-right) up
 with their finished products (1st column up-down) 

Blog Post Week 5

Good evening everyone! I’m pretty sure we were all excited this week to turn in our abstracts and see our results. Well this week I am now focusing on getting my protocols and making sure they are ready. Since my project will be a little different than others I need to get with my mentors and make sure that I am doing the correct procedures to make my experiments go right. I have also met with Matt and will discuss with him on some protocols from recent students that I can use and some that I will have to make up. These are some solutions that I will need in doing some of my protocols.

Lysis Buffer, NaOH Solution, Meat Tenderizer
Not in the picture:(TE Buffer, HCl Solution)