Blog Post Week 10

This week is a wrap up. I have been working on my final research paper and putting everything together of what I have done here in the internship for this semester. I have to say I have learned a lot from my mentors and peers. However, it is still not over. We still have one last presentation at Metro tech and I am pretty excited considering that I graduated from there. So hopefully I get to see some of my teachers as well. I just want to thank everyone who has been a part of this great experience being my first semester here in STEM. The knowledge and experience I have gained will help me in life and enhance my opportunities to continue doing research in the future. 

Nanodrop used to calculate the
amount of DNA and its purity.

Blog Post Week 9

This week was so crazy preparing for our presentations which were on Thursday. We went over our posters with our mentors and they gave us feedback on what we should say, how to say, what was on the rubrics, etc... It was a really great help to have them there always willing to help us and guide us through our project. During the conference we got to meet a lot of people and their research topics which was very interesting to hear. It was a really great experience and the food was great as well. Unfortunately I had to leave early because I had a Chemistry test and so I wasn't able to stay until the end. However, I heard that we did great as a school and our mentors are very proud of us. I know next year will be a successful one as this year and hopefully we have more students taking places for the conference.

These are my two gels before I ran then
 through Electrophoresis. I had two batches
and there were six protocols therefore I made
two gels with one batch on one and the second
batch on the other. The Yellowish/Orangish
color is the molecular ladder and the
blue are my samples with the
cyber-green on them. 

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)

Blog Post Week 4

Good afternoon everyone! So this week we were all working on our abstract and was the focus researching and getting background information that we need for this semester. Thank you to all the mentors and peers for their support as well. Honestly, it is hard to think about how you should word your abstract and trying to find what is the best, most vital information that should be included in the abstract.  However, we got it done and I’m anxious to see how well we do. On the other hand, I have also been working with David’s team and today I learned how to do water filtration so thanks to the team for showing me. I got to work under the hood and get a feel for what I have to do and will be doing in the future.

This is the hood that one must work in when doing water filtration.