Me with the fluorescent microscope
The lab had its annual beach party this week. It was quite a spectacle. Everyone brought something: we had everything from the Chinese kitchen all the way to European cuisine. From all the food, the chicken feet were the most interesting. They were very bony (not much meat) but the sauce that they were placed in was phenomenal. We also had a lot of ice cream, which we stored in dry ice. As a result, the ice cream was rock hard. Another side effect of such cold ice cream was that it stuck to ones tongue. Apart from eating food, we went for a little swim in the ocean and then had a race. We formed two teams that competed in a series of running and swimming events. A lot of the lab members weren’t exactly happy about running or swimming. Later on, we continued on to volleyball. People seemed a lot more willing to play and we played on till around 5 pm. At that point it was time to return to lab to finish projects and do some more cell culture work. A couple of weeks ago, I started to work with cells. At this point, the cells have been infected by a lentivirus that contains genes to make the cells puromycin resistant and allow them to produce a protein that, when exposed to certain light, will show bright green fluorescence. Each day, I examine and document the change as I give the cells puromycin. After some time, only the fluorescing cells should remain as the drug should kill off all the other cells that were not infected by the virus and therefore do not carry any genes for resistance. The cells that have died off will detach from the bottom of the well and be removed from the well when the media is changed. PBS can also be used to remove anything that is no longer healthy and living from the bottom of the well.
We also played a little bit of basketball this week. At this point in my internship, I am starting to realize how important it is to find a balance between work and life outside of work. For many people at the lab, playing a little bit of sport or spending time with one another outside the lab is essential to reset and refocus. After basketball, we went to Regents – a restaurant and bar that has some pretty good pizza. We stayed there pretty late until it was time to leave. Some people still needed to finish their experiments at the lab.
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