Kate Barnett – Neuroscience at George Lab | Week 4

Sunday, August 8th

Hello hello; welcome to the fourth and final week of my internship here at the George Lab! This week was dissection week, and I absolutely SCORED because dissections only occur four times a year. During the week, we slowly moved freezers, self-administration chambers, and just equipment out of BSB into MTF. As my time wound down, I got sadder and sadder because I didn’t want to leave this marvelous crew of people.

[Quick disclaimer! I’ve been having loads of trouble trying to upload pictures, so there may be a lack of them in this post.]

Monday and Tuesday were identical in agendas — just dissections. This cohort of rats had completed the timeline of the whole experiment using cocaine, so we euthanized rats during 3 different time points of their drug intake: intoxication, withdrawal, and abstinence. Molly Brennan, Lisa Maturin, Brent Boomhower, and I all worked together to efficiently collect the rats’ blood, spleen, tail, and brain to then transfer to the Biobank. I was confused as to why researchers would need a rat’s tail or spleen but then Molly clarified to me that those parts are used for genotyping at other labs. Oliver George, the PI of the George Lab, even came into the OR to watch dissections! He’s super busy and very elusive; this was the second time I had seen him during my whole time here. The room we were operating in was actually one of the new lab rooms in MTF, so this was the first mile marker of the move from BSB to MTF! On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, I worked on my presentation about my time here at the lab, as I would be presenting it in the lab meeting on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, I met with Marsida to go over my presentation and we made some last-minute changes 20 minutes before the lab meeting aired. I went over what I did each week, including the 2021 INRC conference I attended the first three days at the lab, which project I participated in, and the things I helped out with. Truthfully, I was beyond nervous to present to the whole lab because they are all so smart with Ph.D.’s and doctoral degrees and know a lot more than I do. My leg was bouncing up and down at Mach 5 the whole duration of my slideshow but in the end, the lab thought it was a great presentation with accurate data and helpful pictures! For the rest of the day, all the lab members were directed to commute to MTF to assemble some circuit boards and power strips for the new self-administration room. This required lots of unboxing and conjoining mechanical parts. I assisted with assembling and also went back to Skaggs to label tube for a female cohort of incoming rats.

Thursday was a very relaxing day and it was also my last day at the lab 🙁 Molly wasn’t at the lab and Lisa and Oliver weren’t going to be at the lab for the next week or two, so dissections were coming to a head as well as moving freezers and etc. I finished labeling the male tubes for the BioBank and helped Lisa and Brent reconfigure the freezer farm, as the lab was expecting new freezers this week. As a treat, Lisa was so sweet and bought Subway as a mini lab lunch between her, Brent, and I. This slow day came to a close as I revisited everyone and told them goodbye and how much I had enjoyed my time at the lab. I was so hesitant to leave because I had so much fun during these short four weeks.

When I had some free time, I revisited Convoy Street with my host family and my Pintern roommate, Ayla. We stopped at R&B Tea to get some yummy boba! I also went to Barnes and Noble, camping out in the aisles to breeze through some sections of books. Ayla’s family was so kind to invite me out to dinner with them, too, so we went to Puesto La Jolla for dinner and then walked down to Windnsea Beach to watch the sunset before I left Sunday morning.

As I sit here in the Denver airport during my 2-hour layover, I write this with gratitude. Thank you, Sarah Holbrooke, Pinhead Institute, and Oliver George, for making this opportunity all possible. Thank you, Marsida, for so generously taking me under your wing. Thank you, Lisa, Brent, and Molly, for teaching me the way of things at the lab and providing clarification whenever I needed it. Thank you, Lani and Lieselot, for helping me with the tedious onboarding process. Thank you, McKenzie, Angelica, Nina, Angie, and Kokila, for being so kind. Thank you, George Lab, for gifting me with the experience of a LIFETIME. I have had so so much fun and will never forget this wonderful adventure! Another huge hug to my host family for being so hospitable and to my parents — my biggest support system. I’m quite sad to leave La Jolla and San Diego but excited to take all I’ve learned and apply it to my future experiences!

Sending all my love to everyone who contributed to this incredible journey <3