First Week

My first week of full-time work was a million times better than I thought it would be. I was pretty nervous about it. I wasn't sure how I would fill up 8 hours a day, and if I would be competent enough to actually do the work. But now I know that it is very easy to fill up 8 hours and it goes by so quickly when you're trying to get things done. And I have a much better understanding of my project. I think that Judy doesn't realize how little I actually know, so she has a hard time explaining things using simple enough language for me to understand. But with my good friend wikipedia, I filled in the gaps and now I'm completely on board with our plan. We were supposed to be in full swing by now, but the ozone machine broke when the power went out. The motor died, so we had to order a new one and wait for the technician to get back from vacation to install it. So it should be back up and running by July 1. In the meantime, we are running our control (which doesn't require exposure to ozone). On Tuesday we sacrificed 8 mice for my project, and on Wednesday 8 more for Judy's project. On Wednesday David (the other student) worked with us again. His supervisor just doesn't have time to start his project yet, so he's learning the basics by observing me and Judy. We showed him how we open up mice and everything, and he was very hesitant to get in there and help. At first we thought it was because he was morally opposed to animal testing. But later, he told us that really he was afraid he would mess something up and ruin my experiment. So we have plans next week to sacrifice some more and he will help us then. Actually, he spent most of the week observing whatever I was doing. I ended up teaching him a lot about lab technique and some different tests and procedures that we do. Trying to explain things in even simpler language than what I can understand was quite a challenge. It showed me how much I have learned in the past 6 months. Which is a lot! I think that after this job, I could get a job in any research lab. I have gained so many skills that make me really marketable.

Each day I felt more comfortable with the other people in the lab too. Everyone is so young and fun to be around and laid back. It's really a great work environment. I also got to talk to one other student, Jenny. She grew up in Denver and her parents live just a few blocks from DU. She goes to school in Massachusetts and was a student worker in this lab last summer. So she already knows most everyone and how things work there. I've enjoyed getting to know her too.

On Thursday, I attended my first lab meeting. Every Thursday morning at 9am, the entire lab meets to discuss recent happenings in the lab, and one person is selected to present some of their research. Most of what was discussed went completely over my head. I tried really hard to glean anything I could from the presentation. It was about pulmonary fibrosis and a genetic mutation that I think increases the likelihood of a person getting the disease, but at the same time increases life expectancy and decreases severity of the disease. If I understood the presentation correctly (which is doubtful). I would say about 60% of the words that were spoken, I had never heard of before. Scientists use way too many acronyms, and I had to ask what a bunch of them meant. Of course, once I deciphered the acronyms things made much more sense. Maybe next time I'll bring my computer and google everything as the person is presenting. After the morning meeting, I had another meeting with Judy and her supervisor Ivana. That was just an informal meeting to go over our progress so far, and plans for the next few weeks. Then at noon was a meeting for everyone in the lab that was working on a project involved with the innate immune system. Another person presented her research, which I understood maybe 10% of. I was trying very hard to stay focused and glean what I could from the conversation. Most of it seemed so irrelevant to me, and I wasn't quite sure why I had to be there. But I tried to treat it as an opportunity to learn. Even if I didn't understand all of it, I could try to pick out one or two things to take away. Hopefully each week I will understand a little bit more.

Thursday afternoon and all day Friday was spent running Multi-plexes with David. I had to teach him how to do those too. They are kind of boring because it involves 10 minutes of being really busy and doing multiple things at once, and then you have 30 minutes of waiting and doing nothing. Which isn't enough time to get anything else done, but too much time to sit there staring into space. So I got to know David some more, and looked up some things online, and checked my email 10 million times. I think that's how most Thursdays and Fridays will go. But I used that time to do some research and consequently, I understand my project much better. Let's see if I can explain it concisely.

We start by taking stem cells out of the bone marrow of mice. Then we grow them on plates and use a chemical to tell them to turn into macrophages, which are involved in the immune system. Then we expose those cells to different levels of ozone, which is bad for them. Then we introduce PAMPs, which simulate an infection. So basically we infect the macrophages- for my project, a virus and for Judy's project, bacteria. Using multiple tests, we can measure how well the immune system reacts. Presumably, the cells that were exposed to the highest level of ozone will have less of a reaction because the immune system was damaged. But that's what we'll find out! I hope that made sense. It makes sense to me anyways. I have to present my research on August 12, so I need to figure out how to explain it better before then. I'm already nervous!!