(no subject)
Today I did all sorts of not very interesting things.
First, I went to a talk about Lysate Arrays, which took up about two hours of my morning. Do you know what Lysate Arrays are? Well, I do now. Kind of. I know how long I need to 'wash' my samples and the errors involved and how to make the recipe. However, I don't actually know what a Lysate is and why it's important. It was very dull.
I also learned the correct and sterile way to thaw cells.
This afternoon was slightly more exciting.
I went and visited the mice, which was kind of creepy. The basement at the building where I'm working is devoted entirely to animal research... so you go down underground and walk around through all these creepy concrete tunnels. There are these huge animal warning signs everywhere and ID checks and big pipes and biohazard signs all over the place. I had to borrow a lab coat and wear gloves and a face mask, so it was pretty hardcore and really really weird. It reminded me of some weird movie or something, I didn't think underground animal research centers actually existed.
I'll be working with white mice, so that's kind of creepy too. (Albino mice. They take blood from a vein behind their eyes or something? It sounds very odd...)In the "mouse house" there are about 8 (maybe more) ceiling high racks on wheels. I imagine they're on wheels because they have to be moved if you want to be able to navigate in this room, which very pretty cramped because of all the racks. The racks are filled completly with mouse cages, with most of them containing 4 or 5 mice. I would imagine that there are about 1000 mice in this little room, maybe more. It was weird.
First, I went to a talk about Lysate Arrays, which took up about two hours of my morning. Do you know what Lysate Arrays are? Well, I do now. Kind of. I know how long I need to 'wash' my samples and the errors involved and how to make the recipe. However, I don't actually know what a Lysate is and why it's important. It was very dull.
I also learned the correct and sterile way to thaw cells.
This afternoon was slightly more exciting.
I went and visited the mice, which was kind of creepy. The basement at the building where I'm working is devoted entirely to animal research... so you go down underground and walk around through all these creepy concrete tunnels. There are these huge animal warning signs everywhere and ID checks and big pipes and biohazard signs all over the place. I had to borrow a lab coat and wear gloves and a face mask, so it was pretty hardcore and really really weird. It reminded me of some weird movie or something, I didn't think underground animal research centers actually existed.
I'll be working with white mice, so that's kind of creepy too. (Albino mice. They take blood from a vein behind their eyes or something? It sounds very odd...)In the "mouse house" there are about 8 (maybe more) ceiling high racks on wheels. I imagine they're on wheels because they have to be moved if you want to be able to navigate in this room, which very pretty cramped because of all the racks. The racks are filled completly with mouse cages, with most of them containing 4 or 5 mice. I would imagine that there are about 1000 mice in this little room, maybe more. It was weird.