I started work on
June 4, just a week after spring term exams. Thankfully I didn't have
much trouble finding my lab's building because I had visited it in fall
term for an interview. For the duration of my lab, I start work at 9:30
AM and end at 5 PM.
"We're going to the mouse room to injure some mice," my postdoc voiced, walking me to said mouse room. It was only my first day in lab; talk about hitting the ground running. After selecting two boxes of mice in a room lined with shelves of them, my postdoc Dr. Elisia Tichy, or Elisia as we call her, explained to me that she would injure the muscles of the mice. To do so, she anesthetized them and injured their target muscles using injections of notexin, an enzyme found in snake venom. The notexin injuries would cause the muscle stem cells of the mice to activate and divide in abundance. Next week, we will collect their muscle stem cells and analyze them using telomere assays and microscopy. This 6-week-long project is actually in its 5th week of experimentation, so next week will be the final week that Elisia collects data before euthanizing the mice (my lab prefers the term euthanizing over sacrificing/killing). Afterwards, we will examine their skeletal muscles and Elisia will teach me a new technique called tissue histology. While the stench of mice isn't the most pleasant, visiting the mouse room has nonetheless been one of the highlights of my week.
I also reviewed micropipetting, DNA isolation, PCR, and gel electrophoresis with my lab's grad-student-to-be, David. David will be leaving the lab around the same time I'm leaving because he will take a break before his graduate program at Penn starts. I realized I had forgotten a lot about these techniques from bio class (I wish I had reviewed them before starting in lab!), but David gave the two undergraduate students and me a comprehensive review of them. We performed PCR for the DNA of Pax7GFP (mice mutated in Pax7 gene which have their DNA tagged with green fluorescent proteins) and mTR mice (mutated for the gene which regulates telomerase activity). We'll run the gels and analyze them next week.
I've been given a variety of tasks to do so far, something I've been pleased about. For instance, I have also been using an imaging software to analyze the areas of muscle fibers. It's a bit repetitive admittedly, but it's nice to participate in both experimentation and analysis in the lab. The images I am analyzing are for our lab's new project, which is in collaboration with Penn's bioengineering department and the nearby medical center. We essentially aim to promote the healing of neurons in conjunction with skeletal muscles in rats. If the project is successful, it has the potential to provide medical aid to military soldiers and veterans; the successful regeneration of neurons and muscle can repair wounds from explosions.
Overall, my first week has gone really well. Everyone in the lab is really knowledgeable and willing to help. I'll start analyzing data next week, and my PI says she will assign me to a new sub-project soon. Since Dr. Peretz advised us EXP students to bring donuts to our lab in the 2nd week, I figured that next week would also be a good time to celebrate turning 17. My experience has been very educational so far; I'm really looking forward to learning new techniques and contributing to the ongoing research in the next seven weeks.
"We're going to the mouse room to injure some mice," my postdoc voiced, walking me to said mouse room. It was only my first day in lab; talk about hitting the ground running. After selecting two boxes of mice in a room lined with shelves of them, my postdoc Dr. Elisia Tichy, or Elisia as we call her, explained to me that she would injure the muscles of the mice. To do so, she anesthetized them and injured their target muscles using injections of notexin, an enzyme found in snake venom. The notexin injuries would cause the muscle stem cells of the mice to activate and divide in abundance. Next week, we will collect their muscle stem cells and analyze them using telomere assays and microscopy. This 6-week-long project is actually in its 5th week of experimentation, so next week will be the final week that Elisia collects data before euthanizing the mice (my lab prefers the term euthanizing over sacrificing/killing). Afterwards, we will examine their skeletal muscles and Elisia will teach me a new technique called tissue histology. While the stench of mice isn't the most pleasant, visiting the mouse room has nonetheless been one of the highlights of my week.
I also reviewed micropipetting, DNA isolation, PCR, and gel electrophoresis with my lab's grad-student-to-be, David. David will be leaving the lab around the same time I'm leaving because he will take a break before his graduate program at Penn starts. I realized I had forgotten a lot about these techniques from bio class (I wish I had reviewed them before starting in lab!), but David gave the two undergraduate students and me a comprehensive review of them. We performed PCR for the DNA of Pax7GFP (mice mutated in Pax7 gene which have their DNA tagged with green fluorescent proteins) and mTR mice (mutated for the gene which regulates telomerase activity). We'll run the gels and analyze them next week.
I've been given a variety of tasks to do so far, something I've been pleased about. For instance, I have also been using an imaging software to analyze the areas of muscle fibers. It's a bit repetitive admittedly, but it's nice to participate in both experimentation and analysis in the lab. The images I am analyzing are for our lab's new project, which is in collaboration with Penn's bioengineering department and the nearby medical center. We essentially aim to promote the healing of neurons in conjunction with skeletal muscles in rats. If the project is successful, it has the potential to provide medical aid to military soldiers and veterans; the successful regeneration of neurons and muscle can repair wounds from explosions.
Overall, my first week has gone really well. Everyone in the lab is really knowledgeable and willing to help. I'll start analyzing data next week, and my PI says she will assign me to a new sub-project soon. Since Dr. Peretz advised us EXP students to bring donuts to our lab in the 2nd week, I figured that next week would also be a good time to celebrate turning 17. My experience has been very educational so far; I'm really looking forward to learning new techniques and contributing to the ongoing research in the next seven weeks.
Happy Birthday!!!
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