Sarah Park, Week 1

I happened to start on a Tuesday, so, on Monday, I was left on my own to travel around Philadelphia.  I was incredibly lucky and thankful because I have a friend in the area who did not have school and drove me around to her favorite touristy spots in the city.  First, my friend Sofia took me to Reading Terminal in order for us to have lunch because she told me I would be missing out if I spent 8 weeks in Philadelphia without visiting Reading Terminal at least once.  After, she took me to the Magic Gardens, which originally was a vacant lot, but is now an extremely large mosaic by Isaiah Zagar who is still constantly working on the museum and gallery.  Sofia, who had been to the Magic Gardens many times before, and I were thrilled to see mosaics not only in the museum, but also in the street.

Last, but not least, we drove to Harbor Park in order to enjoy ice cream and swing in a hammock before she dropped me off at my apartment.

I was incredibly nervous walking into the lab on my first day.  I arrived a full 15 minutes early, equipped much more supplies than necessary, hoping that I would not embarrass myself too quickly.  I came to find that everyone in my lab is very friendly, and they welcomed me with open arms, even though they seemed surprised to see a highschooler at first. Also, I was thrilled to find that I was not the only outsider as there is an undergraduate also interning at my lab from Haverford.  Whenever I need help with finding materials or learning where to put things after I use them, I feel comfortable asking anyone in the lab. 

As soon as I started my first day, I learned that the graduate student who I am working with, Claire, is working with breeding mice for different combinations of loxP and Cre.  The theory behind Cre and loxP is that when both cre and loxP are present, cre "knocks out" the loxP.  However, without the cre, the loxP remains present.  Using promotors, the cre is tissue specific.  For example, if synapsin must bind to the promoter in order for the gene of interest, cre, to run, cre will only present in the brain, but not the tail of the mouse.  It is possible to tell whether a mouse is heterozygous or homozygous for loxP based on the bands in gel electrophoresis.  Homozygous mice samples will display only one band, while heterozygous mice will display two.  The first day, I learned to use a nanodrop spectrophotometer which is able to quantify the concentration of nucleic acid in a small volume.  Using this information, I was able to create dilutions to run through gel electrophoresis so that each well had approximately the same amount of DNA.  After I made and ran a gel completely by myself, without the bands going in the opposite direction or any other gel mishap, I was able to image it and felt a sense of pride.  I am really happy that my AP bio knowledge is coming in handy for genetics and gel electrophoresis, and also for making gels and using pipettes.  Also, my AP chem knowledge is applicable because I understand the calculations being done.  Claire explained to me Western Blotting and the concept behind it, so that I can start with it next week, as I extracted the DNA from rat tails on Friday before leaving to go home for the weekend.

 Every day this week, I felt slightly overwhelmed (but extremely excited) by how much I had done and learned from my graduate student, and I can't wait for next week.