Week 1 (6/25/18) and Week 2 (7/2/18)
This marks the end of my official second week in the lab. The first few days that I came to NJIT I was only watching my mentor, Purva, complete the experiments because my paperwork hadn’t yet cleared. In order to work at the New Jersey Institute of Technology as a high school student, one must also apply for and take part in their Provost Summer Research High School Internship Program. This program is very similar to EXP: we will learn lab safety, how to find and read primary literature, and at the end must write a research summary accompanied by a powerpoint presentation. Luckily for me, through EXP I have already done most of the legwork when writing the research proposal, so finding sources will be no issue. I feel prepared, if not, overprepared, to complete these requirements. In the lab, however, I immediately felt uncomfortable – unprepared, even – while standing there, watching Purva complete the experimental routine. I felt gawky and bumbling and every clink of a beaker set down a touch too hard seemed to reverberate in the small space. A soft “be careful” was all Purva would say in response. I worried that I wouldn’t be suited for lab work, and that seemed to translate into how I carried myself, more clinking beakers, a chair pushed a little too hard, and a mind going blank whenever she asked me a simple question. At first, I came in early, filled and started the humidifiers, and set out two small agar plates that we use for the actual experiment. It was tedious, but someone had to do it. For the first week, I was exclusively on set-up and agar plate duty. Luckily for me, I knew the basics from the Biotechnology course. I had to sterilize the equipment extremely well (slime molds are sensitive organisms), to the point where the ethanol choked me, then weigh out the agar and oat powders. Then I mixed and mixed and mixed all the clumps into a smooth mixture, perfect for a glassy agar plate. Then I microwaved, mixed, microwaved, mixed, and poured, into either plates or autoclavable beakers. Because the slime molds are very susceptible to infection, we have to replate them every three days. Since the replating process involves using old slime mold to culture new slime mold, an infection would wipe out our entire stock. I arrived just as a new stock did, so we hope to keep it as healthy as possible. We autoclave, which kills off bacteria using pressure and heat, the agar and the oats in order to reduce the risk of anything going wrong during the replating process. Purva still carries out the rest of the replating, after I make the agar. This week (week 2), I began making the water cultures, which we grow the slime mold tubules on. We place two rubber stoppers at each end of a bowl and put a mass of slime on one, and a 5% oat food source at the other, hoping to promote linear growth. At first, we had issues with the tubules growth. Instead of growing straight across, the slime would grow in a very clumped manner, in all directions. This type of growth is no good for the experiments, because they require a very linear tubule, with no bumps or branches. We tried a few different things to fix this, finally settling on decreasing the mass of slime on the plates. This worked! We now had a surplus of tubules and could really get going on the experiments. The experimental process is as follows:
1. Punch holes in the experimental agar plates, and in two food source plates. For this experiment, we are using 10% VS 6%.
2. Place the cutouts from the food source plates into the agar plate.
3. Trim a slime mold tubule so that it is as straight as possible, with no branches.
4. Record the conditions of the tubule at each end. The condition can be from the source, from the food, or from the edge. We are most interested in SF, FS, and EE at this time.
5. Place the tubule in between the 10% and 6% cutouts, carefully so it won't break.
6. Smooth the tubule so that it is straight, and the ends lie equally on each food block.
7. Repeat the process three more times so that there are 4 tubules (or replicates).
8. Place in the camera room and focus the cameras on the tubules.
9. Press the shutter button and wait for the 9999 pictures to be taken.
In the downtime, we either prepare more agar plates, continue with the replating process, or rest. This is what daily work in the lab looks like for me. I have been going home fairly early, however, Purva told me this will change as I get more responsibility in the lab.
Ms. Cozine met with Catherine and I on Monday this week, and we went to a ramen place across the street from campus. I had a great time talking with them, and I loved being able to talk about research that I was working with, even if it is at a very basic level at the moment. Hopefully, I’ll be able to say I’ve done more the next time I check in. See you soon!
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