Week 5

After a week off for spring break, I felt ready to get back to work on my project and maybe gather a lot of useful data for my project as well.

But this week was again not only unique but also a very informative experience.

On Monday, I finished the two Wes plates I needed to collect all the data for the S1BF region of the mice brain samples that I am using. For the plates themselves, I ran two plates testing for Glypican 4 in S1BF samples from animals whose brains were removed and frozen one to seven days post injury to complete that region.

During that day as well, I had a meeting with Dr. Theresa Thomas and my senior advisor, Sarah. There, we began with a discussion of the progress that we made so far with the project, but we digressed to the topic of the challenges facing students who pursue the medical profession and the characteristics that are needed to truly elevate yourself from the pack. All in all, the meeting was very informative and a unique learning experience, especially given that Dr. Thomas sits on the board of admissions for the University of Arizona Medical School.

On Tuesday, I started running Wes plates for the MPFC (mid pre frontal cortex) region of the mice brain. Specifically, I ran the preliminary plate that we use to determine which samples will run well with the others. After that, I gathered samples from the MPFC region that need to be used for future plates and put them into one box for safe storage in the freezer for easier access later on. I then called it a day after that.

On Wednesday, my senior advisor, Sarah, advised me to study the Compass software that I use to interpret the Wes results and to become more comfortable with using it. This may seem relaxing, but the 452 page long user’s manual that I had to read made it hard to take it easy. After a few hours tinkering with Compass, I aided our lab manager, Bret, in his study on cage dividers and their effect on mice aggression. I got to go the vivarium, where the living mice are, and though I did not get to touch them, I got to operate the rotarod machine that we were using that day to run tests on the mice.

On Thursday, we had yet another lab meeting. At this week’s lab meeting, we had an extensive discussion about the new batman v superman movie for about half an hour before we got down to business. Bret gave a presentation about his LPA study and asked for suggestions on how to improve it. Though I was of no help, the others gladly gave him advice on how to improve his study. After the meeting, I helped Sarah with some paper filing and general organization and then I helped Bret with his studies using the rotarod once again.