Here is the link to my presentation.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7vpDX2wvVN_ekVIZm1hOW8zbVk

Week 9

This entire week was spent cataloging the runs on the wes machines. This basically entailed sitting in front of computers all day typing in data into excel sheets. And yes, it was just as boring as it sounds. So instead of boring you all with the details of my wonderful week, I shall share with you pictures of my lab and what I do.

The workspace

This is where my supervisors primarily work at. As you can see, there is a lot of equipment in the picture. However, I do not know what most of it is used for. I only work with the stuff immediately surrounding the blue pad in the front of the picture.

Close up of workspace and equipment

Pretty neat, isn't it. The only thing missing from the picture is a tray full of ice and samples, because my supervisor would yell at me for pulling those out just for a picture.

full lab bench

Here's a picture of the entire lab bench. Despite what it looks like, we do not use the space for hopscotch. At least most of the time.

The Freezer

Open Freezer

Here is the infamous freezer that I always complain about. I'm surprised that I haven't lost my fingers to hypothermia after all of the time that my hands have spent in the freezer. Well, it's not that cold, but my fingers are numb after a full day in there. And that's just about everything in the lab, that I use at least.

Week 8

This week, just like last week, turned out to be quite dull and uneventful due to my project being halted temporarily while the problems with the wes machine are dealt with.

On Tuesday, I helped my supervisors Sarah and Bret run a plate that had various samples from different regions, using various antibodies and biological markers, to try and diagnose what is causing the issue with the wes. After we ran the plate, I helped with some paper organization and lab clean up.

On Wednesday, I came into work and realized that we had used an expired plate for the previous day's run, so we had to rerun the plate. After that, I helped with more paperwork before calling it a day.

On Thursday, we again reviewed an article during the lab meeting, and I watched as all of the others critiqued the paper very thoroughly. After the lab meeting, I shadowed other researchers and generally helped around the lab.

On Friday, I spent the morning talking with two researchers about building 1/6 scale World War II R/C tanks until Sarah came in. I then shadowed other researchers for the remainder of the day, as well as cleaning up the lab and making it tidy.

Week 7

This week, for once, was very uneventful.

The problems with the antibodies still hadn't been resolved, so I didn't have much to do on Monday. In the morning, I worked on sorting out the samples for the hippocampus region so that we would know where they were when we got to that point. After that, I went to lunch and worked on my study design for the rest of  the day.

On Tuesday, I spent the entire day working on my study design because the problems with the wes had still not been fixed, and I could do nothing to help because many of the problems were occurring outside of my control.

On Wednesday, after waking up at 5:30 as usual to get to the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative at 7:30 as usual, my supervisor Sarah told me that there was absolutely nothing to do in the lab that day, so she said that I could go home early. At least I got to take a long nap after I got home.

On Thursday, during our weekly lab meeting, we discussed changes in the NIH's standards on data reporting. The other lab member's gave me valuable tips on how to carefully take notes on everything that I do and on how to properly report my data. The remainder of the day was spent cleaning all of the excess ice that was built up in the freezers. Hopefully the problems with the wes will be sorted out by next week.