Bio Boot Camp: The Bitter Sweet Edition

Are we as funny as we think we are?

Welcome to the afternoon of day 10. At this point our lab is a bonded force to be reckoned with! We also think that we are SUPER funny. Remember we are competing with Niels daily dad jokes, such as "A parasite walks into a bar, the bar tender throws him out. He wasn't a very good host. 🤣 " Not that you can tell this from the photo, but our entire time, this group switched labs for the afternoon. We went and sat in our exact lab stations, just in the wrong room. The even funnier thing is that Allison came in to teach us and didn't notice because this was her first time lecturing in lab to us. Then Kalani and Katie came in SUPER confused, because they knew we weren't in the right place.

Kalani and Katie after the coaxed us back to the right lab.

If you look at the board, we are doing western blots , also known as protein immunoblotting. We used it to detect and identifying a specific protein within oir isolated samples. We seperated the proteins based on size through gel electrophoresis. Then we transfered them to a membrane. This is a super nerve working process because the gels are insanely thin and rip easily.

On the left is our Western blot, after it came out of the device that you can see edward, putting it into on the right. It has not been developed yet so you can't see the protein bands yet. The middle might look like a normal gel electrophoresis result to you, but it is less than half the depth of a DNA or RNA gel.

Here is our eyes developed Western blot. The two dark bands are the indication that we got the protein we were looking for. Keep in mind this is not definitive proof. It just tells you you're heading in the right direction, and more tests are needed. Think about this like an old time photograph. You get the image on the paper and then you use developer to show it. In case you're wondering, all indications show that we did all the procedures correctly over thirteen days, and we did isolate the correct protein!!

I knew that i've been talking a lot about heart science, but sometimes science can be fun and satisfying. We do a lot of purification and waiting purification and waiting. I found only this particular one incredibly satisfying to watch. I slowed it down and decided to share it with all of you. This is my version of people who are obsessed with watching the things get right crushed by that large presses or squished by trains. I watch columns drip.

One of the biggest takeaways that I got from this course what is that if you don't fight nature, you work with it. Now, of course, I always knew that from an environmental science perspective, but yes, I didn't realize how applicable it was toNow, of course, I always knew that from an environmental science perspective, but yes, I didn't realize how applicable it was to

Now, of course, I always knew that from an environmental science perspective, but yes, I didn't realize how applicable it was to microbiology. I won't go over what I said in the video here, but I have such a wider perspective on how Eukaryotic cells work.

On our next last day we came to class, and oh what a surprise. Niels, our head lab man had been murdered!

The crime scene!

Luckily, we had all had our team genetic fingerprints, done the day before. If you take a look at the photographs, you can see that there is blood on the murder weapon! Unbeknownst to the killer, they had left their dna on it as well. As the staff read off the genetic profile, we all sat down one by one as we were eliminated. When there was just one man left standing, he tried to make a run for it, but didn't get very far, because steve stopped him!

It soon came to light that Josh blamed Niels for an earlier lab result that had not gone well. Josh, being a bit paranoid, I thought that meals was sabotaging all of his results. He also had been overheard threatening his lab partner over minor infractions. The jury didn't even need to come in because we had DNA proof!!! Too bad He couldn't have waited forty eight hours because then we would have been graduated and you could have moved on with his life as a free man....( Insert dramatic music here, and run the lifetime movie credits.)

On our last day in lab, there was a whole heck of a lot of silliness, and trust me, we needed it because we had two 3 hour lectures that day as well!!! Everything that we learned was fascinating, ut yeah, even we couldn't keep that much in our brains after two weeks. If you're wondering what the heck is up with the cowboy hats, it's because of the western blots tests. We and the staff never give up the opportunity for a dumb play on words.

At seven o'clock on the last day, we were picked up for graduation. If you really want to see the whole graduation, it's on my youtube channel here. https://youtu.be/_fA09mJuCkI?si=GJcvsQegEHkZyfES

The staff did an amazing job, giving everybody a task that doubled as our final before, we are allowed to get our graduation certificate. I swear if my graduations had been this much fun, I would have gone.

Unfortunately, the two weeks has passed.And i'm on my way home. Of course. I'm looking forward to seeing Mike and the puppies, but I may never have an opportunity. We're quite like this again.

P.S. The woman making the cat scratch motions at our graduation dance is amazing. She is an experimental physicist who is working to see if the principals of physics, at scales smaller than the atom, effect micro and macrobiology. She and her lab are working to prove that things like evolution and succession are influenced by physics. Also her name is Clarice and I think I deserve an atta girl, for never bringing up Silence of the Lambs to her. It just wouldn't be professional, right?