Bears In The Sea 2015 | Baylor Phage Hunting

Finally!

I have finally isolated the DNA from my adopted phage! After many complications including contamination, I have finally isolated and extracted the DNA from the adopted phage.

I have finally finished the DNA extraction, nano drop and the gel. I am so excited and glad to have gotten this far even though it took most of my Friday. This whole semester has taken a lot of work but it was so worth it and very interesting. I have been able to…

Progress

Finally I feel as if I have made some progress in lab. Moving past serial dilutions (the worst thing ever) and past plating sure feels good. DNA extraction was not the worst process ever, even though I did have to give up a majority of my Friday afternoon that I could’ve (and most definitely wanted…

Arthrobacter in humans

Arthrobacter in humans http://jcm.asm.org/content/46/9/2980.full#ref-7

Am I a nerd?

I felt really cool telling my friends that I’ll be at open lab this afternoon extracting DNA from my phage. The look on their faces told me that cool was probably not the most accurate of adjectives. Perhaps nerdy would be better suited. Oh well, I can’t say that I care because I’ve been anxiously…

It’s Time

Yesterday, I started on my DNA extraction. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that all of the hard work that we have all put into the semester is finally yielding results! Last week I was able to see a TEM picture of my phage and I was so overwhelmed to finally have this confirmation of my…

I dreamt of phage…

This morning I woke up ridiculously early for my 8 AM Chemistry lab (which, incidentally, is not nearly as interesting as phage hunting). Normally, I don’t remember my dreams, but last night I dreamt that I went back to the TEM and my phage grew! It was way bigger, and more of them had tails. I’m not sure…

Step by step

I’ve been trying to go to all the open labs I can to finish extracting my DNA. Unfortunately it seems sometimes when it is open I have another class exactly at that time.It’s hard to be so close to the end but still feel far away. However, I am still confident that I can get…

Adventures in TEM

During lab last week, I had the opportunity to view (or TRY to view) my phage under a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The process of preparing the phage for viewing and watching as the TEM was set up was exciting. I was surprised by how small the sample “disks” were; they were difficult to handle…

Welcome Blair!!

Today I used the TEM to see if there were any phages in my lysate. To my surprise, there were millions!! I couldn’t be happier to receive these results. I have decided to name her Blair. Her head is 45 um and her tail is 100 um. Can’t wait to start DNA extraction finally.