Saw this on Pinterest and just had to post it here! Made me think of the streak tests we’ve had to do in lab. Maybe I’ll make and bring these in for the holidays:) anyways just thought it was funny !

On Monday a few of us were able to head down to the Microbiology Lab and do some really cool stuff! We essentially wanted to get a picture of our phage, so did a few procedure steps on on the phage lysate, and then Dr. Gibbon was going to stick in in the electron microscope! After treating the lysate, we went in the back room to look at the electron microscope – who knew we even had one! It was so incredibly cool! I felt like a legitimate researcher! I was then telling my friends about what we did in lab, and they all said, “Wow…I have only been able to read about stuff like that!” It finally hit me how cool of experimentation we are doing, because not many people get to use the equipment and procedures that we are doing.

That is great! Looks like you are working hard. I bet it was scary to get no results on your Arthrobacter, but at least you are back on track. I am just about to flood my 10 plates so I guess I will be having so long times in the lab just like you have. Fun times await!

After I filtered my plate last Wednesday, I came back to do purify my plaque once more but this time after diluting my sample to 10^-10. It didn’t take me too long to finish on Monday as I have really gotten used to the whole purifying step and can do it with my eyes closed. Tomorrow, I will start titering (I think that’s what it’s called) and catch up to everyone else.

Everything is connected in some way.  It is interesting when science can find ways to illustrate these connections.  The past and the present are very much a part of each other and the similarities can be exciting.

http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/37152/title/A-Bone-Deep-Kinship/

It is so much fun to work with other people. Jeremy, Walker, and I are on different steps, but we still help each other out if we can. It is great to see others succeed, and know that you are going to be on that step soon.

I actually used Msmeg too. I tried to find Arthrobacter and used over 10 samples to find it, but I never found a phage. So I went with Msmeg.

Turns out, it was too weak and I lost it again. Going back a few more weeks to try to revive this poor little phage of mine.

On Wednesday, I got the go ahead to start flooding my plates as my -1 sample’s plaques seemed similar and web-like. I added phage buffer to that plate and put it in the cold room so I will start working with that on Monday.

This is now my mental image of what happens when my phage meets the M. Smeg on the plates… http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/820310976.gif

Awww! Thanks Abby! I am so thankful I have you too. It makes it a lot easier when there is someone else there to check and make sure you are doing things right. This lab would definitely be a struggle without you and I on the same page.