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.

When most people think about scientific research, they envision a mad scientist working for days without seeing another human being. At least that is how I saw scientific research! However, through this lab I have discovered just the opposite. Now, one could attempt to do everything alone…and it would probably work. However, it would be ten times harder. Jade and I are on the same step in this purification process, and it makes the whole process more enjoyable. In fact, I am learning even more about what I am doing, because I can always compare my results with her results, and see how our phages differ. It is truly exciting to be able to work through an experiment like this with someone else.

After being MIA for about a week (I actually missed not being in lab!), I finally got to check out my plates from the week before. Everything seemed to look fine, I got really nice looking plaques and yesterday I was able to do my third and last plaque assay (hopefully) for my purification process. I’m going to check out my plates tomorrow and hopefully I can go onto the next step.

I think this area of science is so interesting! I don’t know a lot about what it entails to make such a robot, but I know that they are trying to develop a similar type of robot to be used in the medical field. The idea is that every doctor would get this robot where they could enter in symptoms and facts about the patient and the robot would scan through all the medical records and science article regarding the symptoms and make a recommendation for the course of treatment for the patient. I think once it is fully functional, it would be a great asset to physicians who are constantly pressed for time. Hopefully, though, physicians will still be adept and not rely solely on the robot to make decisions.

Oh my gosh this is brilliant and hilarious!! Hahah