Although every day in the lab is slightly different, there are some constants that exist. I usually get to lab and do germination checks for about two hours in the morning. I have my petri dishes where we put down 20 seeds in each dish, and I have to go through different cohorts each day and record the number of seeds in each dish that have germinated. Afterwards, I usually analyze the germination data from previous days using different statistical methods on R, or practice making different types of graphs. Sometimes I meet with my mentor to discuss different methods or if my interpretations of the results are valid. This usually brings us to a late lunch around 2, where I either nap for 20 minutes or quickly eat chicken nuggets at the Bryan center.
After lunch, I do odd jobs around the lab for my lab manager for an hour. I usually help the other grad students in the lab in this time. These jobs include performing crosses between different ecotypes of Arabidopsis. Then it is time to check the plants that have been planted in the phytotron. This includes recording which plants have bolted, flowered etc. Occasionally we will water and fertilize the plants. We put sleeves/plastic cones on the plants that have started to develop so we can collect their seeds. We also make sure that the plants aren’t touching each other. After these checks, sometimes there are more germination checks to do, so I will do the final checks and leave.
