After finishing my first week at the Dong Lab, the overall expectation I have for this summer is to learn more about working in a lab setting. I’m excited to learn new techniques and how to use different scientific instruments, but I also want to better understand the hardships lab members face when something goes wrong in an experiment and how they overcome them.
In the Dong Lab, my mentors Funmilayo and Milena are researching the known mutations in the sodium channel gene in Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that acts as a vector for several diseases such as yellow fever and Zika virus. Their project focuses on identifying which mutations cause pyrethroid insecticide resistance. Over the next seven weeks, I will be testing one of the known mutations myself.
During my first week I learned how to use many of the lab instruments including a glass electrode puller and a microinjector to inject cRNA into oocytes. I’ve also prepared primers and did PCR, which is something I’ve only read about until now. This is however only a fraction of the techniques I need to learn to carry out my project. I still have much to learn about lab procedures and data analysis which I look forward to exploring these upcoming weeks. Besides lab techniques, I also learned in my first week how sometimes errors in research can occur and be out of the lab’s control. The project uses oocytes from frogs to study the gene mutations because the cells are bigger and easier to work with than mosquito eggs. Normally, the activation and inactivation of the sodium channels can be measured using a two-electrode voltage clamp. However, for the oocytes we used this past week, other ion channels were activated and prevented us from collecting the data we needed. I’m not entirely sure what caused this, but my mentors told me the eggs were the problem. Since my lab orders the oocytes from another company, it was out of their control. The work that was done in the past week resulted in no data, and they have to start over. While the situation was frustrating, the experience taught me that even when you’re careful mistakes still occur. I want to become more comfortable with the idea of making mistakes, something that isn’t promoted in a classroom setting.
Over the course of this program, I want to use this opportunity to become comfortable in a lab setting. I’m excited to see the theories I’ve learned in my past biology lectures applied in a project that is not only interesting but targets a current problem in the world.
