Whether it’s a BSURF morning or not, it wouldn’t be a day at the lab without me starting off by investigating a new route to MSRB1 in my unending pursuit of the fastest way to the lab. After I get there, I’ll usually settle for a couple of minutes before I get started, because one of the perks of the lab is almost entirely unbounded hours. You can come when you want and work when you can, all we want as a lab is progress and results. As Dr. Grunwald always says, science doesn’t take breaks and I think the Varghese Lab’s standards fit that philosophy perfectly.
Many days of the week there are lab meetings or subgroup meetings where we’ll meet with Dr. Varghese and discuss our various projects. Typically I can’t contribute much, but despite this, I’m still afforded the opportunity to observe scientific discussion at the highest level. After these, I’ll get started on whatever tasks I have for the day. This often varies a lot; I may spend the whole day planning and reading papers, I might be working on building microfluidic devices to use in future experiments, or I could be working on cell culture. In addition to all of this, I occasionally get to do some imaging work or observe cell seeding into the microfluidic devices, a process more complex than it seems. I lot of this happens under a Biosafety Cabinet Hood, a machine that basically makes sure the inside of it stays super sterile. I have to be super careful with cells, reagents, media, and everything else that I work with because maintaining sterility is super important in ensuring both your cells stay alive, and that your experimental results are valid.
In the upcoming weeks, my days will probably change because many new materials are coming in so I’ll be able to make some new advancements in my project. The number of things I’m going to learn by the end of the summer is way beyond what I expected and I can’t help but be excited for the upcoming weeks.
