A morning in the lab usually starts with me going over past protocols and adjusting amounts/volumes of reagent based on experimental conditions and optimization guidelines. Most of what I have done during the past weeks was subcloning plasmids that had been designed during the first week. Depending on where I am in the process, a day in the lab could be filled with procedures like enzyme digestion, purification, ligation, or transformation. When I wait for a reaction to run to completion, I would read about the immune system, Yersinia pestis, or some primary literature that connects the two. I would also have time to discuss the scientific background and questions with my mentor almost everyday. This is something I enjoy a lot because it allows me to see the bigger picture of the work I’m doing. In the afternoon, in addition to the things I mentioned above, I would also observe how my mentor does some of her experiments, and I would practice cell culture techniques that aren’t used in cloning. This is important because after I create the plasmid coding for the mutant proteins, I will need to transfect human cells and infect them with Yersinia pestis. Every Tuesday, I meet with my PI to go over results, troubleshoot, and discuss future steps. Also on Tuesdays, during lab meetings, I learn about the projects that other researchers in the lab are working on.
What I particularly enjoy about doing research during the summer is that the science is the only thing I worry about. Doing research during the school year means that I would need to set up an experiment, go to class, and then run back to the lab to end the reaction and set up for the next step. The process is very hectic. As my PI told me when I first joined the lab, “science is better when you have time to think about it”. I’ve frequently found myself coming up with ideas while taking walks during lunch breaks.
