It’s hard to believe that my time at Harvard and MIT is already halfway over. With four weeks down and four weeks to go, this week marks the midpoint of an amazing summer.
Contrary to my last entry’s tone, this week was anything but slow at the lab right from the start. On Monday, with two different polymers dialyzing, I was constantly checking my watch to make sure I didn’t miss changing the water at the correct time. We also created another polymer, which we left stirring on a hot plate overnight after adding various substances that needed to dissolve.
Journal club met as usual on Tuesday morning. This week’s presentations addressed how to use peptides to cross the bloodbrain barrier in order to distribute medicines (a topic also discussed in my HIV/AIDS class this week!) and how Markov chains can be used to predict the outcome of baseball games. After journal club, I changed the medium for all 10 plates of C2C12 cells and checked them under the microscope. After changing the water a few more times, I took the polymers off dialysis, freeze-dried them, and put them on the lyopholizer so that the water could be vacuumed out. Tuesday I was invited to attend a lunch with Dr. Langer and the other undergraduates and high-schoolers interning at the labs. We were able to ask him a variety of questions and congratulate him on his most recent accomplishment: being awarded the National Gold Medal of Science.
On Wednesday morning, Sarah and I defrosted macrophages and mesothelial cells and began growing them in flasks. Next week, we’ll transfer them to well plates so that I can perform MTT assays on all of our cells: macrophages, mesothelials, and C2C12s. We made yet another PXC polymer, which involved constant monitoring of the pH, before we put it on dialysis. For lunch on Wednesday, I took the train to Charles/MGH and ate with my uncle. I haven’t gotten to explore too much of Boston, so this was a new experience.
Thursday I changed the water for dialysis before our weekly Kohane group meeting. It went pretty long, so we didn’t spend any time in the lab in the morning and I caught up on some reading for class instead. In the afternoon, I saw the cold room, where we store a majority of our liquid supplies, for the first time. Sarah and I made mesothelial cell medium, a long process with many additives, including insulin, which I had to put into tiny 275 containers to store for another time. We also started making the nanoparticles to add to our cells for our experiments next week.
On Friday I changed the medium for the C2C12 cells again; Sarah will add the nanoparticles to them this weekend, and I’ll do the MTT assays on my own next week. We took two of our polymers off dialysis and experimented with different reactions, using a double-barreled syringe to see if we could make hydrogels that can be injected into the body. I also flew solo with the infamous lyopholizer (see photo below) and put some of our samples on there to dry.
It was Harry Potter weekend at Harvard. And of course, being an avid fan, I was in line to get my copy of the book at 12:01 am on Saturday at Queen’s Head Pub, a student hangout below Annenberg Dining Hall. It was a weekend of reading on campus, both Harry Potter and my AIDS textbook, as I prepared for my midterm exam, which is on Tuesday the 24th. However, I still found time to socialize; a few friends from Brooks came down to visit on Sunday for the day. I also had dinner in Cambridge with my family on Sunday night. This coming week will be busy, with my midterm studying, a full schedule at the lab, and a dinner planned for all the Cambridge interns and Mr. Palm.
Have a great week!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Week Three . . . Never a (Really) Dull Moment
Lab work is never steady. On the one hand, there are bursts of time when I am running around trying to plate cells and my thumb feels like it will fall off if I even see another pipette. On the other hand, there are days when I sit around reading scientific journals, waiting for something to do. This was the lesson I learned during my third week at Langer Lab.
Monday morning, I changed the water for dialysis once more. Then Sarah and I poured the polymer solution into tubes that we centrifuged and then freeze-dried, so that the water could be vacuumed out. To freeze-dry them, we placed our samples in liquid nitrogen. Then the samples were put in a glass flask and into a lyopholizer, where the solvent is removed by vacuum over the course of a few days. That afternoon, I performed an MTT assay on my own, adding dye and stopping solution to macrophages and mesothelial cells, then incubating them for the night.
Tuesday morning I attended Langer Lab’s weekly summer journal club meeting, where different researchers (post-doctorates, graduate students, and undergraduates alike) present scientific journal articles that they’ve recently read while we have a group breakfast. This week’s articles were about the new HPV vaccine and DNA folding. Later that day, I changed the medium for our C2C12 muscle cells. Sarah also taught me how to store our absorbance data from the MTT assays in Excel spreadsheets and graph the data so we can track cell viability over time.
On Wednesday, things slowed down around the lab. In the morning, we had a Kohane group meeting, where we heard about current and future experiments from each researcher. Wednesday afternoon, Sarah and I took a walk to the Histology Department to drop off some dissection samples to be analyzed.
Thursday was proof that no matter how much you plan, things will still go wrong. After nine long days of growth and incubation, we discovered that our C2C12 muscle cells had all died, suddenly clearing our schedule for the day. Then we discovered that the lyopholizer had been used improperly and all the samples on it had melted, including the polymer that we had started making a week and a half ago. We were able to save some samples, but we still lost a lot. After a few hours of reading journals and studying for class, we went with another researcher to an NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) machine and analyzed some sugars.
Friday the 13th was actually a much luckier day than Thursday. We were able to plate 10 sets of C2C12 cells that will grow for the next nine days. We also started making a new PXC-M polymer; to finish it will take all of next week and perhaps even some time in the following week.
There were good days, bad days, busy days, and even a few quiet days in the lab this week. Back at Harvard though, things were pretty busy. I spent most of my evenings reviewing for class and catching up on my summer reading. Class is going well; I spent some time at Brain Break on Tuesday night with the tutor for my section, reviewing while we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. After 3 ½ hours of class on Thursday evening I was pretty tired, but I still found myself eating ice cream in the dorm at 12:30 am with some friends.
This weekend I’m bringing a few Brooks friends back to my house for some well-deserved homecooked meals and relaxation. Sunday we’ll be back, ready for whatever week four will bring.
Have a great week!
Monday morning, I changed the water for dialysis once more. Then Sarah and I poured the polymer solution into tubes that we centrifuged and then freeze-dried, so that the water could be vacuumed out. To freeze-dry them, we placed our samples in liquid nitrogen. Then the samples were put in a glass flask and into a lyopholizer, where the solvent is removed by vacuum over the course of a few days. That afternoon, I performed an MTT assay on my own, adding dye and stopping solution to macrophages and mesothelial cells, then incubating them for the night.
Tuesday morning I attended Langer Lab’s weekly summer journal club meeting, where different researchers (post-doctorates, graduate students, and undergraduates alike) present scientific journal articles that they’ve recently read while we have a group breakfast. This week’s articles were about the new HPV vaccine and DNA folding. Later that day, I changed the medium for our C2C12 muscle cells. Sarah also taught me how to store our absorbance data from the MTT assays in Excel spreadsheets and graph the data so we can track cell viability over time.
On Wednesday, things slowed down around the lab. In the morning, we had a Kohane group meeting, where we heard about current and future experiments from each researcher. Wednesday afternoon, Sarah and I took a walk to the Histology Department to drop off some dissection samples to be analyzed.
Thursday was proof that no matter how much you plan, things will still go wrong. After nine long days of growth and incubation, we discovered that our C2C12 muscle cells had all died, suddenly clearing our schedule for the day. Then we discovered that the lyopholizer had been used improperly and all the samples on it had melted, including the polymer that we had started making a week and a half ago. We were able to save some samples, but we still lost a lot. After a few hours of reading journals and studying for class, we went with another researcher to an NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) machine and analyzed some sugars.
Friday the 13th was actually a much luckier day than Thursday. We were able to plate 10 sets of C2C12 cells that will grow for the next nine days. We also started making a new PXC-M polymer; to finish it will take all of next week and perhaps even some time in the following week.
There were good days, bad days, busy days, and even a few quiet days in the lab this week. Back at Harvard though, things were pretty busy. I spent most of my evenings reviewing for class and catching up on my summer reading. Class is going well; I spent some time at Brain Break on Tuesday night with the tutor for my section, reviewing while we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. After 3 ½ hours of class on Thursday evening I was pretty tired, but I still found myself eating ice cream in the dorm at 12:30 am with some friends.
This weekend I’m bringing a few Brooks friends back to my house for some well-deserved homecooked meals and relaxation. Sunday we’ll be back, ready for whatever week four will bring.
Have a great week!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Week Two . . . Cells, Cells, Cells
My second week in Cambridge flew by. Finally, I was able to get more involved and even work on a few different experiments. On Monday, Sarah and I created a polymer that will be used to make a hydrogel next week. My role was to constantly monitor the pH level of the mixture, maintaining it as close to 6.8 as possible. I measured the pH after we added in each substance and used NaOH to raise it back to 6.8 if it dropped. After it was stable, we left the mixture stirring for a few days.
Monday afternoon, I went with Sarah across MIT’s campus to work with TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy). MIT has four of these huge microscopes, which Sarah used to take pictures of the microscopic channels in three different particles that we’re going to work with early next week.
Tuesday was a busy day for me in the lab. In the morning, I learned how to do an MTT assay, which is a laboratory test that uses color to measure cell growth. Basically, we culture cells, transfer them to well plates, add medium, change the medium every three days, add the materials we’re testing and then stain them with a dye to see if the cells are still alive. It’s a simple process, but time consuming. After observing, I was able to change the medium for a few samples and even fill the well plates. By the end of next week, I should be able to perform nearly the entire assay on my own.
In the afternoon, I went with Iris, another researcher, to observe her work with animals. She practiced making nerve blocks on the cystic nerves of rats. The process involved injecting lab rats with a mixture that would “block” the nerve, or make it temporarily non-functioning. Then she went through a series of tests to determine if the nerve was actually blocked. After being layered in a coat, hair cover, mask, gloves, and shoe covers, I wrote down the results of the tests for her. It was interesting to see her work with the rats because I’m learning that animal work is an inevitable part of biological research.
I had the day off on Wednesday for the holiday, so I spent the day at home with my family.
Thursday I spent most of the morning reading about different assays that we will do during the next six weeks. In the afternoon, I learned how to count cells, a somewhat tedious process, and how to determine if there were enough cells in a culture to perform an experiment.
On Friday we put our polymer into dialysis bags and suspended the bags in water. It was my responsibility to change the water every four hours. Next week, we should be able to freeze the mixture in liquid nitrogen and vacuum the water out, so we can start making the gel. I also changed the medium for C2C12 (muscle) cells, which involved vacuuming up the medium and pipetting fresh medium into 96 well plates.
So after a busy week, I’m heading home for the weekend, to spend some time with my family. On Sunday evening, I’ll be back for a dormwide cookout and a meeting with the tutor for my HIV/AIDS class. Have a great week!
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Week One . . . Moving In
One week down, seven more to go for me in Cambridge. Last Saturday, I moved the majority of my belongings from my home in Windham, NH, to an undergraduate dorm on Harvard University’s extensive campus. And this is where they will stay until August 17th. Moving in was uneventful, a day of chaos, boxes and suitcases, and a million brand new faces of the thousand or so high school students living on campus with me for the next two months.
The Harvard campus is beautiful. From Harvard Square to the Charles River Boathouse, Widener and Lamont Libraries, and Annenberg Dining Hall (which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Great Hall from Harry Potter), there is always something new and exciting to see every time I venture in and out of historic Harvard Yard.
As a day student, living in a dorm is a new experience. My room, a single bigger than most of the doubles at Brooks, is located in Hurlbut Hall, a Union dormitory just outside of the Yard. There are forty high school seniors living in this dorm (including two others with Brooks internships) and four proctors, making it one of the smallest dorms. Everyone I’ve met on campus has been great, giving me directions when I can’t find the mailroom, walking with me back to my dorm after an evening class, and even letting me in the dorm if I’ve forgotten my Harvard ID up in my room. The mix of students here is impressive; there are students from around the world: Korea, China, Switzerland, Spain, India, England, and more. The dining hall is a jumble of languages and accents, all blending together.
While living here, I’m also taking a science course, called Biological Perspectives on HIV and AIDS. As a course for both undergraduate and graduate students, I’m probably the youngest student in the 20-person class. I had thought that the course would be far over my head, considering I only have a year of biology under my belt, but the material is not only understandable, it’s also unbelievably interesting. I never knew that AP Biology would be so helpful.
I’ve spent most of my time this week getting accustomed to Harvard and its many amenities, but I also started work at Langer Lab at MIT late this week. I’m working with a research team that has a variety of projects that, if successful, would help with surgical operations. For reasons of confidentiality, I can’t say too much here, but it’s pretty amazing. Much of what I hear in the lab is a little over my head, but once everything is explained to me slowly and simply, I understand a lot more.
I’m working under a post doctorate, Sarah, and on Friday afternoon, once all my training was (finally!) completed, I was able to actually go into one of the labs with her, and help to pipette stopping solution into growing cell cultures. It was a small task, but it was pretty exciting just to be in the lab with all these great minds and great experiments surrounding me. Next week, however, I’m going to learn how to grow my own cell cultures and help with some preparation for an experiment we’re starting in mid-July.
Below are some pictures I took this week. There is a picture of my dorm room, two of my dorm (Hurlbut Hall), and one of the Harvard Square train station entrance, which I've gotten to know very well.
That’s all for now, Happy 4th of July!
The Harvard campus is beautiful. From Harvard Square to the Charles River Boathouse, Widener and Lamont Libraries, and Annenberg Dining Hall (which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Great Hall from Harry Potter), there is always something new and exciting to see every time I venture in and out of historic Harvard Yard.
As a day student, living in a dorm is a new experience. My room, a single bigger than most of the doubles at Brooks, is located in Hurlbut Hall, a Union dormitory just outside of the Yard. There are forty high school seniors living in this dorm (including two others with Brooks internships) and four proctors, making it one of the smallest dorms. Everyone I’ve met on campus has been great, giving me directions when I can’t find the mailroom, walking with me back to my dorm after an evening class, and even letting me in the dorm if I’ve forgotten my Harvard ID up in my room. The mix of students here is impressive; there are students from around the world: Korea, China, Switzerland, Spain, India, England, and more. The dining hall is a jumble of languages and accents, all blending together.
While living here, I’m also taking a science course, called Biological Perspectives on HIV and AIDS. As a course for both undergraduate and graduate students, I’m probably the youngest student in the 20-person class. I had thought that the course would be far over my head, considering I only have a year of biology under my belt, but the material is not only understandable, it’s also unbelievably interesting. I never knew that AP Biology would be so helpful.
I’ve spent most of my time this week getting accustomed to Harvard and its many amenities, but I also started work at Langer Lab at MIT late this week. I’m working with a research team that has a variety of projects that, if successful, would help with surgical operations. For reasons of confidentiality, I can’t say too much here, but it’s pretty amazing. Much of what I hear in the lab is a little over my head, but once everything is explained to me slowly and simply, I understand a lot more.
I’m working under a post doctorate, Sarah, and on Friday afternoon, once all my training was (finally!) completed, I was able to actually go into one of the labs with her, and help to pipette stopping solution into growing cell cultures. It was a small task, but it was pretty exciting just to be in the lab with all these great minds and great experiments surrounding me. Next week, however, I’m going to learn how to grow my own cell cultures and help with some preparation for an experiment we’re starting in mid-July.
Below are some pictures I took this week. There is a picture of my dorm room, two of my dorm (Hurlbut Hall), and one of the Harvard Square train station entrance, which I've gotten to know very well.
That’s all for now, Happy 4th of July!
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