Week Five . . . A Focus on MTT Assays

My fifth week in Cambridge has just finished and I’m finally getting the hang of things. This week I worked mostly on my own in the lab; Sarah gave me a list of responsibilities for the week, broken down by day. I had to be efficient so that I could get everything done each day, and I also had to pay close attention to the timing for the different steps of experiment protocol.

This was MTT week for me, meaning that I performed a lot of MTT assays. As explained in a previous entry, an MTT assay is a colorimetric test that observes cell viability in a variety of different environments. Sarah and I tested the viability of cells exposed to different nanoparticles. Monday morning I added nanoparticles to a few well plates of macrophages and mesothelial cells. Then I performed an entire assay on plates of C2C12 cells that Sarah had added particles to over the weekend. Each plate had a different concentration of nanoparticles in a buffer solution, so we were able to observe how that affect cell viability as well.

Tuesday morning started with Journal Club, where we heard presentations on detecting proteins and engineering vascularized muscle tissue. Then I was back in the lab performing MTT assays on another batch of mesothelial cells and macrophages. Tuesday afternoon I created Excel spreadsheets with our growing data so that we could look for trends over time. Tuesday night was my midterm exam, a two hour test that I spent Sunday night, all afternoon and night Monday, and most of Tuesday afternoon studying for. It was hard, but I think I did okay.

Wednesday I did more MTT assays and watched Sarah do a Live/Dead assay on the same nanoparticles I was testing. I also caught up on some reading for class. Wednesday night Jon, Jee-Su, and I met Mr. and Mrs. Palm for dinner in Boston. After going the long way around Boston Common (but never actually getting lost), we made it in one piece and had a great meal, catching up and sharing stories from around our labs. That night, we also had a study break on my floor of Hurlbut, where we ate even more and met the second session students that moved into our dorm for the last four weeks of the program.

On Thursday the MTT assays continued, and our data really started to take shape. I was able to create graphs for the C2C12 cells. By this point we had finished assays for all of the C2C12 cells so we had a complete set of data. This weekend, Sarah is going to write up a summary of what we’ve done and the results of our assays so that she can use it in a draft of a paper she’s starting. Thursday evening, I had my discussion section and then stopped by Annenberg Dining Hall to eat a Harry Potter-themed meal, complete with a high table, teachers in costume, and British cuisine. Then it was time for lecture, where we began learning the biology of how HIV is transmitted and how it damages the immune system so effectively.

I was on my own in the lab on Friday, where I did the last MTT assay of this set and cleaned up the 20+ well plates that we used this week. I also changed the water for the polymer we had dialyzing. Next week will be a “polymer week,” according to Sarah, with focus on creating better hydrogels that we did last week.

My sister came down Friday to spend a night with me at Harvard; we went out for dinner and a movie and explored Harvard Square. Saturday we went out for breakfast and walked along the Charles before going home to the air conditioning and escaping the heat of Cambridge.
This coming week is Sarah’s last week with me before she leaves on a two-week vacation. I’m going to be working under Hila, another post-doc, for most of my last two weeks. This week I’m going to be introduced to some of her projects so we can determine what I will be working on during that time.

As usual, have a great week!