Elyse's Internship Blog

On Monday, I got to interview Jason. He had a lot of great advice for me for my future. We also discussed how I could continue to work on this throughout the school year. I also used the last and final plate on my LNCAP cells on the Cellvo plates. I will have to do one more split after this to get my final RNA and Protein data and I am super hopeful that I can do it at the end of the week. That way, I can have done a full experiment on my own. On Tuesday, I made my first plasmids. This was really cool. I injected DNA into E. Coli cells so hopefully, they will reproduce it. I also ran RNA extraction on my sample from yesterday and RT. On Wednesday, I looked at the plasmid we set to cure overnight. It was super cool. I also worked on getting organized and preparing to end my time in the lab. I am really hoping that I can get everything done but I don't believe I will have quite enough time. Hopefully, I can come in one Saturday so that I can complete my research project start to ...

On Tuesday, I learned about mitochondrial DNA. This is something I want to do a scholarship video on. On Wednesday, I continued to learn about mitochondrial DNA compared to Nuclear DNA. I checked on my cells, they have been growing really slowly and I needed to make sure they were still doing okay. Then at the end, I learned how to graph IncuCyte data. On Thursday, I continued to work on my mitochondrial DNA video. I also added new media to my cells so hopefully by tomorrow or early next week they will be ready to split. On Friday, I helped Bea with a Western Blot. I have come to really enjoy these, the proteins are so cool. I have so far only had one that went really badly which seems to be kind of like a record so knock on wood! I am sad that next week will be my last in the lab since I have had so much fun.

On Monday, I did my presentation for the U54 meeting. The presentation went well! Afterward, I split my cells again for the third split. I was able to complete RNA and Protein extraction after the split. I also was able to determine the amount of RNA in my samples so I can run an RT tomorrow morning. On Tuesday, I finished the RT from my RNA samples from Monday. I also ran more Western Blots for Sarah. I've noticed that I am getting pretty good at doing the basics of Western Blots/RNA extraction/Protein extraction/Splitting Cells. I feel like this will be really useful for when I go to college and I will already know how to do the basics. On Wednesday, I ran RT on one of Beas samples that I had extracted RNA from last week. I learned the importance of labeling samples. Each sample was in triplicate and I did not originally distinguish which of the three was which. So the data I had on how much RNA in each sample meant nothing. I am glad I learned this lesson here on something ...

On Monday, we watched the first presentations with the U54 group. This experience made me very appreciative of my AOIT presentation training. While they knew a significant amount about their research, their power points and presentations were not as engaging as I had hoped. I will be presenting next Monday on the things that I have started doing. On Tuesday, I went to receive my first paper check from the payment office which I thought would be a nice walk through campus but turned out quite the opposite. Once I returned there was not much science work for me to do so I worked on my U54 presentation, helped make a few master mixes for a qPCR and worked on the review paper. On Wednesday, I extracted RNA from a sample Bea was working on. Then later in the afternoon, I worked with Dolphin blood. We made several dilutions of it and added a mix which turned it blue. On Thursday, I ran four western blots on my own. These will eventually be used to test different antibodies. These are t...

On Monday, I worked mostly on the computer just updating powerpoints, emails, etc. On Tuesday, I presented and discussed my projects with other students in the lab and students in San Diego as part of the program that is allowing me to be paid by the hour. Everyone's research was pretty different but really interesting. It helped me to see the endless possibilities this job really has. I also ran the second split on my CELLvo plates. I also ran a western blot on a few protein samples for Bea. On Thursday, I used the cells from my splits to do my second RNA extraction and protein extraction. I also ran an RT on my RNA to get cDNA. After the 5 splits I do for my project, I will run a qPCR on the cDNA I create from my cells.

On Monday, I started by splitting my cells. Then after working on papers and internship things I learned about the projects I would be doing. On Tuesday, I was able to start one of my projects. This project is about testing a new type of plate to see if it promotes growth better than the original plates we used. See more here . I also created a presentation for Dr. Somarelli and other researchers on what I would be doing. On Wednesday, I took a few pictures of my cells to see how they were growing. I also learned how to analyze a qPCR spreadsheet which had a few steps but wasn't that hard. On Friday, I completed the first split on my plates. I prepared a protein and RNA extraction on the cells. The RNA and Protein were stored in the -80 for later examination.

setting up a qPCR experiment On Tuesday, Mrs. Robinson came and visited the lab. I gave her a very informal lab tour with Dr. Somarelli and showed her my cells. After that, I worked on a paper and ran qPCR. On Monday, I learned about a process called RT which is reverse transcription. What this does is it turns RNA into cDNA or coding DNA. This will be put into a qPCR which shows gene expression over time. For RT you use RNA and have to determine the concentration of the RNA in the sample. Based on this, there are different amounts of the sample that should be added to a master mix of different buffers and primers. I also split my cells unsupervised for the first time which was super cool. I successfully divided my cells and was able to plate them. On Thursday, I set up a qPCR experiment unsupervised. It was really cool and scary since it was one of my first things doing completely unsupervised. There were also a few steps in the process where I had to dilute a few of the ...

On Monday, I was required to meet up with HR in order to receive a badge and plan parking. This meeting did not take long and afterward my mentor, Bea, showed me how to do Cell Culture and RNA extraction. After that, we had a lab group meeting in order to discuss a few projects that were happening around the lab. Giselle presented about her trip to a marine lab in Hawaii to collect samples from dolphins that would be used in later experiments. Dr. Somarelli and Dr. Eward then had a spicy noodle eating competition. On Tuesday, I learned about the Incucyte. It can be used to track cell growth in real time. This is important when trying to look at how the cells are growing and for seeing how many cells to add to a plate or well for experiments. Bea also showed me how to unfreeze cells. This is an important process because if the cells are not thawed quickly then they can die. After that, there was a talk about the differences in treatment response by race in prostate cancer, which is th...