Blog #1
So it has begun! It has been a week since the program
started. I am now officially researching 24/7. I am really looking forward to
this summer, I really think I can a lot accomplished. I have reviewed the MARC
SPUR program and I am very excited at all the events I am attending. The
seminars look very informative. I think I will have a better perspective on
things by the end of the summer, and with the workshops it looks like I might
have a little extra work. That’s fine though, as long as I benefit from it I ok
with a little extra work.
Now I am able to
really put all my time into researching epidermal induction here in the De
Robertis lab. During the last few quarters I was limited by my shifting
schedule and studying for classes (of course!). However, I am now able to spend
most of my time in the lab. This is great because I am now able to see all of
my experiments all the way through from beginning to end.
This is the instrument on which I perform my art. The
Injector coupled with the stereo microscope allows me to inject frog embryos
with various substances!
This is my work bench where all my preparations take place.
It has everything I need to conduct science!
Blog #2
It has
been four weeks since the start of the program, but I have been with my lab for
a little under a year. I have finally been asked to present at one our weekly
lab meetings. I have presented in front of people before, yet I never really
get used to the idea of talking in from of audiences. At the same time I am
also preparing for my personal statement for my graduate school application and
for the in class critique. I was one busy weekend! Preparing a laboratory
presentation of everything I have done so far, and researching schools to write
about in my statement.
I have to
say that after the lab meeting was over, I felt relieved. I thought it went
well, and the rest of the lab members said it was good too. I also received
some constructive criticism, which I always welcome since I know it will help
improve my skills as a presenter.
The
workshop also went well. I received tons of feedback from Dr. Azurdia, who
looked over my statement and offered valuable advice to make it a stronger
statement. That week I also learned a lot about how to finance my graduate
education through different funding agencies.
The frogs I work with. They are very squishy and slimy.
Injecting frog embryos with the boss, Dr. De Robertis
Blog #3
Well, it is the end of week eight of the MARC SPUR
program. During the last few weeks, our PI (Eddy) has discovered what was preventing the eggs from
being fertilized, something that has been preventing many lab members including
myself from obtaining data. It was perfect timing because the due date for the
results section was right around the corner. Since then I have been rigorously
performing experiments, burning the midnight oil watching over my experiments
to make sure that I obtain results.
In other
news, one of our lab members got a new job where he will be the PI of his own
lab! This is very exciting because I too want to follow a similar career path.
Since he was leaving, we all went out to celebrate his success and departure.
We debated where we wanted to eat, and we finally decided to eat at a Persian
restaurant called Shamshiri Grill. The food was delicious, and the portions
were enormous.
Among a plethora of experiments,
this one I did for fun! It is a protein gel to do a western blot. I am testing
the effectiveness of a new plasmid I injected into embryos and I am going to
see if b-catenin is actually overexpressed.
Here we are after a fattening meal.
I could berally move after that.
Shamshiri Grill. I had never tried Persian food
before, and I must say that I was quite impressed. Very good.
Blog #4
It is now
near the end of the MARC SPUR program, and I have just finished up the ninth
week. There are no more experiments for week nine. There is a reason for this
change in tradition. The De Robertis lab participates in its annual Laboratory course
for the first year medical students at UCLA. This is an event that the whole
lab participates in in order for the med students to have an understanding of
medical embryology. My PI, Eddy De Robertis, had a few lectures where he talked
about the development of human embryos. These lectures were very insightful. It
felt kind of cool to be sitting in the same class full of medical students
learning the same things they were.
After the
lectures, our lab prepared several workshops to show the various fields of
embryology to the students. These fields ranged from frogs (our labs
specialty), mice, chicken, and even human embryology. I was in charge of
preparing the fertilization plates for the students, as they had the
opportunity to fertilize the eggs to create future tadpoles. Later I was asked
by Eddy to help teach students at a different station where I instructed them
how to do a transvers cut of early neurala stage from embryos so that we may
see the three distinct germ lays. It was very exciting! This took place for
three days, and for three days we helped those students learn.
After
everything was done, we had to clean up, which is the only part that was a
drag. Afterwards, Eddy took the whole lab out for lunch in appreciation for our
hard work. We ate on campus at this place called Faculty Center. It seemed very
nice compared to all the other places on campus. As soon as that whole thing
was done, I was finally able to focus on completing my poster for the final
week of the program.
He we are
after a few hours of enlightening medical students the ways of embryology!
Here we
have a male and female frog. Can you guess which one is male and which one is
female?
This is a
surprisingly good picture of a chicken embryo taken right through the eye piece
of the microscope. You could actually see the heart beating at this stage. This
is quite an amazing thing to behold!
Apparently
this place isn’t easy to get into if you are an undergraduate student.
