Saturday, May 17, 2008

Ayo my quality control, captivates your party patrol / your mind, body, and soul

Week one of working in a lab is el fin! I'm off to a fantastic start.

On Wednesday, I picked up my keys. Now I have access to a lot of the security-laden th and 7th floor labs around SPH II. Rick and I are sharing keys to the 5th floor of SPH I where the really nice, new labs are. I have the security codes for all the doors, too. So, I'm golden there, and feel quite special.

On Thursday, Rick left me alone in lab all day because he had some meetings. He guided me a bit about what to do -- bisulfite conversion on some DNA, etc. I ended up coming back to lab after running an errand, and stayed pretty late to do some PCR and figure some stuff out. I love that place.

Yesterday was the big shot day though. I walked into SPH and got up to about floor 6 and ran into Rick who was walking downstairs. He goes, "I have presents for you!" So, we walked up to lab and he shows me all sorts of neat stuff -- my lab notebook finally arrived, he got me a 3-ring binder and some page protectors for me to put common procedures into, and got this really neat ice-pack-microfuge tube holder so I don't have to run down to 6th floor all the time to get ice when I'm setting up PCR reactions. He also got a few other fun little lab tools.



I ran my gel, which turned out fabulously, and went down to meet with him at noon. He gave me all sorts of power, when he told me how to design and order my own primers, order other supplies (like much needed master mix with hot-start Taq).

So... next week I am all alone, with a few good projects to work on. I love it so far! Love, love, love it!

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