The week of March 21st-March 25th marks the seventh week of the Senior Project. Less than half of the Trimester 3 is left. Five weeks sounds like a very long time, but time really flies, especially this year. This week I was only able to go to the lab for two days this week, but those to days were busy days.
On March 21st, I worked in the cell culture room. We were to create a clonogenic assay for DU145 and 22Rv1 and a cell viability assay for all three cell lines. Something I have not addressed before was the amount of time it takes. In the cell culture room there is no clock so there is no way of keeping track of time. When you are in one place for an extended period of time, your sense of time distorts. As I was doing the work, Dr. Lacombe informed me that it was already 6 pm. 6 pm? How could that have happened! After completing what little work was left, I left. This was at 7 pm... luckily I made it home for bedtime.
On March 25th, I worked in the cell culture room and counted cells for a PC3 clonogenic assay. In the cell culture room, I changed the medium in the 96 well plate, trypsinized the DU145 flasks, and made tubes for CLPA analysis for DU145. In my next post I will share the data from the clonogenic assay and analyze the data. This time everything went much more smoothly and I am certainly more comfortable in the lab on my own.
After being in the lab and staying the few late nights, I suddenly have a greater understanding and deeper respect for everything that researchers do. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the lab (well the lunch room but the lab room was right next door) because my mom is a researcher. As a child, I did not appreciate all the blood, sweat and tears that went research. Like any child, I was more impressed with all the technology, cells, and nitrogen gas than the people who did the actual research. Now that I have spent my share of time in the lab my perspective has certainly flipped.
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