Heeeellllloooo everyone!
This is going to be a super long post ahead, so I apologize in advance!
I don’t even know where to begin with this week, so I will start with a collage of some pictures I took when we went to OceanStar in Galveston! Starting from the top left, the first two pictures showed different components required to obtain oil in the deep sea. I thought those components looked cool (and really, the second picture made me think of superheroes, haha). The next five pictures were for fun, from dressing up and being in the props that were available to us, featuring Rebecca! The last two pictures were from our session where we learned different activities to hopefully incorporate into our classroom. I definitely am already thinking of ways that I can use the Oil Derrick activity, as well as the energy ball/stick activity in my classroom! I actually ordered an Energy Stick from Amazon as soon as we completed that activity that day!
Side note: we are very proud of our Oil Derrick – it held up FOUR iPhones! Be jealous!
Now, for the actual Week 1 NEWT RET…
I’m not going to lie, Day 1 was pretty challenging for me. Not because of the content that we were learning, but rather, understanding how ACTUAL research life worked. As a teacher, I feel like we are always going and going and going, very similar to the Energizer Bunny. I was definitely wrong. It’s reading on previous research, running an experiment, wait for that experiment, and as you are waiting, go read something else. Some days, it’s just reading.
Regardless, I definitely enjoyed my first week as I got to know the people in my lab more! In My lab, my PI is Dr. Alvarez and my assigned mentor is Pingfeng (Ping) Yu. I actually didn’t work with Ping all too much this week. He introduced me the project on Monday when I came in and I worked with him for part of Thursday and Friday. The project that I am working on is using using phages (basically bacteria-eating viruses) to attach to E. coli and S. aureus. Although we are using other bacteria as well, E. coli and S. aureus are the two main ones we are using because they are gram-negative and gram-positive, respectively. This allows us to identify what will penetrate the cell and be effective in removing the bacteria versus what will not. Once the phage is added to the bacteria, we will also add in nanoparticles of FeC-NH2 (Iron, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen) with Vancomycin (an antibiotic that is know to bill most bacteria) that is modified. This combination, when added to the phage, will kill the phage (through Vancomycin) and the nanoparticles itself will attach to the cell (through centrifugation/vortex/shaker/sonication). This attachment process is significant because the nanoparticles chosen are magnetic in nature and have been effective in the past in removing bacteria in water. The magnification itself will allow researchers to “fish” the phage out since its use is no longer needed and we do not want to drink water that has phages in it.
This first collage shows the equipment that I needed to become familiar with (except the last two, but I’ll explain what they are!). On the first day, I was already using the centrifuge, the shaker, and going under the hood, pretty much every day that I was there (first, second, fifth-sixth images, respectively from top left). The centrifuge brings the cells down to the bottom of the vials for us to collect/use for our project, the shaker mixes the nanoparticles, cell, and whatever else we are using there to be more homogeneous, and the hood is for us to not introduce bacteria/reduce cross-contamination, and be as sanitary as possible when we are working with our bacteria.
The vortex and sanitation machine were not used as regularly until the end of the week, as we had to make sure our nanoparticles were mixed with our cells appropriately (the third and fourth images). I also learned how to use the autoclave (the seventh image), which is a little scary because you have to log in your lab PI’s name, so you have to be reeeeaaallly careful to not be the one that crashes the autoclave (there’s one in Keck Hall that is always on the red screen).
Now, the last two images! I didn’t actually get to use these expensive machines at all. In fact, you have to be trained specifically to use these two machines. The second to last machine applies pressure on the SEM (scanning electron microscope) plates and applies a coating of Gold on it to make it a little more dense (if I understood it correctly) to prepare the plates for use. The last image is the SEM itself – a beautiful machine that produces amazing results and our week’s worth of work.
Before I get to the SEM images, I wanted to show you all the cultures from Day 1. The first two pictures show how the nanoparticles are actually magnetic with the bacteria! How cool is that?! The plates show the different concentrations of T3, the type of phage they are using I believe, eating away at the bacteria on the culture plates (the clear spots).
Remember how I said I have not really worked with Ping all too much? Well, that’s because I have been working with Professor Jingang Huang, a visiting professor from China, pretty much the whole week (except for Thursday because his son was sick, so this is why I worked with Ping for about a day and a half). Pictured here is Professor Huang pipetting onto the SEM with various cells/components of our project. Each SEM plate contained a different nanoparticle and/or bacteria.
This picture shows how the nanoparticles are attached to the cell. How cool is that?!?! Two of the pictures are of E. coli and one is of S. aureus. Can you tell which one is which? Hint: two are rod-shaped and one is cocci.
The brighter looking parts are the nanoparticles. They are so tiny, but mighty!!! We learned a few things from this week: the amounts that we have are NOT the right amounts and have to tweak some things, such as the amount of time we are centrifuging, the speed of centrifugation, when we are mixing the nanoparticles, bacteria fixing, ect.
Lastly, to wrap up this long post, here are some pictures of me pipetting. I may have been preparing for serial dilutions here… or washing the bacteria, I’m not sure, but I was trying to act natural. I’ve been pipetting, making plates, agar, LB broth (food for bacteria), auto-claving, and watching. I get to be a part of something really, really cool and although my role may be small, I know this research will take off one day and I get to be proud that I had a hand in it!
And that’s it for the week!! I am definitely looking forward to more learning, as well as being patient.
