WISE Journal entry #11

Name: Leah Gerald

Entry: #11 (3/28/2012)

WISE Week: 6

Written on Date:4/3/2012

Mentor: Nathaniel


today was different because Sagar had to take a test, so he was not at the lab today. Nate acted as my mentor in his place for a day. there wasn't much to be done, because they hadn't been able to do much recently, so Nate took me to the hood to feed the cells new media. basically, all of the cells they culture live in little bottles filled with a substance that contains the nutrients they need to survive. as the cells eat up the nutrients, the pH levels in their food change, and they change from red to yellow. Nate took out all the cell cultures that were yellowish, aspirated out the food, and refilled it with more media. Its OK for them to suck out the substance like so because the cells are attached to the bottom of the plate, and when the new media is added, they were hungry for only a short time so they survive. on another note, I finally met Dr. Q today. he didn't have much time, and it was truly a coincidence he was here, but I saw him, shook his hand and said a few words, and then he was off again, taking care of some crises in the research lab. that was the highlight of my day.