My Day in the Kiehart Lab
My days in the lab can vary depending on what I'm up to during that day. My mentor usually doesn't get in until a few hours after me, so I usually come in and continue my current project on my computer using a program called Image J. This can include tracing amnioserosa cells, tracking the elongation of leading edge cells or mapping germ band retraction over time in different video files. I usually copy the data into excel and graph a scatterplot of my results and use trendlines to find slopes and identify patterns. I might also be formatting video files I made with the confocal microscope.
I usually have lunch with Vera or a few others at twelve-thirty and get back to the lab at 1:30 where I talk to my mentor about the things that I did in the morning for a little bit. Sometimes I'll do microscope work or gel electrophoresis in the afternoon, if not I'll continue what I do in the morning. If I'm doing microscope work, I'll prepare a slide with multiple embryos at the appropriate stage of development and use the confocal microscope to create a map of those embryos, so that the microscope can image sections of all the different embryos. I also have to define the planes of the embryo I want the microscope to development. Since this is three dimensional microscopy, the microscope has to know how deep to probe into the embryo and also how close to image it. Since things can get shifted in this environment easily because of all the delicate equipment, I have to check the microscope every 5-10 minutes to make sure it is working correctly. Between these intervals, I will work on my computer to do the things I usually do in the morning.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays my lab will have tea and cookies at 4 p.m. I usually go home somewhere between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
My favorite part of the day would probably be discussing my project with my mentor or others in the lab that help me. I like getting feedback and being able to take a step back and look at the big picture of what I'm doing. My least favorite part of the day would be in the middle of the afternoon where I'm working on the computer but there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to what I'm doing.
