My Lab, Your Lab, Our Lab
World Report - "Life in the Lab"
A wise researcher once said, "The Winn Lab is where it's at." I agree with her with no reservations.
Why is my lab so cool? I'll tell you why.
The Winn Lab is made up of:
- Dr. Michelle Winn
- Dr. Rasheed Gbadegesin
- Dr. Jason Eckel
- Dr. Peter Lavin
- Brandy Bowling
- Guanghong Wu
- Alison Homstad
- Alison Trott
There are also some 'awesome possum' summer research students:
0. Toyosi Oyelowo
- Caldwell Powell-- *shoutout to Western Guilford & Greensboro, NC* FTW
- Edward Spruill
- Aerin Spruill
- Luka Ojemaye
:)
The powers that be declared a blog featuring the Life in the Lab. Here's what I discovered about some of the Winn Lab-sters.
The Dr. Eckel Day
Some mornings, Dr. Eckel has work in the Clinics. There, he attends to patients. On other days, he comes into CHG and is immersed in interesting research projects. He may have Mouse Work, and spend hours in the Mouse House collecting urine, taking blood pressures, and/or doing surgeries. He comes back to the Lab after a delicious lunch at Chipotle. In the lab, he analyzes the collected data and looks at the DNA and RNA of the mice. He also does cell work with Luka. He raises B cells by feeding them nutrients!
The Luka Day
Luka enters the Winn Lab early in the morning and checks his email to find any important assignments and news. He then goes to his mentor, Dr. Eckel, and sees what extra assignments Dr. Eckel has for him. Luka spends his time feeding the B cells so that they stay alive and grow. He also goes to the Mouse House to collect urine to analyze. According to Luka, this step takes a long time. By the end of it, Luka is ready for lunch and spends time outside. After a great lunch, Luka comes back to the lab and does B cell proliferation assays, which test the life expectancy of different kinds of cells. Then, Luka helps the other researchers with their research.
The Aerin Day 
Aerin checks her email first thing in the morning. She then goes to work for Jason and does some RNA purification and extraction from animal tissues. After that, Aerin clocks out for a delicious lunch. After Lunch, Aerin either does some real time PCR or helps the other investigation with their assignments.
The Caldwell Day
Caldwell enters the WInn Lab around "9-ish." He checks his e-mail and does the first step in the list of duties to complete that day. This may be PCR-ing, sequencing, or running gels. Lunch is the best part of the day for Caldwell, other than any other discoveries he made. However, according to Caldwell, the days he has lunch with me are subpar. :( After lunch, Caldwell analyzes the data he gathered before lunch. He hopes gain research experience and exposure to the scietific field through this summer job.
The Alison Day
When Alison enters the CHG building, she first checks her e-mail!! Then she's off to the Mouse House for the morning, collecting urine samples, and blood pressures. Sometimes, she sacrifices the mice. When she returns to the lab, she measures and stores the urine for later. She takes a refreshing lunch break and returns to the lab ready to train new summer students, or design, optimize, and hydrate primers.
THE TOYOSI DAY
I know, it's the moment you have all been waiting for! I come into the lab around 10 o'clock. I get ready for the day, by going to my mentor Alison. She gives me assignments to complete while she is in the Mouse House. This may include making master mixes, running a PCR or measuring and storing urine. After a lovely lunch with my lab buddies, I reunite with my mentor and restart my polymerase chain reaction. I also complete other odd-end jobs for my mentor and the other researchers. By the end of all that, it is five o"clock, and I say to the Winn Lab, "you are cool, but you are not that cool!" DUECES!
ooo11
