My week in the Change Lab was really awesome!
I started my week off by shadowing another undergraduate student that I had not worked with before. We started the day with plating a 24 hour for the OASIS study. To begin this process whole blood is mixed with FBS/RPMI (FBS stands for fetal bovine serum) which is used as medium. The mixture helps keeps the cells alive (essentially feeding them) long enough for all the tests to be run. While doing this we had to centrifuge a single vial of blood three times because the plasma kept mixing with the red blood cells. Once we finally got the vial properly separated we extracted the plasma and put it in 3 tubes, usually we are able to get 5, but this participant had a low amount of plasma. Then we finished the 24 hour plating by adding PBS as a control to 2 of the basins, and LPS as a stimulant to three of the basins. I also read the entire binder full of all the protocols for all the blood work done in the lab.
The next day I got to perform the entire OASIS protocol by myself. One of the FORCE PRA’s was with me the whole time to make sure I knew what to do, but I got to perform all the tasks! I started the day by showing the PRA that I knew how to use a pipette with water. I was able to recite most of the protocol from watching it done four times, but I still needed a little guidance. I got to use a serological pipette for the first time, and it was much harder than it looked. After I got the hang of it the rest went pretty smooth. I was a little shaky, but I did it; plus it was really cool to be able to do the protocols myself! I also got to watch one of the undergrads put soapy water on top dry ice just for fun. It made really cool bubbles, and then overflowed and went all over the sink and floor.
I got to go back to more of the participant side of FORCE research later in the week. I was able to exercise some participants this week, and observe an MRI. The first part of the follow up appointment (before the MRI) was running a little long, and was in danger of going late into the MRI. Since the MRI machine belongs to lab itself and not the individual studies, running long can be very costly. When the MRI started the first task is just lying still so preliminary scans can be taken. Next, the participant is asked to stare at a cross on a screen for 6 minuets. After this they are asked a series of questions about what they were thinking about. These scans are used as a control to compare to the scans during which the participants are doing cognitive tasks. Luckily we managed to not go overtime.
I had some free time this week due the FORCE study winding down, and I took full advantage. In the beginning of the week I went on a really cool (and long) hike. I started by the NCAR Mesa Laboratory which I thought was a weird place to start a hike, but there was a bunch of trails to choose from. It was really pretty, and after a little ways I saw almost no people! I also got to attend my host sisters last baseball game of the season which was really cute! Later in the week my host family and I met some of their friends at a roller skating rink. I did not know that those still existed, but I had a lot of fun! They played music and there was disco lights and games! While helping my host sister, Ellie, skate we both fell, and I have a huge bruise on my knee, but definitely worth it! Then on Saturday I went to Elitches with two of the other pinterns from Boulder, Aidan and Mike. There was one lighting delay and it rained a little bit, but we still had a lot of fun!
I loved this week, and I had so much fun both in and out of the lab. I cannot believe I only have one week left!
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