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Short Update from a busy week

This week, I ran the solar simulator for the photodegradation experiment for the first time. All of my preparations from the past 5 week lead up to when I turned the instrument on Wednesday. It was much warmed than I expected, the temperature of my sample initially increased in temperature, but soon stabilized during the trial with the MillQ. Samples were taken at 2 hour intervals after the first hour, and due to the apparent stabilization in temperature, an overnight, 15 hour trial was conducted the next day, to test the long term effects of photodegradation on metformin. HPLC analysis is still being conducted. To finish off the week, I conducted the same study in river water, in hopes the matrix effect of the water might aid in photodegradation. However, since metformin is yielded largely unchanged the human body, sunlight may not be sufficient to break the compound down alone.

Had a really fun trip to the Columbia Gorge earlier in the week, but no pictures yet. I’ll try to see if I can find some photos to include next week.