WEEK SIX & SEVEN - Filtering on the R/V Barnes

Week Six- Monday I performed another set of four RNA isolations, Tuesday I prepared for the cruise, and Wednesday I boarded the Barnes. My duty on the ship was to fliter water samples through Sterivex filters with a pore size of .22 um. The system I used was something like this: a large bottle of water was collected at a particular depth and location and then the water was pumped out through tubes using a geo-pump. The water ran through the filters connected to the tubes and then was deposited in large plastic buckets. All together, 12 samples (filters) were running at once- six from the bottom water and six from the surface water. Once the system was on, I let it run for about 20-35 minutes and then measured the amount of water that had come through the filter. Finally I emptied the filter of the water and replaced it with either a DNA buffer or RNA later in order to store them for future lab use. Overall, the job was not hard, although I did encounter a couple problems (such as leakage and clogging) which were easily fixed. Each day, when the sampling was finished, we docked in Astoria for the night and were able to get off the boat which was a great opportunity to stretch your legs and relax in a more comfortable setting (as in other than the small kitchen of the Barnes). I really enjoyed the cruise, the setting, the work, and the people that I went with. It was a great week and I'm very thankful to have had this experience.

Week Seven- I came back from the boat on Tuesday night and was back to work on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Mariya and I created purified cDNA from selected RNA samples to be used for microarrays and re-stripped the 12K chip. Thursday we fluorescently labeled the cDNA and also hybridized the samples to the chips over night. Friday we went to the primate center in order to scan the chips for imaging and also re-stripped them for future use.

P.S.- Picture to come.