Week Ten: The end of one chapter, the beginning of another

Like all good things, this too must end.  Today is my final day here at CMOP, and I'm grateful for the knowledge I've gained here, the experiences I will leave with, and the connections I've made.  There is T-minus 80 minutes until my final presentation, maybe one final qPCR to run, and goodbyes to be had.  My experience here was filled with self exploration, and I'm leaving with a stronger sense of self and more confidence in my interests and desires for my future.  Anyways, enough personal reflection; here's what I did this week.

Monday was mostly tweaking and practicing my presentation.  Mouzhong and I met with Dr. Simon to discuss some of the findings from our DNA and cDNA amplifications from last week and their implications.

On Tuesday, I purified our RNA, diluting it more this time than usual, so that we would only have to dilute it once.  Last week after purification, we were still seeing DNA contamination, so we had to repurify the RNA.  When the RNA is purified more than once, a lot of the RNA is digested in addition to the DNA.  So this time, we started with less RNA so that we could digest all DNA the first time around.

On Wednesday, I quantified the RNA from Tuesday, and then on Thursday, I converted the RNA to cDNA and amplified it using qPCR for archaea.

I imagine today I will use qPCR to amplify the bacterial cDNA.

I really can't believe ten weeks have passed already.  Now, with what is left of the summer before my senior year, I will continue the arduous task of deciding my future by applying to graduate schools, taking the GRE, and then, OFF TO IRELAND for fall semester!  YAY!

I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. ~H