Drugs and Assays

Today went by fast. We were working with Dr. Clarke starting another assay. This one will be different though because we're using drugs in the assay. My drug is Dextromethoropan. I had to measure out everyone else's drug, including Cheese's who had a toxic drug. Then we went to the computer lab and made an Excel file that organized all of our information. This experiment is basically an LC/MS with microsomal incubation.

Knowledge is Power

Today was my last day of teaching the kids. It was pretty fun because I understood more about them and was better able to help them. We extracted the caffiene from tea in a fairly easy procedure. Tommorrow I'll be working with Dr. Clarke once again. Yay!

Teacher Appreciation

Today was so surreal! I helped Dr. Harp teach 35 eighth graders. It was so hectic because they insisted on asking questions every 2 seconds, so after a few minutes I was a little flustered, but I held it in. We were teaching them how to make aspirin and how to purify it using TLC, but some of them did not listen. It actually wasn't too horrible because after lunch I got the hang of being a teacher. But, my feet hurt. Tomorrow we will be teaching them how to extract caffeine from tea. I'm so excited!

Data Blues

Today was pretty cool considering the fact that my data was off! I was so upset. We were doing Bradford Protein Assays and my percent was only 96% which is basically unacceptable. And Rick's data was practically perfect (a 99.3%). I was discouraged at first, but it only made me want to try harder to get 100%.

Reflection of a Busy Week

This week we did a lot of stuff. I worked over at PTCRC with Dr. Harp and tried to synthesize a drug with a similar chemical structure to cocaine. It was fun work because everyone actually talked this week. Next week we're back at WSSU, so I'm looking forward to that.

Goofy Day and Trials

Today kinda rocked, but sorta didn't. First off, I burned my finger. Don't flip out, it wasn't serious. I was making capillaries with a Bunsen burner and I accidentally touched one before it cooled (Briana did the same thing on Monday). Rick tripped over his lab coat and hit the floor, I thought he was hurt at first, but then realized that he wasn't, so we all laughed. The solution Cheese and I made did not want to cooperate, she thinks it's because it doesn't like us. We did TLCs to check on our solution, but it wasn't ready so we went on to do a trial run of the asprin lab we'll be helping Dr. Harp with.

Slow SN2

Today I researched Substitution Nucleophilic Reaction, Type 2 online. Then I began one with Cheese. I also did the math for the theoretical outcome of the SN2. It was a slow day because the reaction had to stir for 3 hours. Had a really great lunch at Ardmore.

Chemistry 101

I'm really enjoying CERTL. Today with Dr. Harp, we purified our compounds from yesterday with a rotory evaporator (big fun!). I found the percent and theoretical yields. I also found out that we'd be doing Convergent Synthesis with our drug. I even got all of my EH&S orientations and tests done as well.

Apprentice of the PTCRC

This week I am at PTCRC with Dr. Harp. She's soo funny and cool. Today we talked about cocaine in relation to DPP and also did a Reduction of Benzophenone by Sodium Borohydride. I learned how to convert grams to mols and density to mLs. I also learned and preformed TLCs with Cheese, who will be my 'lab buddy' for the week.

It's going to be a great week!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday CERTL students! I survived my first week of real work and am glad that I'm getting my feet wet in research. Today was the first of my computer sessions and I looked up information for my website and powerpoint symposium presentation. I really liked this week because I am so interested in the work and being on campus. I also liked getting to know my 3 group members.
Speaking of group members, for future references, their nicknames are: Briana is Cheese, Richard is Rick, and Alejandro is AliBabwah.
THIS WEEK ROCKED!

B.P.A.

Today I did a Bradford Protein Assay (BPA) using the Tecan GENios microplate reader. We also discussed the steps for doing a BPA. I also learned about In Vitro Microsomal Incubation, and did the math for the BPA we would be doing.

a.k.a Wednesday

Happy-middle-of-the-week (a.k.a. Wednesday)! BUSY DAY!! Dr. Clarke sent us an e-mail for the Protocol for Tissue Homogenization. I wrote this procedure in my notebook for reference. We got our lab coats and goggles issued. Today was my first day working in THE COLD ROOM. I was in there because we were homogenizing the liver, kidney, and lung of mice. I also weighed substances and worked with the ultracentrifuge machined. I also used pipettes to transfer the supernatant of the tubes.

Breaking Into Work

Pretty cool day. I researched DPP online and discussed scientific conversions with Dr. Clarke. I also reviewed science journal articles about DPP. We learned the concentration rule and made stock solution.

First Day

My first day of work!! I, along with my 3 group members, went to the PTCRC building and discussed what we would be doing this summer with Dr. Harp and Dr. Clarke. We also discussed keywords that we should know for our work this summer.