Exploits in the “End of School” Season
Contrary to popular belief, things DID happen to me during the downtime of my site. Here’s a few examples…
School pretty much finished up until Fall. My TAship is paused until I teach (probably) micro lab again, so I have all kinds of time to focus on the lab. I also finished my unnerving but nonthreatening genetics course with a B. Overall I guess it was a good semester, though mostly because it was much less hectic than the first.
I HAVE done a little internet-related work. Mostly writing articles for GeeksAreSexy.net again. This time I created Science Is Sexy: What’s The Big Deal About Synthetic Life? and REVIEW: Is Betterment.com Really a Better Way to Grow Your Money? It was nice to get writing again and find something I genuinely wanted to write about.
My lab work is going really well! Thus far I have created a very successful transformant (a kind of genetically modified bacterium) and am currently working on deleting a gene from that bacterium. If I can remove a gene and then replace it with my modified version, I’ll have essentially completed the “mutation and rescue” paradigm of molecular genetics. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.
As an added treat for those interested in the above, here’s a picture of said transformant (the change is that one of its proteins is now fluorescently marked, so this is a fluorescent microscopy image), click it for a large view:
Right now the above bacteria are being a bit stubborn about giving up their genetic material (I mean I only want to blow up their outer layers and strip out their identities, geez!) so I’m cycling through a number of techniques that SHOULD be helping. Thus far, no luck. It’s still nice to feel like I’ve already done SOMETHING in lab this season.
As it goes with magic…I am kind of taking a little break. Hobbies are only fun when you’re mentally engaged. Just like my writing, sometimes the activity gets a little stale and I need some time away so I can miss it. I’m pretty much just in maintenance mode…I still carry cards and can entertain a bit, but not a lot of new stuff is coming out at the moment. I think it’ll probably pick up in Fall (also, Summer is horrible for card magic…humidity and “stickiness” are no fun for paper).
Lastly, on a pop culture note, I just saw Prince of Persia and LOVED it! If you would like to see Disney’s Aladdin in live-action form, this is the movie for you. The plot is pretty compelling too!
I’m so glad all this registration nonsense is behind me. Now I can just get back to guilting myself into blogging at a regular pace!
["Stand Back" image from XKCD]
After a few weeks back in the lab I seem to have little to show for it. My transgenic bacteria from last semester all seem to have succumbed to the cold, dry environment of our lab fridge so I’m starting somewhat from scratch at this point. I was able to save my original B. megaterium strain; though, so I haven’t been set back too far. Also, I’m going to work on a new method for preserving my stocks in a colder freezer, so this lesson might have saved me from losing future (and more important) work.
