I just finished my fourth day as an intern with Dr. Roberts and I can't believe it's already going by so quickly! Yesterday, I met with Dr. Roberts to finalize my experiment plan and decide what materials I will use in the cages. I looked around in the lab for items to use at little to no cost, and found that I could run this experiment on only $48. I found what materials I need on Amazon Prime and placed an order- they should be in by tomorrow! I also had the incredible opportunity to get into scrubs, cover my hair, mouth, and feet, and watch as Sal preformed a surgery on a mouse to insert electrodes into it's skull. I thought that I wasn't going to be able to handle it at all, but in the spirit of stepping outside of my comfort zone, I decided to give it a chance. Not only was it easier to watch than I thought, I also realized that I found it really interesting. The most exciting thing about this experience was the combination of language and science in the operating room. Sal grew up and studied in Mexico, and came to San Diego to finish his postdoctoral degree. So, because both of our first languages is Spanish, that's what we speak. He explained the entire procedure to me in Spanish, and I was surprised at how fascinating it was to understand his job in a different language. In times like these, I really appreciate my parents for broadening my understanding of the world in such a way.
Today, I began to collect all the items that I need for the experiment. To do this, I had to get much better oriented in the lab, and learn protocol. I wear scrubs whenever I'm down in the lab, and learned the codes to open the doors to the testing rooms. Because mice are nocturnal, the lab is illuminated with red light so that we can analyze them when they are most active without disturbing their circadian rhythm. We decided to house 12 cages with 4 mice in each, and put a total of 6 items in them. By tomorrow, I'll have each cage set up and organized in the testing room, and the mice will be ready by Monday morning. So far, I've seen a lot of recurring themes from biology class this year, especially genetics, ancestry, and evolution. The kinds of comparisons that I worked with during the Source Code project really happen in real life! It's not as daunting to see this kind information for a second time, now that I'm a little bit more familiar with it.
I can already start to notice how much I’ve grown in the past few days. I feel like I'm starting to get into a routine, especially with my morning and afternoon commutes. I leave my house by 7:45am in order to give myself enough time to trudge through the traffic on the highway 5 north and get to the lab by 9am. I’m starting to get used to the feeling of being annoyed at the traffic that makes my commute to and from Scripps at least 45 minutes long. Something that is really different for me is having to ride alone in my car for so long, since I usually take my sister to and from school each day. Again, being at an internship is very different from being in school- nobody takes attendance, I don’t have someone constantly reminding me about deadlines, or telling me to take my lunch break. I'm really enjoying this independence, though. My mom always told me that this comes naturally to me, and she constantly tells the story of how scared she was when, on my second day of Kindergarten, I insisted I walk by myself from parking lot to my classroom. I’m always enjoying the feeling of independence and getting my job done when I need to, but being on this internship has made me rise to the challenge.
Here is a selfie in the red light from the lab, and a one word caption that describes my experience.
Today, I began to collect all the items that I need for the experiment. To do this, I had to get much better oriented in the lab, and learn protocol. I wear scrubs whenever I'm down in the lab, and learned the codes to open the doors to the testing rooms. Because mice are nocturnal, the lab is illuminated with red light so that we can analyze them when they are most active without disturbing their circadian rhythm. We decided to house 12 cages with 4 mice in each, and put a total of 6 items in them. By tomorrow, I'll have each cage set up and organized in the testing room, and the mice will be ready by Monday morning. So far, I've seen a lot of recurring themes from biology class this year, especially genetics, ancestry, and evolution. The kinds of comparisons that I worked with during the Source Code project really happen in real life! It's not as daunting to see this kind information for a second time, now that I'm a little bit more familiar with it.
I can already start to notice how much I’ve grown in the past few days. I feel like I'm starting to get into a routine, especially with my morning and afternoon commutes. I leave my house by 7:45am in order to give myself enough time to trudge through the traffic on the highway 5 north and get to the lab by 9am. I’m starting to get used to the feeling of being annoyed at the traffic that makes my commute to and from Scripps at least 45 minutes long. Something that is really different for me is having to ride alone in my car for so long, since I usually take my sister to and from school each day. Again, being at an internship is very different from being in school- nobody takes attendance, I don’t have someone constantly reminding me about deadlines, or telling me to take my lunch break. I'm really enjoying this independence, though. My mom always told me that this comes naturally to me, and she constantly tells the story of how scared she was when, on my second day of Kindergarten, I insisted I walk by myself from parking lot to my classroom. I’m always enjoying the feeling of independence and getting my job done when I need to, but being on this internship has made me rise to the challenge.
Here is a selfie in the red light from the lab, and a one word caption that describes my experience.
Updates soon to come!
Side note
I'd just like to call for a little celebration- today was my first time driving home during a rush hour rainstorm and I made it safely!
I'd just like to call for a little celebration- today was my first time driving home during a rush hour rainstorm and I made it safely!