Jenny Lee - Entry #1 at CHLA

Hello friends! I just finished my first week and a half here the Saban Research Institute at CHLA. It's been really interesting - I'm involved in some really cool experiments (some that no one else in the world has ever done before) and met a lot of great people. 

So, when I was preparing for my lab in the spring, I didn't really know what specific project I would be working on. The thing is, I'm still not completely sure because there are so many projects going on in my lab. I'm helping out in each experiment here and there. I'm working under Dr. Al Alam and alongside a couple other undergraduate students. My research pertains to the development of the human lung, and now, for me, the intestines and certain genes that may lead to diseases there. I am working with a lot of mouse and human samples, and it's kind of scary thinking that the experiments I'm doing are actual (fetal) human lungs. 

For most of my time here, I have been helping out with the staining of whole (and parts) human lungs with two different fluorescent antibodies. The process of washing and dehydrating/rehydrating, then staining the samples takes a few days but it is 100% worth it. Under the microscope, the samples look amazing. I don't think I can upload the pictures yet, but I really wish I could! I helped merge and edit the pictures using ImageJ and Photoshop CS5, which is basically the only computer programs I have used so far. I've also done a couple PCRs and ran a few gels. (Although I took Biotech and I've done this a couple times before, because it was about a year and a half ago, I actually forgot some of the techniques and had to ask a lot of questions. They usually trust that you know everything after they say it once, so I had to make sure I wrote it down in my lab notebook.)

Other than just experiments in the lab, the overall experience has been pretty good so far. I went out to lunch with my Dr. Warburton, Dr. Al Alam, and we saw Kiefer Sutherland at our restaurant! I also learned how to ride the train and subway without getting lost - and I now take the stairs instead of the escalator because most of the time I'm just sitting at the labbench waiting for one of my washes/stains/gels to finish up. On Thursday mornings, there is a "seminar" of sorts, but it really is just a lab meeting with one person presenting their work. There was also a poster session this week and it was really interesting reading all the posters and listening to their work (even if I didn't understand most of it). My lab is pretty relaxed - people show up on their own schedule and leave whenever they are done. Although I have to wake up earlier than I do on normal school days, working here has been really educational and fun. I'm excited to see the results of our staining next week, and hopefully I  will have some pictures to share!