Since the last blog entry there's been a lot more to do in the lab. We're not really just working on one project, but there are a couple going on at once. Carola an I finished packing all the SI samples, and went through the FA (fatty acid) training. Since I can't work with a lot of the chemicals, I can't really participate much in the first day of extracting the FA from the tissue sample, but I can do day two. The process involves plenty of pipetting some clear fluids that can knock you out from a bottle to a test tube to another test tube to then be centrifuged and evaporated. A lot of similar steps that no one would ever be able to remember without the instructions, but basically biotech all over again. The end result of 2 days of this is a graph which spits out numbers that dictate the FA levels in each sample.
Besides that, I've perfected my technique in washing glassware. Fun stuff right there.
Probably the most exciting thing I've done yet is help fillet sea bass, which it turns out I am very good at. I've found my calling. Who needs marine biology, I'll work in a fish market filleting fish, or as a sushi chef. My knife skills are pretty top notch, after all. But the fish are being cut up and frozen in ice cube trays to feed crabs, part of the main project to establish the FA baseline of crabs on a certain diet. That will help in establishing the food web project, but I won't be in the lab when it comes to the meat of the experiment.
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