Michael, Entry #1, The Beginning

Since it is still my first week in lab and am still prepping for my project, I have a large chunk of "down time," which I am currently using to write this post.

 I started at The Bouchard Lab on Monday, where I witnessed the weekly rat surgery carried out by my lab mates firsthand. The purpose of this surgery is to extract certain liver cells, called hepatocytes. Although the lab currently has HepG2 cells (which is a cell strain that is purchased and allowed to proliferate), it is also useful, and sometimes desired, to use primary cultured cells, like the ones obtained from the rat.

My very own lab bench (and lab coat)

The surgery didn't go as well as it normally does, but the hepatocytes were eventually isolated. After the rat was anesthetized, the liver was extracted, then mashed, and finally centrifuged to separate the living hepatocytes from the other cells present. There are currently six graduate students that work in the lab, and each had a part in the surgery, since the cells are needed for every one of their projects.

This board was used for the rat surgery (its limbs were fastened in the rubber bands).

I am the first of four new lab members to arrive. There are two more high school students from the same program, one of which worked in this lab last year. There will also be an undergrad, and I believe all of them will be arriving sometime next week. Although I'm not sure of their projects, it will obviously fit into the lab's overall research on Hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma (a form of liver cancer).

During my first three days in lab, there were two birthdays. Monday was Guila's birthday, and Wednesday (yesterday) was Nick's, which is quite a coincidence due to the relatively small size of the lab. Everyone here has been extremely kind to me, taking time from their multiple projects/papers to show me the ropes and help me the navigate my new environment.

Tomorrow, I will split my own plate of HepG2 cells and allow them to proliferate on other plates. I watched Dr. Bouchard perform this process yesterday, and I took notes on the procedure. My project will officially begin Monday since all of the prep work will be done by the time I leave the lab tomorrow. I can't wait to finally embark on my own study, during which I will be studying whether Hepatitis B regulates glucose uptake in hepatocytes.

This hood is used for many of the techniques in lab (such as splitting cells). The blue light is ultraviolet (UV) and is used to sterilize plates and other materials (though we turn it off before putting our hands in the hood).