Friday, September 16, 2005
The research lab is laid out like a gauntlet. Chairs, bins, and fallen objects litter the floor. I'm holding on to centrifuge tubes for dear life, trying to keep the slipperly objects from escaping from the grasp of my clumsy fingers and slidding away to oblivion. Meantime, while working all the motor nerves for fine grasp, my legs are doing a little do-si-do dance trying to get to an available work bench. I finally came to a grinding halt at a dead end carelessly constructed by AL and JW who were working back to back and occupying the entire narrow walk way . Both of them gave me a quick apologetic glance and tried to shift their chairs out of the way, but there wasn't much room to manuveur anyway. So i guess liposuction would be the next best thing for me to do.
It's easy to feel lost at first in a world full of scary, and very expensive looking machines, freezers caked in ice which churn and groan all day long, dangerous looking chemicals, signs warning you to keep your gloves and lab coat on. I had to hone my skills of keeping my hands steady, which was absolutely close to nil. I had to deal with the frustration of trying to empty my pipette tip properly, trying to keep track of the numerous tubes that littered my work place, trying to picture the protocol and trying to understand what the procedures meant. Even the slightest mistake like touching my pipette onto the dustbin could mean a serious contamination. After numerous reminders and reproaches from my superivosr Al, I still forget sometimes. eg. I didn't put the ring securely on my pCR samples and the machine started emitting a cacophonic aria when i switched it on. In desperation, Al pulled the plug and both of us looked around sheepishly at the rest of the amused lab. " Someone inside the machine?" G asked us. Wasn't really funny if you think about the costs of the machine.
I have a love hate r/ship with my pipette tips. They're the bane of my life. I can't seem to empty out the last drop. the more I suck up and re-expelled, the more the drop of fluid contemptously ignores my efforts to set it free. " Don't breathe," Al reminded me as I bent over the miRNA samples, trying to load the tubes. " I'm not," I said triumphantly, then realised I had just mouthed into the tubes.
The first day at the lab, i performed an miRNA extraction with Al. By the time I finally got the last test drop on the spectrometer, it was 3.30pm. Al, me and PY were half starved to death. " KFC!!!" Al groaned. "C'mon"
Then suddenly PY piped up, " XL, which tubes did you load onto the Mass spec?" We turned our hopeful gazes onto the ice box, but as life has it, dreams don't aways come true.. I guess the chicken at KFC had a wait a little longer
It's really overwhelming at first, but after you get the hang of the procedures and learnt where everything is kept, life gets a little easier. Even better is the enthusiasm the researchers have when they talk about their topics. I was really apprehensive about this new project at first, because i had heard how boring and stressful lab could be. But I found that ppl were willing to teach even though they were busy. Ask and probe and they'll share with you their knowledge or encourage you to look up the answers. I cornered JW that day to talk about part of my project. Even tho' the poor guy was hard pressed for time, when he started talking about the project, he really tried his best to help me to understnad his views. Al also tries to explain everything to the best that he can, even tho' he's got his hands full running the lab and overseeing his own stressful projects. And i really appreciate it. It's so different when you're encouraged to learn and explore. I feel so much more compelled to actually read up and understand what my project is about this time round as compared to the last one.
You get a weird feeling of satisfaction when you slip your tubes into teh RT -PCR ( minus the weird singing from teh machine) and a simple graph marks the results of your 4 days of hard work. And even after I performed my first miRNA extraction by myself, and got the worst miRNA yield anyone could get ( " What???? i gave you 4 flasks of cells!!!!" - Al), i still felt really satisfied that i coudl perform the procedure by myself. I felt like skipping around after i photographed my first gel. ola! mebbe the feeling will get old soon, but for the moment, i really like poking at the gel. ooooo... see my finger print! oooooo.. see my photograph!!!
the procedures are really painstaking and it really tests your patience sometimes. LIke when i doing the extraction, i really had to go to the loo. but you can't leave the miRNA to be degraded while your legs are all contorted in an attempt to remain dignified and continent in the vicinity of your colleagues. I looked at the dismal extraction readings with Al who mouthed the dreaded words.. " Elute again!'
well.. i dunno wat else he said coz i shot off straight for the loo.
And the lab is not a friendly place for the vertically challenged. From doing jumping jacks to get my xtra small gloves, to craning my head to look at the readings from my RT pcr... Al looked at me quizzically as I balanced precariously on the stool to look at the computer screen. After I told him the reason was that i was going crosseyed trying to crane my neck to see the screen, he started laugin uproariously. hai.. so much for understanding the trials and tribulations of her royal shortness. i didn't laugh that hard at his obsession with the Amy's The Lion sleeps tonight hand phone ring tone.. Aaaahhh eeeeeee..eeeee.. eee mmmm eee pump pum puway!!!! aaaa wimba wap aa wimba wap .. aaa wimba wap aaa wimba wap.
But on the whole, even tho' it's hard work, i'm a lot happier. It's interesting to be on teh forefront learning togehter with teh rest of the team. And it kinda eats into you after sometime.. So besides telling my supervisor to vortex ( or mix ) his ice blend drink, I think i'll suggest trying to PCR ( replicate) cute guys. Mebbe there' really be someone inside the PCR machine next time. And if they hear that grinding noise again, you know what kinda experiment I'm running :)
It's easy to feel lost at first in a world full of scary, and very expensive looking machines, freezers caked in ice which churn and groan all day long, dangerous looking chemicals, signs warning you to keep your gloves and lab coat on. I had to hone my skills of keeping my hands steady, which was absolutely close to nil. I had to deal with the frustration of trying to empty my pipette tip properly, trying to keep track of the numerous tubes that littered my work place, trying to picture the protocol and trying to understand what the procedures meant. Even the slightest mistake like touching my pipette onto the dustbin could mean a serious contamination. After numerous reminders and reproaches from my superivosr Al, I still forget sometimes. eg. I didn't put the ring securely on my pCR samples and the machine started emitting a cacophonic aria when i switched it on. In desperation, Al pulled the plug and both of us looked around sheepishly at the rest of the amused lab. " Someone inside the machine?" G asked us. Wasn't really funny if you think about the costs of the machine.
I have a love hate r/ship with my pipette tips. They're the bane of my life. I can't seem to empty out the last drop. the more I suck up and re-expelled, the more the drop of fluid contemptously ignores my efforts to set it free. " Don't breathe," Al reminded me as I bent over the miRNA samples, trying to load the tubes. " I'm not," I said triumphantly, then realised I had just mouthed into the tubes.
The first day at the lab, i performed an miRNA extraction with Al. By the time I finally got the last test drop on the spectrometer, it was 3.30pm. Al, me and PY were half starved to death. " KFC!!!" Al groaned. "C'mon"
Then suddenly PY piped up, " XL, which tubes did you load onto the Mass spec?" We turned our hopeful gazes onto the ice box, but as life has it, dreams don't aways come true.. I guess the chicken at KFC had a wait a little longer
It's really overwhelming at first, but after you get the hang of the procedures and learnt where everything is kept, life gets a little easier. Even better is the enthusiasm the researchers have when they talk about their topics. I was really apprehensive about this new project at first, because i had heard how boring and stressful lab could be. But I found that ppl were willing to teach even though they were busy. Ask and probe and they'll share with you their knowledge or encourage you to look up the answers. I cornered JW that day to talk about part of my project. Even tho' the poor guy was hard pressed for time, when he started talking about the project, he really tried his best to help me to understnad his views. Al also tries to explain everything to the best that he can, even tho' he's got his hands full running the lab and overseeing his own stressful projects. And i really appreciate it. It's so different when you're encouraged to learn and explore. I feel so much more compelled to actually read up and understand what my project is about this time round as compared to the last one.
You get a weird feeling of satisfaction when you slip your tubes into teh RT -PCR ( minus the weird singing from teh machine) and a simple graph marks the results of your 4 days of hard work. And even after I performed my first miRNA extraction by myself, and got the worst miRNA yield anyone could get ( " What???? i gave you 4 flasks of cells!!!!" - Al), i still felt really satisfied that i coudl perform the procedure by myself. I felt like skipping around after i photographed my first gel. ola! mebbe the feeling will get old soon, but for the moment, i really like poking at the gel. ooooo... see my finger print! oooooo.. see my photograph!!!
the procedures are really painstaking and it really tests your patience sometimes. LIke when i doing the extraction, i really had to go to the loo. but you can't leave the miRNA to be degraded while your legs are all contorted in an attempt to remain dignified and continent in the vicinity of your colleagues. I looked at the dismal extraction readings with Al who mouthed the dreaded words.. " Elute again!'
well.. i dunno wat else he said coz i shot off straight for the loo.
And the lab is not a friendly place for the vertically challenged. From doing jumping jacks to get my xtra small gloves, to craning my head to look at the readings from my RT pcr... Al looked at me quizzically as I balanced precariously on the stool to look at the computer screen. After I told him the reason was that i was going crosseyed trying to crane my neck to see the screen, he started laugin uproariously. hai.. so much for understanding the trials and tribulations of her royal shortness. i didn't laugh that hard at his obsession with the Amy's The Lion sleeps tonight hand phone ring tone.. Aaaahhh eeeeeee..eeeee.. eee mmmm eee pump pum puway!!!! aaaa wimba wap aa wimba wap .. aaa wimba wap aaa wimba wap.
But on the whole, even tho' it's hard work, i'm a lot happier. It's interesting to be on teh forefront learning togehter with teh rest of the team. And it kinda eats into you after sometime.. So besides telling my supervisor to vortex ( or mix ) his ice blend drink, I think i'll suggest trying to PCR ( replicate) cute guys. Mebbe there' really be someone inside the PCR machine next time. And if they hear that grinding noise again, you know what kinda experiment I'm running :)
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