First Week on the Job

            I just finished my first week at Stanford, and it was quite a week. I moved into my new apartment Friday before last, and started work last Wednesday.  Now, the lab I’m working at had no idea they were getting an intern until a week before I started.  As a result, I assumed there would be lag period, where no one knew quite what to do with me, and I would awkwardly follow someone around while they show me how to do things I already know how to do.

          Oh man, was I ever wrong. My first day, I went to lab with low expectations, some paperwork, maybe a tour of the lab, go home early.  Instead, Chris, one of the post docs, says “So… you could do paperwork, or you could shadow me… but that sounds boring. Instead, you’re gonna do Southern blots. The protocol is over there, I’ll be in the other room if you can’t find anything.”  Oh…. Oh my.

          That is how the whole week went. They got me keys as soon as possible so that I could come in over the weekend to take care of cells.  The second day I was there, Marisa, another post doc, showed me how to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). iPSCs are made by taking adult cells and forcing them to express genes that reprogram them into stem cells which are similar to embryonic stem cells. I now have my very own iPSCs, which I made. We make them by adding the DNA to the cells in a special solution, and then ZAP! electrocuting them to create tiny holes in the cell membranes that let the DNA in.  All the best science involves electrocution.

             My mentors in the lab are Chris and Marisa, the two post docs. They both zoom around the lab, constantly working on any number of experiments that are running at a time. They occasionally stop long enough to make sure I’m okay, then zip back off to continue discovering the mysteries of the universe.

             The way cell and molecular biology works is that you have brief periods of fervent activity punctuated by hours of waiting. I haven’t gathered enough projects yet. When you’re fully settled into research, it works like Russian nesting dolls, only with science. Each incubation or wait period is nested within another, until the whole day is a whirl of frenzied activity. I haven’t accumulated enough tasks for that, however. I only have two,  and as a result, today was an hour of preparation, six hours of staring at bubbles slowly being produced by an electrophoresis machine, and then another two hours of activity.  There are only so many times I can alphabetize my protocols, so I hope it picks up soon.