Week one round-up!

Its the end of my first week and I've done as much practical work in four days than I get through in a whole semester at uni. Not that I'm complaining, getting free rein in a professional lab is excellent, and I've only managed to set fire to my hand once so far! I'd say things are going well. The first step of my project is complete. We've cloned and isolated enough DNA to start culturing our human cell line, which should be ready by monday! Exciting stuff.

Modifying bacteria with human DNA, cloning them, busting them open, taking out the DNA, and inserting it into the cervical cancer cells of a woman who has been dead 50 years . . . then making them glow in the dark. That's science folks!

 1) Inserting the CSE/CBS encoding plamids (circular DNA) into bacteria

2) Grow and select modified bacteria

3)Bulk-culture the modified bacteria to amplify plasmids

4) Burst open bacteria and isolate plasmids from genomic DNA, proteins and other inpurities.

5)Transfect human cells with plasmid DNA. Express proteins. Obsverve results via confocal fluorescence microscopy.

So that's what I have to do in a nutshell. We're up to step four, but step five is the big one, and will take the rest of my placement to complete. We'll also modify the human cells in other ways later in my placement. Some pictures from the lab!

Culturing the bacteria

Fluorescence microscopes

Confocal Microscope

Plasmid Isolation Procedure

So as you can see there's certainly plenty of science getting done! Thursday evening had myself, lab staff, scientists and academics attend a two hour science-thon on current discoveries by scientists at the institute, made all the sweeter by a spread of free beer, wine, cookies and a variety of other nibbles. My kind of evening!

Needless today I'm eager to return on monday and start on my work on the human cell line. But for now it's weekend o'clock!

How science works