First Week 1/25-1/31

Well, after the most intense interview with Matt and Josh, it was decided I could stay! I am still trying to get my bearings but I am moving in the right direction. Is there a verb which encompasses exhilarating and terrifying simultaneously? I know we often refer to nouns, like having adrenaline rushes, butterflies, or that unnerving feeling we get when we are taken out of our comfort zones, but I wish I could express how this first week has been as a Stem intern without such a dissection of the English language.

This is my third day in the lab and I have had a chance to become briefly familiar with lab equipment and the layout of the of the 'scene' behind the scenes but still get the north, south, and west entrances confused; my apologies in advance to Josh and Matt (for some reason my GPS gene was never activated and the halls behind the labs form a mini labyrinth which I have yet to map). Everything, from the Autoclave and media dispensing machine, to the proper way of opening petri dishes and mixing solutions on a heating plate has been a new experience.

On my first day, I jumped right into the turbid waters and made my first TSB solution, used the dispensing machine, and filled 1.5 racks of test tubes; with each tube containing approximately 5mL of the TSB media. Although I have been in a lab before and have used the typical Mettler analytical balance, heat plates, stirring rods, pipettes, etc…, it was exciting to do something new; a process that I have never seen or performed prior to this internship. My directions were to "follow the instructions". I also had the chance to make Mueller Hinton Agar plates. For being my first time, I think they have ‘set’ quite nicely, and I will be storing them tomorrow for future use on my experiments.

After talking with Matt and Josh and a consult with Dr. Robin Cotter, my project is going to focus on the medicinal and potentially anti-microbial properties of plants native to the state of Arizona. This experiment will support endeavors in Phoenix College’s BIO 108 and 205 classes as well; Plants and Society and Microbiology respectively.

As I previously mentioned, thus far, I have poured the first set of media which I will be using during my experiment. The next step is to research plants which can be used for the project. Many plants have already been documented to be used in medical applications (e.g. homeopathic and home remedies); however, this project will focus on only those plants native to Arizona.

Right now my biggest obstacle is to comprise a potential list of candidates, which are a) accessible to me, b) are not protected under state or federal law c) are native to Arizona. I might have to broaden my scope depending on how many plants will meet all three criteria. For now, I am just getting acquainted with the lab, employees, and fellow cohorts. Now what did I mention at the beginning? Oh, yeah, still terrified, but enjoying every minute of it.