Week #2 2/1-2/7

I can't believe we are wrapping up the fourth week of school and the second week of my internship with the Biosciences department at Phoenix College. Each day presents itself with something else to experience and while I am learning new procedures and processes, it feels like the more I learn the more I realize how much I don't know. This aspect of science intrigues me. Other subjects that I have studied, or have specialized in, Spanish for example, ultimately has a limitation on what can be studied. Of course, I would always have the opportunity to chose another book, study a an indigenous culture of a different country or simply travel to one of the 21 countries in which Spanish is spoken; nevertheless, there is a finite amount of knowledge that one would expect to be exposed to before exhausting all of its resources. Science, on the other hand, is limitless; new discoveries are made every day, new species are identified, and we are constantly presented with new phenomena that we try to decode. The more doors one opens, the more options one has to choose from. I think, for this reason, science intrigues me but also makes me feel uneasy; terrified as I mentioned last week.

This week in lab, I had the chance to start practicing making cultures in TSA plates. I took three different bacteria: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus auerus, and Bacillus subtilis. I am also taking Microbiology concurrently with this internship, so Dr. Cotter is not only reinforcing what I am learning in the lab, but also giving me the opportunity to see how different scientists have different procedures for an array of laboratory techniques. For the sake of my grade in BIO 205, I will stick to Dr. Cotter's instruction, but have also had the chance to use different instruments and follow different protocol behind the scenes. This is just another example of the endless opportunities available to us in this discipline. With the aforementioned bacteria, I made two plates each; one of each, using the streak method for isolation, and one of each using the lawn method. For the latter, Josh showed me a new technique known informally as the "hockey stick" to spread the bacteria evenly in the culture. While learning this process, I was also exposed to properly disinfecting the glass hockey stick and was able to use an alcohol lamp instead of a baci-incinerator. I would like to call them 'Tricks of the Trade'.

On Monday, I mirrored one of my cohorts, and she taught me how to gram stain positive and negative bacteria. This technique was also reinforced in my lab with Dr. Cotter on Wednesday. I was amazed with all the different chemicals used to stain a culture, how different bacteria absorb the Crystal Violet depending upon whether they are gram positive or negative (contingent upon the number of peptidoglcan layers), and how sensitive a microscope is when trying to find those little guys. My first attempt was a success and I was ecstatic. I realize these small steps may sound trivial and rudimentary to an experienced laboratory technician; nonetheless they illustrate my progress in this new realm I have delved in to. My first successful gram stain: Escherichia coli (rolls right off the tongue with enough practice), gram negative, coccobacilli. Who would have thought, that pictures of my work, would bring such a smile to my face :-). Thank you Josh!

Enjoy your weekend! Physics, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, and this Internship will be keeping me plenty busy! Cheers and Carpe Diem! Jeremy 

Oh, and in case you have a chance, watch the below video. I have seen it dozens of times, and it keeps me focused on what I am doing, what I have accomplished, and what awaits me in the future; only science will know for sure :-)