In short, feel free to skip this post.
It all starts on Friday morning, 5:00 am. I mix cells so they will mate and shake them around for a half an hour so they'll all mate pretty much at the same time (yes, that's really how we do that). Then I monitor the cells for several hours. Most of the late morning and early afternoon is spent making control slides and continuing to monitor the mating. I get to go home at 5:00 pm for a bit of a nap. Then the real fun begins.
Picture it: Friday night, 9:00 pm. I open the incubator and am confronted with the solutions of mating cells I prepared eeeaaarrrllly that morning:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGXi7oFdFmZZn00hY_idedLxB1janWyzbpRXhu69rf6BjIE6pdwO7WxZ4a-KfT80QQ8vmZN449WBAw1MbDApbFv-qddYyeIjIUSmTEzU4D7VSofsSn4X5PqRKgF1ZwP6_hFzBgdQ/s400/exp01.jpg)
I add growth medium to one of the flasks:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirW3at0yy116dqXGElTBszDEQytHQuVS3wGGreu8kZANe0yWsdyYVlROsKXKvoiQj-IHInmbz4P_WUbPhHbznDYyIpp8-1XOvKrLFHQzOu5uv1a-YIlnLeYNulAqht3xudHmdV7g/s400/exp02.jpg)
Then I start taking samples from both flasks:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_rQplk07vSL6H6v_DiDWeTAJrPKde90bSwryoQh3pL5LkAmYNpZw18n7yymNmr8KQQyepNC_mpnTqyz0mxQArHshwDZNmtrSafDn9b1b5qj589J_ZG5v9nX60PnMtzZtCMu4IA/s400/exp04.jpg)
And put them in little tubes.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7oKYTezfd0nT3F9b-VEX4YOejRi7aGCi-KdDBDnpMdsFp2w5D6EnN7np4FV1VcPvMLGo-gtaBL5Dw3mkkwDTFNMt2BmOmutuFGCs5re-vNRSCIefRDBOWrB8rCmCBWSk2UicIA/s400/exp05.jpg)
I put the tubes in the centrifuge and spin them so all the cells go down into the bottom:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGeenoqmxboJNsvkUMZpwoxs6ZiLrHeibT_avqinR7azwTAfHo1IXYMBUwUghP7H9xgejz3B_STZSMMv8RKg2spab92qzQ2opsgPl9NHgZz2at3m6Jp7Xe6F1xK46lppAW1VOlGw/s400/exp06.jpg)
Then I suck off all the fluid leaving a little ball of cells at the bottom of the tube.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2vg8GMsKIaURaPLJE7drpuxq1IO7JjYpCTvuPW-HIOEkbTRqXQ6RG9TBvXZyp4rb4Pi6Vi5-31rRnR1KiN6_XTMAM3g8X363ACPAM4xVRJhl5uKOixKVZHqWEI97XYN9361zbg/s400/exp07.jpg)
Then I wash the cells with 3 different washes of methanol (mix up the cells in methanol, let them sit, spin the cells down and suck off the methanol, repeat, repeat):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO7Yu-fLWFQhtwvymqhrhSUGNl7CMtFu-4aQI4o0TMHMdVskDX-laGSW73rim2RHbsmsYb9Lq86uN3TdyMVJwdd_SK7LUKkhOcjA2UcGo2lGnmIXhC6luASWFH44lB8RlCWST5uQ/s400/exp08.jpg)
And then I finally drop some concentrated cells onto slides which I will stain, photograph and digitally analyze later.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi124zJERg2bwfXpfQbqRq8gBfIicBdAr7TGbwbf2yxkg9uBZ8OcSZ-l5N2smBiWtNtZkAoKo3jaQIH_zDyGM2sAtl0q7shrMW2-VzBvvF_0mF9EYKTsTPqFyeLf0lMP-H7GH_-cw/s400/exp09.jpg)
Repeat every two hours for eleventy million hours. (Oh, okay. Fourteen.) Then repeat every twelve hours for a week. Because this is how many slides I'm making:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKVTeuBM45_9yT87otY1Py_pgmxv3EdN_GITnRVKzN-_0cTP67yXEQOUD681n4-Of0qW_0O4OwdfA7A9VCLAGlOyHj2hVADVJFs6nv-gBsUHodYn5emh9Wd9_F5sh-hyX1twTRZg/s400/exp10.jpg)
I don't know right now. A lot.
And now I have to go make some more. Ta!!
_____
4 comments:
Perhaps oddly, I found this very interesting! Thank you for the "inside look."
Mating cells....at least somebody is getting...um, never mind!
I find all that science-y stuff fascinating! I had wanted a career in science, especially lab work, but then I took chemistry! Consequently, I changed my mind. Good luck with the rest of the slides and all.
How did you manage to stay awake all that time?? I can feel my eyes slamming shut just reading about it!
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