Kirsty the Scientist

It's the final countdown... ♫  So, here it is, the final stretch, I've had all the time possible in the lab, and now it's time to wrap this story up into 5,000 words.  Due to all the disruption I had at the start of my project, I was given a one week extension to my deadline date, which allowed me the time to finish off a few experiments and have a similar length of time in the lab to my peers. The day a week before my deadline was the weirdest feeling, watching the clock tick down and seeing everyone's hand in pictures fly in on every social media channel. It was so odd knowing everyone's else's hand in was finished, and here I was working away in the library still. Knowing I had all the relevant paperwork to say this was exactly where I should be, it still felt very strange! My submission day was a bit of a surreal experience. I was ready to submit the day before my deadline, which was good. Did the final checks and then printed it all out at home, starte

POST 50!! Better make it a good one!  So as this project is coming to a close - and I turn into a fully fledged library hermit for revision - what is happening to this blog? A blog that is all about life as a undergraduate student project... when the said project finishes!  Well I started this blog as a bit of an experiment - to set myself a challenge to document an record my experiences during my project, posting 5 blogs per week reflecting on different aspects of my work and day-to-day lab life.  And I have loved it - it has been one of the longest two months of my life (in all the best ways), but this blog has kept me grounded and I'd loved having the space to reflect and store memories which I can look back on and remember this time.  So the plan is to keep up these blogs - all be it, slightly less frequently! I'd like to write more blogs about science itself, looking at current research and writing about things in science that interest me.  Whilst also sharing

Today is my last day working in the lab and it feels very bittersweet!   Over the past 10 weeks, I've had the best time.  A huge part of that was down to working in the most amazing group of people. Not only showing me the ropes of lab work, but welcoming me into their team with open arms. I also had the opportunity to learn from a fantastic supervisor - someone who really knows what they are doing and guides you under their wing whilst allowing you to explore and develop your own ideas.  So, although I'm really looking forward to the next stage - getting my dissertation written up and tying all my story together - I'm going to really miss working in the lab every day. This experience has completely changed my perspective about lab life. I'd never realised just how collaborative, supportive and friendly the environment can be (if you work with a good bunch!). And I enjoyed lab work more than I thought too - I loved problem solving at the lab bench, considering differ

Today's writing fuel was some pic'n'mix from a lunchtime walk down to Grainger market! Still working on my report, spoke to my supervisor today and will be getting a draft to him by Monday so the clock has officially started!  It was also my beautiful Spanish colleague's birthday today and she brought in a  tarte de la abuela - a really yummy chocolate-y biscuit-y cake, almost like a tiramisu without the coffee! 

Work-wise, today I was just finishing off some Western blots and sorting out some figures for my report.  The only interesting thing to note from today is the story of the missing masters student! Part of this experience has been meeting all kinds of different people and all the social dynamics that comes along with a group of people working together. As I've mentioned before, two masters students joined the research group a few weeks ago, one a intercalating (splitting a degree to do a piece of research) medic, a young guy who is clever but can be a bit half-hearted at work. The other student is an older guy, who is reentering education, however I really don't know that much more as he is very mysterious...! He doesn't seem withdrawn, just won't bother to hang around when he's not needed and keeps himself to himself. And today, that kind of backfired - it turned out he had a meeting with our supervisor - but no-one knew where he was or how to contact him besides e

Read a newspaper or something online and it will tell you that there is not enough women in science. That girls can become disengaged with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects at a young age, possibly from an old societal opinion that STEM is a male subject, and don't follow careers in science. I'm really eager to be involved in public engagement and encouraging children to get into science.  In the lab, there is about a 50:50 split male to female across all the students, post-docs and technicians. Although there is only one female PI (principal investigator - the lead person for a research group), from my perspective there is no prejudice or inequality between the genders - so much so that I hadn't even thought about it until today - when the only people in the lab were 6 female scientists and myself!  And this felt even more poignant today - to feel like an equal scientist to anyone else in the room and feel like I could go anywhere in my caree

Today is the first day of my last week in the lab. One of my colleagues asked me today how I felt about my last few days and my project coming to the end. And to be honest I hadn't really given it much thought until today! A little part of me is looking forward to my project drawing to a close. These last 9 weeks have been intense and I'm looking forward to summarising all of my work - pulling together and closing this story.  Thinking about it, I have never worked such a long stretch of 9am-6pm days in my life! With exams looming, it's starting to feel like I'm on the blocks, and slightly chomping at the bit to get started with revision for finals (although I know I'll regret saying this day one of revision!). But a much bigger part of me will really miss my time in the lab. This experience has been amazing, I have made so many good friends and learnt so much from everyone, about everything from science, research and careers to life, friendships. I have fel

Today I gave the first draft of all my work so far to one of my supervisors - a bit daunting as no other person has laid eyes on my dissertation before today!  But after feeling a bit nervous to hand it over - I received some really good feedback! Of course, there was a bunch of tweaks and changes, but my supervisor said he thought my writing was promising and very eloquent - he said it was a great first draft. Can head into the weekend, needing and having earned a little break, but also with some confidence that I'm on the right lines...  via GIPHY

As I've said before, this week whilst finishing off the last few experiments, I've been back to working on my report - working on the introduction and writing up the materials and methods section. W hich means I've been diving back into all the research papers and journals, finding references to back up everything I want to say and make sure my introduction is up to date. (including working through all the scientific jargon phrases, which can be just as confusing to me as they might be to you!)  I think the introduction is the hardest part of a paper -you need to summarise and create a story out of years worth of previous work and keep up to date by researching new areas as your project shifts and changes and then blend this into  your story.  Materials and methods is a bit easier as it is mainly stating exactly what you did, just in case anyone would like to repeat your work. 

Only joking! Well kind of...!  The same guy who had his viva yesterday headed off on holiday for two weeks today... and he gave me first dibs on using his desk whilst he's away! (which is perfectly timed for me as I'm starting to spend much more time diving into writing these days!)  Today was mostly eclipsed by meetings and journal club. Journal club is a monthly meeting where the research team discusses a paper that is relevant to our research area but perhaps something that is not directly linked, chosen by a different person each month. Good chance to give some other work a roasting! 

One of the members of our research team has his viva today - a presentation and 4 hour grilling of your PhD thesis, but also the last big step/assignment before your release into the world as a Dr.  This guy who had his viva today has been the person who has been supervising me the most and basically took me through everything whilst I've been learning in the lab. We're also now good friends and this guy is a friendly and likeable person to be around in the lab - so everyone was right behind him and supporting him today! Before and during his viva, there was such a low-key nervous buzz around the lab, with everyone anticipating how he would get on - all pretty confident he would do great, but going through the emotional rollercoaster with him!  And he did fantastically in the end and then we all headed out to the pub (with a huge card and presents, of course!) and then his favourite restaurant to celebrate. Loads of fun for a Tuesday! 

Today was all about getting some more writing done and analysing all the data gathered so far. Making sure the lab work I do over these last few days is the most suitable and efficient use of my time to add to my project write-up. To be honest, the day flew by and then I was off to Code Club and back home to crash into bed!

You might have noticed by my slightly inconsistent frequency and length of these blogs that at times, I've found it quite challenging to post a brand new blog post every week day!  It isn't really for lack of ideas or even forgetting or losing inspiration - but working in the lab every day has taken it out of me much more than I thought it would. I've always thought that I get my best ideas when walking in the fresh chilly British air, and everyday I walk home brimming with ideas, reflecting on my day in the lab, drafting the blog post in my mind. But as soon as I get through my front door, it feels like the weight of the day hits me and the thought of sitting and editing my thoughts together into a good blog post becomes the least of my worries. And so a rough draft of my ideas gets scribbled down and other things take precedent - like food, dissertation writing and sleep!  I will continue to try my very best to get the right blog post out on the right day and I am

"You're not a real scientist until you've spent 3 weeks working hard on something and at the end of it all you might as well have been at home in your pyjamas the whole time!"  Unfortunately this week has ended up being a bit of a write off (which is incredibly frustrating in such a short 10 week project!). My Western blots (the experiment used to detect the presence of specific proteins) have all not been working and we've been really stuck as to exactly why. But maybe I'll just have to except sometimes science doesn't work when we want it to! 

Today was the first research group seminar since my group and the three other linked groups move labs. It was a really inspiring hour, with talks from three students at different stages of their PhDs, talking about their findings and results so far and their hopes and aims for their project. Each speaker had quite a different subject area which made the talks interesting and varied.  I definitely picked up a few tips for my presentation at the end of my project!