Kirsty the Scientist

A few weeks ago,  I completed my last assessed piece of work before my final exams - a 10 minute presentation on my dissertation research, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions.  And as part of this session I also listened to 15 other students' presentations.  As someone who is fascinated by science communication, I was really excited to explore how to change  But it was hard work. M y main goal was to engage my audience of peers, making sure they could grasp my specific (and pretty niche) subject in just a few minutes. For me, by supporting all this information (which is new and possibly confusing to my audience) with a key story. Why this research means something - essentially why they should listen/care about what I was telling them.  But when I watched my peers, this story link was the key thing I thought was missing from all of their talks - why I should be listening? Why their piece of research helped to fill a gap in the knowledge we have in that fi...

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...

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! 

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! 

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!

A friend from our research group told me that I looked really peaceful today! And it was true I had quite a relaxing day, whilst still doing a full day's worth of work! :) It's been a manic couple of days - with quite a lot of things on my plate all at once. But today has been the first day where I've been able to just focus on my lab work, all by myself, with no-one watching or shadowing me, and it was actually really lovely.  Reflecting on February:  I've also realised today is the last day of February, marking a full month of lab work for me and the start of the last month of my project.  via GIPHY via GIPHY via GIPHY This month has flown by, but equally it feels like I have been in the lab for so long (in a good way!) and I've learnt so much whilst I've been here! Now, I've really got to start getting my head down into writing now and think about the final experiments I've like to do to pull my project together and bring my project to a fi...

Working in a research lab for my dissertation project has definitely changed my perceptions of what working in science and research is actually like. Maybe I've just been part of a good group, but this whole experience has been so much more sociable than I'd expected. Science is quite a collaborative subject so there is always open discussion on what people are working on, but everyone has been so welcoming and inclusive that I've felt like a member of the team from day 1.  But lab life can be really tiring - you need to be on the ball all the time, keeping tabs on everything that's going on and  thinking ahead to the next step. 

As I was talking about earlier this week, I've often been running more than one experiment at the same time during a week. But today, the differences between the two experiments seemed quite striking!  The two experiments are to look for two different indicators to suggest that my protein of interest is involved in making my cell type increase during cell stress/inflammation:  1. Look for the protein itself. This involves separating the proteins using electrophoresis (pulling the proteins through a polyacrylamide gel using an electric current to draw the proteins through the tiny pores of the bell - the smaller proteins get to the bottom of the gel quicker as they can wiggle through the holes faster. Then using a method called Wet Transfer, which pulls the protein out of the gel and onto a PVDF membrane - a technique that uses litres of buffer.  2. Looking for the genes that are expressed - suggesting that the cell is producing the proteins and using the part of the...

Forget everything I've said about being busy so far - today was the most hectic and experiment-filled day I've had yet!  There was a lot to get done today - finishing off longer experiments from last week, plating out cells ready for this week's experiments, data analysis of a couple of different experiments - all on top of a Masters student, who is still shadowing me, following my every move and asking questions about each step. All good multi-tasking practice, and reminding me why each step is important, but I had to be on the ball at all times! 

Normally, I only post new blogs on weekdays, but I've treated you all this week to a bonus weekend post to answer a question that I've kept quite under wraps throughout this blog - what is this project I'm working on actually about?! via GIPHY Well, for a start, there is a reason I have been a little bit elusive on this topic. Technically, the work I do belongs to the university, not me. Therefore officially, the information I gather is not my property to share with the public and the world - and this blog is open for anyone and everyone to read. And as I've said before, my subject area - as you'd expect - is quite niche, meaning this blog could be easily found with a quick google search if I was specific! Although I love how science is such a collaborative subject and sharing research can open your eyes to new angles and opinions on topics - it's not worth the hassle and the sabotage of my degree just to include the specifics of my project on the blog! ...

This week I have really felt like part of a community. Maybe it's been the number of social events recently, or the fact that I'm now getting to know everyone really well, but it is an absolutely lovely experience to feel like part of this team of researchers at all different stages of their careers and lives. And it makes the workplace such an enjoyable place to be - no matter how much work we're cramming into a day! In other news, I've been getting some really promising results so far (although I'll only be detecting and analysing this week's experiment results next Monday as I was looking at a longer timecourse this week). So I'm actually starting to look forward to writing up some results and discussion on what I've found out so far! As I'm now about halfway through my project, aiming to get some writing done this weekend and next week and to make sure I take some of the pressure off the end of the project! I also got a surprise twitter sh...

This morning was the first day the new MRes students joined our research team - one of which will be directly following and continuing on the findings of my project - leaving me the best person to show him around and teach him the ropes!  Teaching someone else is definitely a very effective test in finding out what you know yourself, especially when some of the work has been new to me too! Luckily, I felt pretty confident in lots of the techniques I've been working on and I enjoyed the chance to teach and discuss my project with someone with a little bit less experience than me (said in the nicest way possible!). It also showed me ho much I have learnt in such a short space of time! 

Today felt like a really productive day, despite all the lab work actually being very repetitive!  Got all the figures from the previous results looking really good today and sent them off to my supervisor to be looked over. And stimulate the cells at multiple timepoints across today, and made up the samples, ready for this week's experiments!  Busy, busy, busy! Definitely, eat, sleep, lab at the moment!

Similar to yesterday, (and most days nowadays!) I was working on two goals:  1. Prep more cells for use for a new experiment for this week.  2. Detect the secondary antibody signals using the Western blots using two slightly different methods (which I can compare to see which is better). Li-Cor detects the signals using fluorescence using a shiny new machine the institute has; whereas ECL is the standard method which uses light.  We also had our first full group meeting today, where the research team gets together and we can discuss the results of everyone's experiments - which will now become a bit more of a regular occurrence!