8th - 11th day of VRP 2012

8th-10th Day (15-17/1)
Helped Ms Loo with her samples. We did gel with 50 plus samples. Next day we did DNA extraction using patients' blood samples. It was quite a busy day as we did around 8-9 blood samples using her newly arrived kit. We used 15ml tubes instead of the 0.2ul and 0.5ul tubes we used before. Dealing with patients' blood is quite dangerous, as we don't know what the blood contains, so we kept on changing our gloves every time we realized that there's blood on it, even if it's just a drop. In the end, Ms Loo's newly opened glove box was reduced to nearly half of it's original content, which made Pong and I quite speechless. We had our lunch quite late that day as we need to incubate the samples for an hour and centrifuged it for a few times. As busy as it seems, Pong and I were glad because our time was well spent.

11th Day (18/1)
Ms Loo went back to her hometown today, therefore we were put under the cyto lab. Unfortunately, the audit came that day, so the lab was really busy and the staffs do not have time to deal with us. So we were left alone. Luckily Kak Fiza, a staff from the molecular lab (we actually thought that she was a student at first!), gave us a little briefing on the identification of SMA gene, plus a little chit chatting. She was really friendly, and beautiful too =)
However, our session only last for an hour, so Pong and I were left to spend the rest of the time day-dreaming.
Before we went back, we have decided that we are going to take a leave the next day, for we do not want to day dream the whole day again. By the way, that in turns lengthens our CNY holiday. XD

闷闷的一天

下了一整天的雨，心情...很闷。

今天一大早就被妈妈拉着去打扫房子，收工的时候都已经四点多了，说累却不是很累，但手脚还是酸了，所以就打算先休息一下再去洗个澡。嘿~

休息的时候，突然回想起昨天在教会的一些事情。在查经班，长老突然间问我干嘛听他说话时表情那么严肃，眼神还那么忧郁。我咋舌...那么容易就看穿？当然，我还是说谎了（上帝请原谅我吧~）。其实当时脑子里在思考着某些事情，一些不方便告诉长老的事情。团契的时候，看到某姐妹默默地哭，很自然的，我抱了她，但什么都不想问；唱诗歌的时候，也很感触。哎哟，我昨天到底干嘛啦？

事情暂时解决了，但闷的时候难免还是会不由自主地胡思乱想。我，算是在单拍吗？历史，还会再重演吗？

哈，算了~暂时不想去理。原来我闷的时候还可以写出那么无聊的东西。佩服~ XD

***

听听一些音乐吧~

刚刚帮妈妈下载了《喜洋洋》，无意间又看到了《步步高》、《秦王破阵乐》等等。哎哟，好想念乐团哦~我的宝贝笛子和中音笙~

《喜洋洋》

《步步高》

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence ACCO

《鼓威》

Tonari no Totoro ACCO

2nd - 7th Day of VRP 2012

Ehehehe, sorry for the late post. I've been quite tired lately after coming back from USM everyday (except Friday and Saturday), and so, lazy to update (><). However, don't be mistaken, I'm not tired because of working non-stop there, but because of all the waiting. Ha, you will know what I meant later.

2nd Day (5/1)

Apart from having to do the DNA quantification and PCR, we actually forwarded our plan for the 3rd day, which included gel electrophoresis. DNA quantification, I think, is used to test for the approximate quantity of DNA obtained in your sample. First, we have to clean the plate, which in this case, we use Tecan's NanoQuant Plate (link here, video here) , then test if the wells of the plate are clean by a process called blanking. If the wells are clean, we then put a drop of the DNA sample into the well and measure it, all with the help of the machine and computer.

After that, we used the DNA samples from the first day (which we also used in DNA quantification just now) to do the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). On that day, we just wanted to test for the presence of SRY gene (found on the Y chromosome) and ARG E1 gene. After going through the procedure, we then put the new samples into the PCR machine and waited for approximately 3 hours.

After putting the samples into the PCR machine, we went to prepare the gel used in gel electrophoresis. It just took a few minutes though, so Pong and I had to spend the rest of our waiting time day dreaming. When the PCR machine was done, we took the samples out and add a drop of SybrGreen (just a bit toxic) instead of ethidium bromide (carcinogenic) into the samples. Later we run the gel, and interpreted the results using a UV transilluminator. Here's a link to run the gel: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

3rd Day (8/1)

Actually we are supposed to be under Mr. Chia that day, but as the plans have been forwarded, we are now under Ms. Loo's supervision. She is a PhD student and is currently doing a research on stroke. That day, we attended two talks from two companies, one of which was Metasystems (I've forgotten the second one). The guys from Metasystems introduced their company's latest technology and software, which produces better results in karyotyping, , mFISH, mBand, etc. After the talk, we have free lunch (Haha~). Then we follow Ms Loo to run the gel with her samples. At noon, we had another talk from the second company, which introduces the SpeedCycler²,a machine used in Rapid PCR. Then we again run the gel with Ms Loo.

4th Day (9/1)

There were less activities that day, just PCR and gel electrophoresis with more samples and shorter time.

5th Day (10/1)

We repeated the same thing that day, PCR and run gel, it's just that the samples and reagents were different. However, that day Ms Loo showed us how to do the touchdown PCR, which is used to find the optimal conditions to amplify that particular sample.

6th Day (11/1)

The most boring and wasted day for the first week of the VRP. =_=

Our supervisor have taken a leave for two days (11/1-12/1) and we are temporarily attached to the cytogenetic lab. Actually I can tell that the staffs at the lab aren't totally prepared for our unexpected attachment, because we only had a briefing which lasted for an hour from 2-3pm (We are only supposed to be under their supervision starting from February). Our remaining time were spent by reading books, reading the lab's preparation manual, day dreaming and chit-chatting with another post-SPM student from CH, who is under Neuroscience. Sigh...

7th Day (12/1)

Today is a bit busier. We attended a lecture on Cytogenetics by an Indian professor, which is quite interesting. Later we went to the cytogenetic lab again, had yet another explanation, helped Mr. Chia with his new sample with a new polymerase, then back to the lab again to see the slide preparation technique. It's not any normal slide, but one involved in making out the karyotype later.

So, that's all for this week. (Damn, I've been spending 2 hours on this! =_=)

***

Hmm... I still have something in my mind which is bothering me now, though most of it have been solved by Panda. However, I don't know what it is that's bothering me. No even a hint! (Ha...) Hey, you're not the only one who's blur here, ok? Wakakaka~ @@

4th Day of 2012, 1st day of VRP 2012

Today is my first day working at USM under the Vacation Research Programme. So far so good. Initially we were only supposed to have shorts briefings about the rules and regulations in the lab, a little about molecular and cytogenetic, then some safety talk, training on our pipetting techniques, etc. However, as you can see, briefings are short and with so much time left, our schedule for tomorrow has to be forwarded to today. Which means, Pong and I had have the chance to do some DNA extraction, hands-on. It's quite interesting as things like this are never done in schools, plus nearly all the apparatuses used are mini-sized! Then our supervisor for the day, Mr. Chia, demonstrates the DNA quantification to us. We are supposed to do that tomorrow.

In case you don't have any idea of which department am I in, I am in the Human Genome Centre. Our schedule for tomorrow will be DNA quantification (hands-on), briefing, PCR (demo and hands-on) and discussion. I'll see if I can update about tomorrow's activities, provided that I am not that exhausted. Hopefully everything will go on smoothly. =)

P/S: Here's a link to the website http://vacationresearchprogramme.wordpress.com/. Feel free to surf it.