I started my day off by practicing loading dye into 96 well dishes for later this morning. Then I counted some cells. Later on I went with the lab tech to make another Pulse/Field Gel Electophorisis. After we got the gel we then put it in a kdjfka bromine to stain the DNA so that its picture could be taken. Then I went to the lab to fill the four plates from yesterday with dye so that we could see how different concentrations of the drug could would effect its color change. A few minutes later we went to another lab to use the Typhoon, the machine used to take the gel's picture. Then later in the afternoon we put the 96 well dishes in a plate reader to measure each of the four plates' optical density. Then I ended the day by finishing counting the cells.

I started my day with writing my protocol for DU-145 and the procedure for filling the 96 well dishes that I had done yesterday. Then later I checked to see whether my cells were crowed or confluent. So then I passed the cells and split them to give them more room and give the cells more medium. Later on I read some articles on MTS for when I put dye in my 96 well dish tomarrow. I also started counting a new batch of cell collonies that had been dyed a while back.

Today I practiced filling 96 well dishes so that I would be prepared. Later I went to the lab to fill four 96 well dishes that I was to use for my project. I worked with drugs FdUMP[10] and with three other hairpins. The hairpins were labeled Hairpin #1, Hairpin #2, and Hairpin #3. In each of the wells there were 2,000 prostate cancer cells. The outside wells contained the drug PBS ( Phosphate Buffer Saline) except for four of the wells on the bottom right, which was filled with medium. First I used the drug FdUMP[10] in the three wells in front of the wells that contained medium. Then I used a multipipetter and used only three pipets. Then I pumped the drug through out the cells ten times and moved to the next row of three until I reached the next to the last row and started at the second row of three wells. I repeated the same procedure until I reached the last two rows then disposed of the fluid left. I did this with the other three 96 well dishes Hairpins 1, 2, and 3.

This morning I split cancer cells by removing some of the cells in order for them to have more room and gave the cells fresh medium, which is their source of food. Later I read some articles and chapters from a book that was given to me pertaining to my project and then I finished counting the remaing plates with prostate cancer cells.

Today we had to meet in the computer lab this morning for a computer workshop in the library. The lab tech taught all the CERTL students how to make their own blogs. Then we were given our assignment to creat blogs from the past three weeks. Later we had a meeting with one of the advisors. We each passed in a hypothesis for our projects and then had a group discussion. Unlike the last meeting we had the CERTL students had the choice of speaking other than being required to say what it is that we are exactly doing.

This morning my mentor gave me the task of measuring the difference of volume in the ethenol every five minutes. After the first two intervals the flow of ethenol was still not very much until my mentor, Dr. Gmeiner, moved some wires around. The volume of the ethenol went firom 160 microleters to 1,400 microleters, which is a big improvement. In the afternoon I helped to autoclave some of the bottles and went along with the lab tech to get the bottles washed. Later I practiced loading 96 well dishes to prepare myself for next week's assignment.

Today my mentor and I tried to restart the Tunable Absorbance Detector. We started off by cleaning the machine's engine with ethenol, and checked whether the pressure had changed or not. Then we just let it run for a while to give it time to adjust. Later that day I helped to autoclave some of the boxed pipettes used for loading 96 well dishes.

I started my day of by checking my cells under the microscope to see if my cells were confluent or overcrowded. I passed the cells by removing most of them from the dish and gave them fresh medium. After that I wrote a protocol for passing cells so that I would be able to go through the steps more easily. Later that day I saw the picture that was taken from friday of the Pulse/Field Gel Electophorisis.

The CERTL students have to meet on fridays, so my day began with working in the computer lab where we have workshops to help us with our powerpoints and projects. That lasted for about two hours then we had a thirty minute break. Later we met with one of the advisors of CERTL. He basicly went around the room and asked us what it was we were doing in our labs and if we had a hypothesis for our projects. If we did then he would have asked us to say a little about our project. Later we had to go to the GCRC building and our tour guide showed around and told us what it was they did there. Then we were dismissed.

I didn't really have much lab work to do today. I mostly organized the lab by throwing away old plates of cells, cleaning the shelves and counter tops, putting books on the shelves and picking up trash. The rest of the day I watched the lab techs fill 96 well dishes and read some articles that were given to me.

I started my day with reading some of the articles given to me by mentor and the lab tech. Most of the day I observbed the lab techs as they showed me procedures for some of the cells they work with. Later that day I went along with the lab tech to make a Pulse/ Field Gel Electophorisis for Dr. Gmeiner. I was shown how it was made and how often to check it. It had to be checked every afternoon and would have its picture taken at 1:30 PM on friday.

Today we checked on the cells that were dyed and counted how many of the prostate cancer cell still remained after being treated with FdUMP[10]. We found the results to be very good because of the small amount of cancer left after being treated with the drug. From this result we have learned that the drug FdUMP[10] indeed is effective, but the real question is whether the drug will have the same results when put into a person.

Certl Day 1

Today I worked with prostate cancer cells in the lab. The plates I worked with comtained about 300 cancer cells and I had to apply a newly developed medication called FdUMP[10] on the plates. After the medication was applied, the dish was then stained with dye to see how many cells remained after the application of FdUMP[10]. Then after rinsing the remaining dye the plates were left to dry.