Mikki Dennies Post #3

On Monday of week two, I did a lot of interesting things that I did not expect to happen. For example, when I got there, Gabby, one of the girls I work with was making a media to culture smooth muscle cells, so that she can send them off to a lab. I was a super interesting process because They have to sterilize everything, so the bottle for the media was placed in an oven (photo 1), and they put everything into this machine (photo 2) that keeps outside air out while they work, so the cells aren't exposed to anything. After that, we spent most of the day tagging mice. This means that we would put the mice to sleep, and then hole punch their ear and cut a little bit off their tail, so they can send it off to another lab to find the genotype of the mice. They do this as an identification method because they want to keep the mice with the specific gene they need to test for. The mice are super cute, but also very difficult because sometimes they aren't very cooperative. Also, every time we go to where the mice are, we have to wear a protective "outfit" as a safety protocol (photo 3). I have to say seeing the mice is probable the most eventful thing I've done because on most days, such as Tuesday, we sit there and look at graphs, testing the pressure of tissue, and following that protocol. I find testing the tissue extremely boring because you sit there for hours watching a line move in accordance to whatever component you're changing. Honestly, on the days where we test all day, time goes by super quickly, so it's not all that bad.