First off, let me apologize if I sound slightly unhappy because I just sat through a very disappointing Wimbledon final before beginning this entry.
So last week there was of course the cell cultures to continue to take care of, and I also learned how to analyze some of the data collected from our assays including the western blots. Our lab has a machine that allows you to expose and take pictures of various types of gels, which is a huge help as opposed to using the UV light and our phones as we did in biotech. I don't think I mentioned it before, but the cell cultures need to have their media switched every two days. This meant that usually either my post doc or I would have to come in one day over the weekend to spin down the cells and resuspend them in new media. Since today was the Fourth of July weekend, we decided to freeze down the cells instead and thaw them on Monday when we return tomorrow.
We have lab meetings every Thursday morning, and this Thursday one of the post docs in my lab, who turns out to be a pop star in Vietnam apparently, gave a presentation on the work he has done so far. After that Dr. Loh also talked briefly on the current financial situation of the lab, giving me a bit more insight into how labs are funded. Apparently funding in recent years has become a bit more scarce, and the lab had gone through a few difficult years. I came for the right summer, though, as many projects had just received funding, and a couple grants had been secured. The new money even allowed for the hiring of a new technician and I believe they have funding to hire one more.
I also visited the mouse facility, Mt. Zion, for the first time on Thursday. This animal facility is the cleanest of those in the UCSF network. The mouse housed in such facilities are immunodeficient and care must be taken to make sure pathogens are not allowed into the superbarrier. When entering the facility, you have to change into a set of gowns and wear shoe covers, a hair net, and gloves. When entering a biosafety level 2 room, where mice injected with patient samples are housed, you need to put on a complete new layer of gowns. The inside of the building looks a bit like a jailhouse, and I certainly wouldn't like to work there all day. I will be back to bleed all the mice in the experimental trial next week, though.
The weather has been pretty interesting here in San Francisco, and there are definitely days where the fog is very dense. Since the UCSF Parnassus campus is closer to the Pacific coast of San Francisco, the winds and fog are usually worse than they are on the eastern side. Other days, though, including most of the weekend, the skies are clear and it is a comfortable 70 degrees or so.
In closing, regarding the world cup, my lab did take a break during the day to see the whole USA game. I saw most of the games this weekend, and it has definitely been interesting so far. Conservatively, I'm going to predict a Germany Netherlands final, which is this Sunday if some of you don't know by now. Federer should have won.
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