Looking Back

Looking back at what, I am really surprised to see how much I have grown as a scientist. Even before I first walked into RPI, I had great expectations. Because I wanted to pursue a carrer in the sciences, I was eager to get a first taste of what it would be like working in a white lab coat and preparing samples. In addition, because I was in AP Biology, I eager to put my new-found knowledge and vocabulary to use.

To my great delight, my internship proved to be just the thing I was looking for and starting with learning the chemistry of preparing solutes and substrates to preparing buffers and samples to learning about the workings of the machine to  learning how to interpret the final graph, I truly learned and attained a great deal about capillary electrophoresis as well as many useful lab skills. In particular, I still remember the feeling of contentment the day when I prepared buffers and DNA samples all by myself after receiving the desired measurements. Like that of a real scientist, I calculated and converted the required amounts and then assembled each respective solute via pipettes, scales, pH meters, etc... This said, weeks prior to that very day, I remember the great challenge of recalling my chemistry skills. Because of the fact that preparing samples and buffers all begin with the first step of figuring out how much of each substance to combine with another, I needed to have a solid understanding of chemistry before I started mixing and combining. Chemistry and math is not my strongest subject and because this was chemistry and math put together, I was all the more daunted. However, through this experience, I learned that the field of science is not just simply geared towards subjects like biology or chemistry or neuroscience, but that it is in more cases than not, a combination of them all.

For the incoming year, I would suggest having several more group meetings as I really liked hearing other interns talk about their experiences and the work they are involved with. Adding on to this, for the incoming new interns, I would like to advise that they should take the time to research more about their internship. (It might be helpful if they are told to do some research about their internship topics prior to their first meeting) Despite the fact that mentors explain in great depth the workings of the field, interns will come across times when even the explanations are too confusing to understand. In cases like this, I advise doing further research after at home, Emma, etc... In addition, I would like to tell future interns to never fear of asking their mentors too many questions--even the ones they think should be common sense! All in all, I find myself lucky to have been given this opportunity to further develop my interest and hone the particular type of career I want to pursue in the field of science and to have met such a great mentor.

My final poster summing up my vast knowledge about capillary electrophoresis ;)

05/01/13

May 1, 2013 was the last day for my internship regarding capillary electrophoresis. When I got to RPI, my mentor, rather than make another buffer or sample and run it through the capillary electrophoresis machine, she explained to me how to interpret even further graphs like the one attained a week before. As mentioned during my poster presentation (and probably somewhere in my previous blog posts), the DNA sample contains fluorescent markers that allow lasers to detect the DNA fragments. The graph produced at the end of the capillary electrophoresis process displays this test result and aids in interpreting the very fragments. The capillary machine determines the size of the DNA fragments in a sample based on the data detected by the lasers. The computer connected to the machine then depicts the lengths of the myriad of fragments as peaks on the graph. Thus, it helps determine the length of the detected DNA fragments.

The information accumulated all throughout several of these graphs is used to create the DNA profile. "Two points of reference are used to help the software as it determines the lengths: 1) the GeneScan software uses the internal size standard, which contains DNA fragments of known sizes; and 2) the Genotyper software uses allelic ladders as a point of comparison for the designation of the number of repeats in the DNA sample at particular chromosomal locations, since the peaks within the allelic ladder correspond to known fragment lengths at those locations."(An allelic ladder is a standard sample which contains all the alleles for a specific gene so that when it undergoes electrophoresis, there's a clear separation of the different alleles in the form of bands.)

The DNA Examiner works with both softwares and documents what the allele values are at each of the chromosomal locations analyzed and then compiles it to constitute a DNA profile (like the the graph of my previous post).

All in all, even to the very last day, just when I thought I knew all there was to capillary electrophoresis, I realized that my knowledge of it makes up only a parcel in the grand scheme of all things. ;)