This past week I have really grasped the importance of conducting trials, following directions, and writing down information in order to ensure the best results. I am currently at the stage of my project where I am preparing whole-mount lung samples using immunohistochemistry, which involves multiple steps of washing, dehydrating, fixing and blocking in order to detect neuroendocrine cells under a microscope. It has been very beneficial having written the instructions to make specific solutions in my lab notebook because often I have needed to reproduce these solutions for various steps in the protocol. In addition to the whole mounts, I am working with 60 micron slices of lung from a parafin block which I had previously put onto slides. These slides are being prepared in similar measures as the whole mounts so that I can look at them under the microscope. Emma, a grad student who is also here for 6 weeks, is already capturing images from slides she prepared, and is looking for neuron activity around the distal and proximal lung. It has been great having Emma around, because she is also new to the lab and we have been able to help each other with understanding our projects! She showed me today how to find and adjust images on her 12 wk. samples, and found that while neuron activity is present around the proximal lung, there seems to be little to no neuron activity near the distal lung. I have gotten to see Emma spend multiple days producing images and having to retake them because of technical issues with the image quality/resolution, so I know now that it takes a lot of practice and trial and error in order to achieve a substantial figure.
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| Emma taking pictures! |
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