So today, we drew our own blood to practice our telomere/telomerase measurement technique. Success! Our lymphocytes are currently sitting in a -80 degree freezer.
Being in the lab today was such a different experience from my pre-med lab classes in college (which I dreaded). Drawing the blood, seeing it separate into the three distinct layers (plasma, lymphocytes, red blood cells), calculating the number of my cells lying at the bottom of the test tube (which was 15 million!)… we were doing the practice behind all the theory. I’m sure it will get boring (as everything usually does), but right now I love it… and I can’t wait for our results.
“The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is…. and the scientists, no matter how much they investigate nature, no matter how far they research, they only come to realize in the end how perfect and mysterious nature really is. To believe that by research and invention humanity can create something better than nature is an illusion. I think that people are struggling for no other reason than to come to know what you might call the fact incomprehensibility of nature.”
~Masanobu Fukuoka (The One Straw Revolution)
~Masanobu Fukuoka (The One Straw Revolution)
Christina...having gone through the IRB process 4 times, I can attest to the challenge of it, and so I congratulate you on that very important hurdle! Excellent news :)
ReplyDeletethank you, Rebecca! I know, I didn't realize what a process it would be! Glad to be done with that :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Tina!!!!
ReplyDelete