This past weekend was so much fun! The REUs went out on the RV Pluteus and dredged up some very cool inverts! Even though a few of us got seasick (me included), I think the trip was worth it. I also celebrated my 21st birthday by spending the morning at the beach and taking an afternoon trip into downtown Coos bay to get some birthday free-bees from Starbucks and Dutch Bros. Later in the day I ate some delicious food at Seven Devils Alehouse for dinner. The highlight of my birthday was definitely when my college roommate, Maggie, tracked my location, found and called the restaurant I was eating at (all the way from Massachusetts!) and asked to cover drinks and dessert! Needless to say, it was such a special birthday and I most definitely felt the love all the way from the east coast. After 4 weeks, I feel like I'm getting into my own groove! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I focused on cutting, dehydrating, and embedding 10 more samples in Spurrs resin. By doing this resin "mise en place" I will be able to focus on slicing, staining, and imaging slides the rest of the summer! I had a big win earlier in the week regarding a methods problem we were facing with the ultramicrotome: getting the sliced resin to stick to our slides. We found that placing the sliced resin on a hot plate for 15 minutes to fully dry the samples, letting the slide rest at room temp for 40 seconds, placing the stain on the slide, and rinsing it under water created usable sections! Although it was a temperamental methods process to figure out, I'm glad I wont be seeing sliced resin sections pop off the slide and go down the drain any longer. Wednesday afternoon I sliced my very first sample of Ifremeria. With how much work went into collecting the snails, shipping them to OIMB, fixing them in chemicals, and resin embedding, I was quite nervous to start slicing. Although I was scared, the slices looked great! As of now, I am having trouble with the slices folding and creating a "3D-like" effect on the slides. To properly view slides, the sections need to be flat so every part of the cutting is on the same plane and the microscope can focus the entire cutting, not just bits and pieces. Hopefully I can fix this issue with some method testing. This weekend seems like it will be chill and quiet as there isn't a REU trip planned. Perhaps I will get ahead on some presentation making, go into downtown Coos bay to get some good eats, and work on social media content for Dags Hockey, my Dads hockey training business. See you next week!
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AuthorHello! My name is Flynn Gorman and I am working in the Young Lab and studying the embryology of the gastropods Ifremeria nautilei and Alviniconcha this summer. I am from New Jersey and I am pursuing a B.S. in Biology at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. I also work at a coffee shop on campus and act as the PR Director for my acapella group. Archives
August 2022
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