This week has been a lot of lab work, but I can’t say I haven’t been enjoying it. We started this week imaging larvae with the GCaMP sensor for detection of electrical signaling. George and I even went down to the dock to take a plankton tow, which is when you cast a net with really small threading to catch microorganisms you wouldn’t typically see. Using some of these organisms that swim considerably faster than our larvae, we subjected the larvae to some fast-passing events to observe whether the larvae showed a response, i.e., lighting up under the fluorescing microscope. We also observed passing events of other larvae to detect electrical signaling events, and guess what, we did!! Not only did they do it once, but twice!
While working with the larvae, I’ve also been working on that second project I mentioned looking at how caffeine treatment can disrupt meiosis and cause sea star eggs to develop into cells that have twice as many chromosomes as they normally would. George and I microinjected sea star eggs with two fluorescing proteins, one that highlights the microtubules that make up the spindle that forms during meiosis, and another one that lights up the chromosomes that are split during meiosis. We then took matured sea star eggs and under a microscope, took a few videos of normal meiosis. You can see in the video below, the spindle apparatus (left panel, gold color) assembles, and microtubules attach to chromosomes (right panel, blue color) to bring them to the middle and then segregate into two cells (one is really small), after which the apparatus disassembles. When cells were subjected to caffeine treatment prior to the separation of chromosomes, we saw a complete disassembly of the spindle apparatus, preventing meiosis from continuing. However, when we flushed the caffeine from the eggs with sea water, they completely recovered and completed meiosis (I’ll add videos of this next week)! The recovery rate was really fast too!!
Socially, this week has been pretty chill. I’ve taken a few trips to OIMB beach, helped cook a really good meal with friends, and taken a few walks through the woods. Being able to be in an environment where I can both grow academically while not sacrificing these small experiences has been really enlightening. I’ve found myself more excited to head to the lab with a clear head after a quiet walk wandering through the trees (maybe I just really like being in the forest lol). Well, until next week… :)
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