Poster week! This week we finally submitted our posters to the daunting finality of the South Slough office printer. It was exciting to have a tangible product that summarized all of the hard work we did this summer. On Wednesday we presented out posters at the symposium, and I realized how fun it is to tell other people about your research. Presenting science is definitely an art form that I am far from mastering, but it’s exciting to weave your research into a story that is understandable to people from various scientific backgrounds. Our plan research-wise this week was to see if our echinoderm nerve cell antibody (1E11) would work on any other closely-related taxa, such as the nemertean pilidium larvae. Since we didn’t have any other larval cultures in the lab, we decided to go out and do some plankton tows, collect any plankton of interest, and fix and stain them this week. Unfortunately, we did a several tows on Monday and Tuesday and came up short. It appears that there’s an uncharacteristically low amount of plankton for this time of year, so alas, our last experiment did not come to fruition. One of many lackluster plankton tows Last Saturday, we all went over to Maya’s house to pick blackberries and bake blackberry pie. I think I’ll be dreaming about that blackberry pie for a long time. On Tuesday, the REUs all went out to dinner to EZ Thai (highly recommend!!!) to celebrate the end of the program together. On Friday, we headed over to Richard’s house for a final potluck. It was a wonderful evening full of delicious food and flying potatoes. I’ve learned so much during my time at OIMB this summer, and I have a greater appreciation for all of the hard work that goes into research. There are so many things you don’t see when you read a paper – now, when I read some scientific articles, I can’t help but be in awe of the sheer amount of detail that goes into them. Although I am excited to return to my home institution with all of the things that I’ve learned, I’ll absolutely miss OIMB and the amazing people I’ve met here this summer. I mentioned in my first blog post that I hoped to become a part of this close-knit community, and I definitely think I and all the other REUs achieved that. I’ll miss the beautiful Oregon coast scenery, the long walks to Bastendorf Beach, the trips to Bayside Coffee, and even the smell of shrimp early in the morning. And of course, I'll miss the research and the people. Thank you OIMB for the amazing summer. I hope to be back again some day!
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AuthorHello! My name is Ana and I am a rising senior studying biology and music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. This summer, I am working under the mentorship of George von Dassow. I am looking forward to seeing where my research takes me and to becoming a part of the OIMB community! Archives
August 2018
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