Hi everyone!
I’m Annika. I’m a Biology major from Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. My Grandma’s family settled in North Western Oregon in the late 1800s along the Oregon trail, and we have called it home ever since. I have loved biology before I knew the term. In first grade my teacher asked our class what we'd like to be when we grow up, and I decided “a scientist who studies nature and animals.” I began my major as an archaeologist/anthropologist, but I found the job opportunities very limiting. I always knew biology was my calling, but I was afraid of not measuring up. After taking a biology course at LCC, the instructor Colin Phifer encouraged me in my pursuits and informed me about this REU internship. I am grateful to be here, and excited to be in this phase of my academic career. I enjoy learning about history, archaeology, geology, biology, and the human body. I have had a difficult time choosing a career path, as my interests are so broad. I’d love to be able to be an archaeologist, biologist, veterinarian, in the medical field, and more - but it’s not feasible to do it all. I enjoy roller skating and spending time with my two guinea pigs Pippa and Kit, and my two cats Navy James and Tabitha Jane. I have penpals in Russia, Indonesia, Germany, New Zealand, England, and the US. I have been studying the Russian language for almost a year, with guidance from my penpal Nadine. I am working in Richard Emlet’s lab this summer, along with his grad student Nicole Nakata, and my friend and fellow REU Victoria Cardenas. Originally I was going to study cyprid lipid storage, and its relation to buoyancy, in connection to providing aid in swimming. We decided to re-evaluate this research idea, as it was a bit too complex for my first research experience with barnacle larvae. Now I will be studying the different species of cyprids in Charleston, photographing them, and documenting their juveniles to make an identification key. There is some information on identification of cyprid species, but almost none for the juveniles. We have been collecting them each morning from plankton samples, sorting them by species using the microscope, and storing them in the incubator. This week I’ve set out plates for the barnacles to settle on and in the laboratory. I’ve put other plates in running seawater so they can develop a bacteria film to help encourage larvae to settle. Victoria and I learned how to use the compound microscope more in depth, and learned how each part works and how to tune it according to specific needs. I have been observing Victoria’s project along the way as well. She injected potassium chloride into sand dollars to get them to expel sperm and eggs so she could start larval cultures for her project. I look forward to learning more about barnacles this summer! Thanks for reading, see you next Monday at 3pm! Annika
0 Comments
|
Author
Hi! I'm Annika, a biology student attending Lane Community College. I will be researching cyprid larvae in the Emlet lab this summer. I look forward to sharing my findings on Cyprids. I love roller skating, my eleven penpals across the globe, my two cats, two guinea pigs, and the enchanting PNW woods - my forever home.
Archives
August 2022
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly