This week I learned how to stain organisms ,from our growing cultures, with antibodies. It is quite a long process; it took five and a half hours. To prepare for this process, we previously fixated some organisms. We used a primary and a secondary antibody in order to stain the organisms nerve cells. This is necessary so that their nerve cells can be viewed from a confocal microscope. Ana and I actually had a hard time finding our fixated organisms in their preserved vials. After searching for them extensively, we came to the conclusion that while we had fixated our organisms they stuck to the inside of the pipette we were using. This blatantly meant that we had fewer fixated organisms which made them precious. The antibody staining went pretty smoothly once we figured out the organism count. This week all the REU interns had an informal presentation of our research at the Charleston Marine Life Center (CMLC); this center has many different species of organisms, including Oregon native organisms as well as invasive species that now make their homes on the Oregon coast, for example the Dungeness Crab. The CMLC also has the skeleton structures of many organisms like the baleen whale, sea lions, sea otters and more. We presented in the morning and through the afternoon. The center’s visitors ranged from toddlers to professors. It was really fun and exciting to see the children get fascinated by our presentations, our props and science all together. It was almost like I could see their synapses firing and new neuronal pathways forming. Their eyes widened when they played with our sand dollars and it was just a really comforting and confirming notion to see that we can get children fascinated by science at such a young age. This past Friday we visited the University of Oregon’s main campus. I fell in love with that campus. It was beautifully constructed and felt like I was in a park with science buildings and knowledge surrounding me. Their science library was so impressive. The first floor was similar to a lounge café and the second floor had their study rooms, a makerspace ,which had a 3D printer and lasers ,a hemisphere that was full of video games that you could rent out for any and every console imaginable. I really loved their classrooms in there. They had moveable desks and each desk had personal whiteboards on the side for the students to have. Those classrooms’ construction and blueprint were built to nurture student’s learning process. We then visited Dr. Sutherland’s lab where we had a stimulating conversation about her research with gelatinous organisms across phylogeny. Next, we went to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History; this was an amazing experience because the layout of the museum and the murals that it had a nice flow and they were really captivating . When I went to the gift shop I had stumbled across two cards, whose, artwork were so beautiful, and I found that the artist who painted the murals and the artist who had made these cards were the same man, Ray Troll. I purchased my first piece of artwork, Something Fishy Comes This Way. Then, we made our way to downtown Eugene and stumbled across a wonderful bookstore and boutique. At that point we were all hungry and settled on eating at Sizzle Pie. Now let me tell you, their vegan pizza was glorious and amazing; it was so good that I would say it beat Costco Pizza out of the water. That’s quite a big statement and we finally headed back home.
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AuthorHi! My name is Kostantina Orselli and I am transferring to California State University of Northridge. My interests include hiking, kayaking, playing with my dog, hanging out with friends, watching movies and more. I am ecstatic to be experiencing this opportunity at OIMB! Archives
August 2018
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