the capture procedure...
Sep 28, 2005
Extract from the past...
Right now I'm standing in the lab, waiting for my E. Coli innoculated growth medium to finally give me the results I've been waiting the last 6 hours for. It's only four more minutes of inhaling this acetone enriched atmosphere before I can reach in and see if they've stopped doubling.
Ah well, At least I now know my own mystery strain that Larry's friends' web has given me is Gram positive. The mucoid little diplococci flagellates will have to face the PCR next week, so I won't be too harsh on them. But the E. Coli will receive no mercy.
::
Well, I just took the OD measurement and yet again the freaking E. Coli have grown, which means I have to wait here for another 20 minutes. Hurrah.
Temptation calls me to pour a healthy aliquot of ethanol into their container while snickering disturbedly. Or perhaps I'll introduce a competitive species in their flask to kill devour them, One of my colleagues perhaps. Yes, that will do, that will do....
::
Sadly it's not in line with German law to do that. what a shame
::
Sigh, 7 minutes to go. I might as well tell you about the university Olympics. Our block, with the utmost style, grace, and sportsmanship lost all but one of the games we were destined by the gods to play. The gods I say. That one game was the ancient and noble sport of dodgeball in which we kick peptidoglycan. But hey, it was a good Saturday - and we fought hard, which was the main thing...or so I keep telling myself. 4 minutes to go once again. Ah, the aforementioned gods had the honour of having me offered to them as a sacrifice. Steve the God of Bread was annoyed with the noise produced by the students studying on his turf. Long story, lots of filming, which basically ends with me being duct-taped to a chair on stage for about 90 minutes during the Olympix opening ceremony. Evidently I was not sacrificed since the people planted in the audience who I hired voted for the games to go on instead.
So now I'm here - and it's measurement time...
::
They're still growing.
After a quick word with the supervisor it seems that I only need one more reading in about 10 minutes. I could kiss her, that is if she didn't work with quite so much bacteria on a daily basis.
Where was I? oh yes, taped to a chair on stage. It went fairly well all in all - good publicity.
2 minutes left...easily one of the longest lab sessions I've ever had. It's bearable, much better than error calculation in 1st year physics labs which I strongly dissuade any life scientist with a right brain from taking. 34 seconds...
::
Ah well, At least I now know my own mystery strain that Larry's friends' web has given me is Gram positive. The mucoid little diplococci flagellates will have to face the PCR next week, so I won't be too harsh on them. But the E. Coli will receive no mercy.
::
Well, I just took the OD measurement and yet again the freaking E. Coli have grown, which means I have to wait here for another 20 minutes. Hurrah.
Temptation calls me to pour a healthy aliquot of ethanol into their container while snickering disturbedly. Or perhaps I'll introduce a competitive species in their flask to kill devour them, One of my colleagues perhaps. Yes, that will do, that will do....
::
Sadly it's not in line with German law to do that. what a shame
::
Sigh, 7 minutes to go. I might as well tell you about the university Olympics. Our block, with the utmost style, grace, and sportsmanship lost all but one of the games we were destined by the gods to play. The gods I say. That one game was the ancient and noble sport of dodgeball in which we kick peptidoglycan. But hey, it was a good Saturday - and we fought hard, which was the main thing...or so I keep telling myself. 4 minutes to go once again. Ah, the aforementioned gods had the honour of having me offered to them as a sacrifice. Steve the God of Bread was annoyed with the noise produced by the students studying on his turf. Long story, lots of filming, which basically ends with me being duct-taped to a chair on stage for about 90 minutes during the Olympix opening ceremony. Evidently I was not sacrificed since the people planted in the audience who I hired voted for the games to go on instead.
So now I'm here - and it's measurement time...
::
They're still growing.
After a quick word with the supervisor it seems that I only need one more reading in about 10 minutes. I could kiss her, that is if she didn't work with quite so much bacteria on a daily basis.
Where was I? oh yes, taped to a chair on stage. It went fairly well all in all - good publicity.
2 minutes left...easily one of the longest lab sessions I've ever had. It's bearable, much better than error calculation in 1st year physics labs which I strongly dissuade any life scientist with a right brain from taking. 34 seconds...
::
Sep 21, 2005
Opera disintegrates
Bacteria, thousands of them. Happily going about their flagellated lives, dividing, forming little growths on the new paradise they've found on the bountiful petri dish but all the time....being watched.
For the next few weeks in the lab, a strain of paired cocci-like, motile bacteria that I isolated from a spider web in honour of Larry the Existentialist will be put through a series of delightfully invasive testing. For now the unknowing millions are simply growing in LB medium and, like and Hänsel and Gretel before them, are getting all fed up before being fed into various biochemical broths of evil and woe.
This is the first project based lab work I've encountered so far and so far my sadism towards prokaryotes is more than satisfied. No, seriously, I love the critters - bags of proteomic joy they are - filling up every environmental niche out there with life and replication. It's thanks to them ecologists can produce pages of unsterile publications doomed to the compost heap of cellulose based literature.
What joy, what joy...
For the next few weeks in the lab, a strain of paired cocci-like, motile bacteria that I isolated from a spider web in honour of Larry the Existentialist will be put through a series of delightfully invasive testing. For now the unknowing millions are simply growing in LB medium and, like and Hänsel and Gretel before them, are getting all fed up before being fed into various biochemical broths of evil and woe.
This is the first project based lab work I've encountered so far and so far my sadism towards prokaryotes is more than satisfied. No, seriously, I love the critters - bags of proteomic joy they are - filling up every environmental niche out there with life and replication. It's thanks to them ecologists can produce pages of unsterile publications doomed to the compost heap of cellulose based literature.
What joy, what joy...
Sep 10, 2005
Wildlife and ice cream
Back in Bremen for a warm welcome by the local fauna. The inhabitants of our new room were less than happy to see us. It was only with the aid of a plastic lunchbox that we were able to set most of them free (well out the window) to breed future generations of insects and arachnids bent on our destruction. Sadly Madame Loretta was unable to withstand the extraction procedure from my arm a week or so ago. Her probiscus is still comfortably implanted and festering. My leukocytes will win not to worry.
Surprisingly there were no infestations in my basement locker, nor any large fungi saprotrophically melting my clothes into nutritional supplements which gave me endless joy. Such happiness called for an attempt at cuisine by myself and Nikita. How did it go you say? well, there will be other foodstuffs bound to be buried in the near future. Until it's time comes it is in the deep freeze of the floor kitchen.
Such is life when cake and ice cream don't mean what they used to and the fridge light burns out
Surprisingly there were no infestations in my basement locker, nor any large fungi saprotrophically melting my clothes into nutritional supplements which gave me endless joy. Such happiness called for an attempt at cuisine by myself and Nikita. How did it go you say? well, there will be other foodstuffs bound to be buried in the near future. Until it's time comes it is in the deep freeze of the floor kitchen.
Such is life when cake and ice cream don't mean what they used to and the fridge light burns out
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