Week 10 Final Post-PK

YAY!~ wow... it's I can't believe summer is over and my EXP experience comes to close. So sad, but it was extremely fun, interesting, and overall, great! 

I assume I won't be going back to the lab regularly, but I still have to analyze the data and come up with a conclusion. I actually had to go back to the lab for one extra day to get the software to analyze the data. I expect I will be going back so that Teuta can help me with my conclusion.

So ever since the last day, I could never tell whether Teuta actually like me or not... I guess that's something I shouldn't be writing. Well, whatever. On the planned last day, I brought in bubble tea to the lab right after lunch. Everyone minus my PI, Josh, wanted one (apparently they like it more than doughnuts)! Then Teuta said something along these lines: Preston, you can come back again! You're very useful... and you bring nice treats!~

LOLOL after working in the lab for over 400 hours, all I'm good for is bringing the lab treats. Hahahaa

jkjk Teuta has complimented me quite a few times over the past two years. It's just that the way she said that was funny. 

Well, I doubt I'm gonna spend 3 summers working in Dr. Joshua Shaevitz's lab, so I'd like to thank him so much. Not many would take a short, pimply sophomore kid in their lab for two summers. He and Teuta really made a huge difference to my experience. Also, I'd like to thank Teuta and the other members of the Shaevitz group. The environment was extremely pleasant and I had a great time working with and next to all of them. Once again, I'd like thank them all SOOOOOoooooo much for making my past two summers a great experience. 

Wait... I don't think any of them are going to read this... whatever~

Anyways, this is my last post (if you didn't get the hint from the title), and I'd just like to say EXP was expecially awesome!

Peace!~

-PK

Week 9 Post 2 -PK

Lahh only 3 more days!~ I'm so excited yet sad. I'm excited because I'm almost done with all of my trials. I'm sad because, well I'm almost done working in Shaevitz's lab. Hahahaaa I mixed feelings seem very weird when explaining them.

So everything I've done up till now essentially was just gathering data. I haven't had any time to analyze it really. I did a little bit in July I think, but while I'm in school. I have to do that. So I still have yet to download the software for analyzing and plotting the data. That always seems like it's a problem huh? The truth is I'm technically not supposed to get ANY software since all of it belongs to Princeton and I'm not a student. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a "visitor". If I didn't make it clear in my other post, I'm very sad. I get the same status of a 1-day visitor despite working in a lab for 10 weeks, walking in and out of signs that say "restricted access" (or something like that), and walking through doors that require a swipe of a key card! Plus, when I buy food from the campus center, I get charged tax :'(
So coming back from my digression, I will be getting the program I use for analyzing the data on Monday. On  Tuesday, I learn how to use it. On Wednesday, I use it a bit and ask Teuta a lot of questions. Then for the next month, I'm supposed to plot, analyze, and interpret the data all by myself. Hopefully I'll be able to come to the lab during some days in September to get help, but the vast majority of it is going to be done by myself. Truthfully, this is going to be a huge challenge for me. One because I don't know statistics very well. Two, I don't know biology very well, so I may not have the best interpretations. Three, essentially I have to teach myself this program. Four, I have a bunch of other stuff going on in September that I'm supposed to do.

But so far, I think I'm going to be getting enough data to be meaningful. Data is data, but meaningful data is better. We'll see. Only 3 days left and nothing major broken. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but we'll see.

Oh and apparently someone in the lab is working with Cholera so now whenever he's in the lab, I have to wear a lab coat. No one else does... just me :(

Peace~

-PK

Week 9 Post 1 -PK

OMGSH!~ I only have 1.5 weeks (ish) left! Overall the experience was pretty cool, but there are so many things I still want/need to do! Largh, why is there ALWAYS too little time? Well I guess part of the reason is that I'm limited by the number of trials I can do each day. Since I have to grow the E. coli that day, I can only run two trials, regardless of how fast I am at running the actual experiment. Pity...


So I just got back from my two week Bible camp retreat and I was told that once again, I am going to be doing a slightly different experiment. I still am studying the effects of osmotic shocks on the same strains of bacteria; however, I am going to be looking at a different mechanism the E. coli employ when coping with the osmotic shock. The first mechanism I studied was that certain pumps transferred materials (it depends on which pump one is looking at) in and out of the cell. The mechanism I am beginning to study now is the synthesis of materials, one of which is trehalose.


This is going to be pretty awesome, but there are two downsides of this. One, I don't get as much data on the first mechanism as I would be able to if I concentrated all my efforts on the first mechanism. Two, I have to read a lot more primary articles. It's not really that I mind the second one, but I'd really like to keep my brain fresh for the Peddie homework and college apps I do at night. (Yeah... I've been procrastinating a lot lately :( )


I can't wait for the next two weeks to come. Not just because I'm done, but I finally will feel like I accomplished a lot. Hopefully, it won't end and I'll be able to come to the lab during the school year. I don't know how that'll work out, but I got my fingers crossed that it does.


Peace~


PK

Week 4 Post 2

Since the only canister which had 1/4'' tubing was the sample that was suppose to have atmospheric argon, we tested this one first (all the plumbing we had done was with 1/4'' tubing, for all the other ones we'll probably have to use a union which will connect 3/8'' tubing too 1/4'' tubing). We connected the atmospheric argon canister to our new contraption, which allowed us to pump down on the system, and use the mass specrometer without taking either one off. So one all our piping was leak checked and vacuumed, we started the mass specrometer. This was by far the coolest part of the week, where we got to see some real results. We opened the canister valve which allowed the gas to diffuse through our plumping and then we closed off the canister so we wouldn't lose any more gas.

The gas we wanted to sample using the RGA was in our tubing lines so we first checked the pressure which we had conveniently hooked up within the tubing. Unfortunately, their was only about 4 inches of mercury absolute in the entire canister. This meant we wouldn't have much to sample using the RGA, but we used what we had. With the atmospheric argon trapped between two valves and an RGA port connected between them as well, we began to feed the RGA the argon gas which we hoped was truly atmospheric argon.

Returning to what exactly we were sampling for...

The idea is that primordial gases found in the sun were the first gases on Earth. These gases contained Argon in specific isotopic ratio. Primordial gases contained negligible amounts of the Argon-40 isotope. The early gases are thought to have degassed from the center of the Earth into the atmosphere. The Argon-40 to Argon-36 ratio of atmospheric is supposed to be around 295. This high amount of Argon-40 is attributed to different things that I will probably discuss later. This isotopic ratio changes significantly in the crust, and mantle regions of Earth. Based on this, we can try to draw some connections between the origins of our planet, and what it is composed of. Note: This project is also connected to the Dark Matter project, but has opened up a whole new area to us and it is intriguing to see what we are able to find. This connection, I will discuss in a later post after I discuss it more thoroughly with Geoffrey.

Back to the results. The isotopic ratio of Argon-40 to Argon-36 observed was around 300, which confirms that the first sample canister was indeed atmospheric argon. This sets a good baseline for the rest of our experiments. Since we know that the system worked this time, it gives us more confidence with future results. I am currently on a family trip and will not be back in lab until Wednesday, August 17.

Last Day- Alec Mitchell

So, this will be my last post on the blog. The five weeks I spent at the Owen lab felt a lot shorter than they really were.

Since it was my last day and there was an undergraduate student leaving as well, everybody still in the lab (including the PI) went out for ice cream as a last day party.

In the end my project was what I originally had planned on. Of course, after working on it I know a lot more than before (and I mean a LOT). I've learned what goes into the process of making a film of quantum dots from synthesizing the dots themselves to chlorinating them to cleaning them to actually spinning them to testing them. To summarize my project, I tested a series of washes on the films to find the best process to make them.

While I spent most of my time working on my own project, I also got to do so many other things including: learning about the projects of the others in the lab, going to lectures, helping put together a glove box, learning how a lab is managed and the different positions in it, and what goes into research.

My two favorite parts of working in the Owen lab were:

1. The research. The lab is an organometallic lab. I never really considered this type of chemistry before, but I really enjoyed all of the work that they do. While the research they do is really cool, this kind of chemistry is extremely dangerous, so being careful is a must.

2. The people. I don't think my lab experience could have  been so amazing without the help of everyone in the Owen lab. I never had any problems asking for help, and someone was always willing to explain things to me. This especially applies to my grad student Zak, who took the time to teach me everything I needed to know and beyond as well as looking after me all the time.

As a final note, I just wanted to thank all of the members of the Owen group, especially professor Owen himself for letting me work in the lab and for making it such a great experience. I wish I could of stayed longer, but I will never forget the amazing time I had.

That's all,
Alec

Week 5 part 1- Alec Mitchell

Now that my final day is coming, I finally realized how much work I still have to finish.

Today was mostly spent finishing all of my films and recovering quantum dots. Tomorrow will be the final testing. Basically I am going to wash the films with different solutions to determine which would make the best film for solar cells.

A good amount of this week was spent creating a good solution of dots to spin from. I finally got that done today, so it all comes down to the final testing tomorrow.

Also this week: Dr. Peretz came to visit the lab. After showing her around, I got to show her how we spin films in the glove box.

After saying goodbye to one of undergrads who doesn't work on Fridays (my fellow unpaid minion), I realized how much I'm going to miss working in the lab (despite how cheesy that sounds). Well I'll save the final reflections for tomorrow.

-Alec

Last Entry (Rotimi Opeke)

I'm home now.

I just finished my lab work on Friday and I was able to pull some 3D images of the surfaces I looked at under the microscope. Have a look.

Now that I'm in Nigeria I will finish up the lab report and my paper as a whole. In terms of applied uses and a better understanding of what exactly an "active layer" looks like, check out the link to this article. The "active layer" is the highly transparent film that is on the piece of glass that the hand is holding.

Ala Viva and thanks for reading

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/11/photovoltaic-polarizers-could-make-self-charging-smartphone-drea/