Week 5 is no different. The gel electrophoresis machine is broken. We had to borrow equipment from the other lab. Hopefully this one is better.   We started by analyzing a gel from earlier in the...

The biggest, new concept I learned in week 4 was how to design restriction enzymes and perform a digestion reaction. Up until now, most of the procedures in the lab had just been protocols that I...

Week 3 started off with a mouse dissection. It was both fascinating and a little gross. I saw exactly how to collect different types of cells from organs. For example, bone marrow cells are washed out...

Part 2. I want to try to explain the first two experiments I ran without randomly throwing scientific jargon. It was finally time to learn by doing. The first experiment I did was PCR plasmid...

And so it began. Week 2 of SC-ACE. First week in my new lab. We started off with an absolutely brain-frying lab meeting from 9 am to 2 pm. I got my introduction to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and the...

Micropipettes are surprisingly difficult to master.  A micropipette is a lab tool used to measure and move very small amounts of a liquid. These volumes are measured in microliters (1,000 microliters...

Day 3 of the SC-ACE bootcamp felt like a turning point. The training wheels were mostly off. The protocols were longer, and the steps were more specific. The main activity was making a Zentriacine...

Day 2 of bootcamp was much more hands-on. The focus shifted toward learning how research is actually done step by step, especially when it comes to following protocols and understanding the systems...

The first day of bootcamp was mainly about getting everybody oriented and on the same page. I had the opportunity to meet lots of high school students from all over California and even a few grad...