Matter, Energy, and Life of Michaela A. Castello.

Tag: lab.work

Research work in the lab, whether for education or for employment.

  • This Just Happened

    I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, when one of the fluorescent light fixtures fell from the ceiling and crashed into the lab bench. Naturally, the first order of business was to share my shock and surprise with others by taking a picture and updating my status.

  • The Shambling Menace

    Okay, I admit it. I have a deep-seated irrational fear of zombies. I know, I know, they’re fictional and scientifically improbable if not impossible—but if they were real, the situation is ghastly. There’s something about the zombie apocalypse that invokes a more holistic fear than your typical doomsday scenario: Even beyond the devouring horde’s exponential…

  • Using Google Wave for Academic Collaboration

    I have been wanting to get out a paper on some of my undergraduate research and with my impending cross-country move, it’s moved back up the priority queue. In preparing this paper I will be collaborating with my PI as well as the then-senior grad student, now-postdoc who helped me at the time. This seemed…

  • Number Sixteen

    Perhaps more interesting than the construction on my road is my small mishap in one of the animal facilities the other day. Unbeknownst to me, the welding on one of the rat cage lids had partially separated, loosening the seal and enabling the cage to be opened from the inside. Inquisitive creatures that they are,…

  • Occupational Hazards

    Aside from the occasional mishap, my colleagues and I do rather well managing the ever-present hazards of working in a research laboratory. Every so often, though, something happens that’s particularly interesting. We have some neat little stitch scissors for detailed snipping activities that I needed to use today. While I was cleaning them off, they…

  • Just Another Day at the Lab

    Yesterday, in a turn of events involving chocolate, yogurt, and rat treats, I ended up in the UMD Medical Center cafeteria. While looking through the cooler, I happened to notice a new (released just this year, in fact) soda flavor: Dr. Pepper Cherry. This seemed rather interesting, as Dr. Pepper has been advertised as an…

  • Graduated Yet?

    Even though I walked across the stage at the beginning of what is now last month, I still haven’t actually graduated. I more or less fell into a trap of my own making, because at the beginning of the semester I decided I wanted to get credit for my research internship again. This involves a…

  • Let’s Try Some Science

    I have been working on updating my research poster for a presentation I’ll be giving at UMBC as part of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achivement Day. I have been a part of this project since I first started working in scientific research last year, and it’s been extremely exciting to start to see the data…