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

Tag: lab.work

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

  • Hydrogen Peroxide and a Band Aid

    Or, “I did in 60 seconds what the University of Maryland Medical Center could not do in 3 hours.” This evening went very different from how I imagined it would go as I was preparing to leave work. I was cleaning out the cryostat from my latest spate of brain-cutting and my hand slipped, slicing…

  • Not a Bad Day at All

    Today was one of those days that makes me feel pretty good by the end of it. This was largely because my Spanish exam, which had been looming grotesquely overhead for the past week, was suddenly canceled a mere hour beforehand. I got to spend the reclaimed time with some excellent people before heading in…

  • Research Worries

    I have been working hard on the guinea pig brains over the past week-point-five and it’s getting close to my next moment of truth. This Sunday while Rachel is at work I’m going to come in and run a Western and see what kind of stuff comes out the other end of the five-hour procedure.…

  • Blotting My Dismay

    After many days of work and waiting through long incubations, I have now screwed up not only the first, but the second Western blot I have ever done in my life. Granted, the problems are relatively minor considering the number of things that could go wrong in such an extended process, but both of my…

  • I Love Gloves

    Working in a lab means I have to wear exam gloves for just about everything I do during the day. Since it’s a global policy that gloves cannot be worn outside the lab (for safety reasons), I am constantly gloving and de-gloving. One of the coolest things about wearing exam gloves is that you can…

  • Ready to Cure Cancer?

    Even before I began my research position, I have frequently heard people of many different areas of focus, science majors included, talk about “curing cancer.” The implication is that somehow, it would be possible to find a treatment or technique that would be able effectively eliminate the phenomenon. This assumption is extraordinarily frustrating to me…

  • Welcome 2008

    I have only recently returned to my apartment, and my internet-based mainstays, on account of the recent holiday season, my lack of a laptop computer, and because I am too cheap to add data service to my cellular plan. As a result, I have only recently been affectionately reunited with Tess, my lovingly constructed desktop…