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Week 7- End of infection experiment

This week we did a few PCR’s- with a new set of DNA from difference times. They did work, but unfortunately there were positive blank cells, so we’ll have to continue troubleshooting to see what is going wrong there. I also did more cell counts from the infection experiment. As I’m counting the later days of the experiment, there are way too many cells so I have switched to a new way of counting which makes it go way faster. I count individual fields of view instead of the whole slide. We also ended the infection experiment, most of the RFUS had dropped very low. I also started a ‘mini’ infection experiment in a small 24 well plate. There are four different diatom species, and to each one an allotment of infected Asterionella was added. This is to see if there is any cross infection between infected Asterionella and other species, which will help to determine host specificity of chytrids.

This week we also went on two field trips. We went to Bonneville Dam on Tuesday which was interesting, but it was disappointing how much the guide downplayed the environmental impact of the dam. Friday we went to the OHSU main campus and it was interesting to see how similar the labs are there even though they’re working on very different research.