Week 7- Kitchen sink kind of week

All day Monday I worked on my final report and read more primary literature.  Tuesday and Wednesday I was at Sharp and continued to test different parameters on the biosensors.  Some of the sensors were functionalized (probes attached to the surface) alongside of a synthetic molecule called MCH that previous literature reported would decrease the amount of non-specific binding of the targets to the probes.  The little preliminary runs that I performed did not show this.  I did find some optimal parameters for the biosensors:  2XSSPE buffer, 75 Hz, 75 mV.

Thursday I went on the trip to Astoria and we helped Sheedra with her water sampling at three different sites.  We then got a tour of CMOP in Astoria, and the low-down on the function and importance of the 4 Saturn stations.

Today was the grant proposal writing workshop.  It was very informative, and really drilled in some important points to think about before even beginning any writing.

-Vena