Weeks 4 & 5: Sampling and Bonneville Dam!

I've been so busy here in the lab that some time has passed since I last gave updates on my progress, but I will summarize what I've been up to in these last couple of weeks. The beginning of my fourth week in the lab was very busy- we were preparing all the supplies necessary to go sediment sampling very early in the morning on Wednesday! The Senior Research Assistant Lydie was out for the week, so the task of organizing and arranging everything fell to me, my mentor Kiley, and Lydie's intern Maddie. I knew that sampling itself would be fairly intense, but I was also surprised to learn how much foresight and planning had to go into getting ready. First of all, we had to Autoclave spatulas, small tubes, and other supplies to ensure that when we got out to the sites, everything would be sterile. I had the interesting task of preparing the tubes in which Kiley and I take our sediment samples, which involved cutting the bases off of 50ml Falcon tubes with a massive serated knife. It was much harder than it seemed, and I think I got a good arm workout from it! We also had to coordinate with other graduate students who work at CMOP. Because many different students and labs sample at the same sites, and people occasionally have conflicting schedules that prevent them from getting out to sample, we agreed to take sediment and water samples for a few others who share the lab space here with us. I was impressed by the collaborative nature of everyone being willing to put in extra time and effort to help each other out. We also had to be sure to get the proper attire for wading around in the mud and the river estuaries- for me, that meant tall rainboots, clothes I wouldn't mind getting very muddy, and about 4 layers of jackets. 

The actual sampling itself was a really unique experience. The only downside of it was how early it was- we had to leave from OHSU at 3:30 in the morning! The sampling sites were all out near Astoria, which is quite a drive, and we had to get there and complete our sampling before the tide came in, which explained the early start. Kiley had to do all the driving in the pitch black, which was quite a feat. We went to several different sites spread out across Young's Bay, Baker Bay and Cathlamet Bay and took various sediment and water samples. Although we tried to be as efficient as possible at each site, it still took us several hours, but with the sun up and the temperature relatively nice, it was pretty enjoyable. On the way back into town, we stopped off at a restaurant with amazing pies which was really a bonus. It was satsifying for me to be involved with the sampling, because I directly use those sediment samples we took, core dissect them in the Cold Room, and extract and analyze DNA from them. It was enlightening to really see the project through from its very beginning stages to more downstream applications. 

Week 5 was equally hectic, mostly because it was short and filled with exciting things. On Tuesday, Vanessa took all of us interns out on a field trip. First, we stopped by Vista House, which I had been to before but is always astonishingly beautiful. Anyone who spends any time in Oregon really must go! We also ate lunch at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, where we got to see lots of sturgeons, affectionately nicknamed 'dinosaur fish.' After lunch, we went on to the main attraction, the Bonneville Dam, which was really interesting as it was not only a feat of engineering but also a source of hydropower energy for much of Oregon that helps us keep our carbon footprint smaller, which is important to me. Also interesting was learning about how much time and effort the dam operators and engineers have put into ensuring that the salmon who populate and depend on the Columbia can still make their journeys unimpeded by the dam. We went on a really informational tour of the dam, and then afterwards drove to the beautiful Multnomah Falls, where we took a very short walk up to the bridge outlooking the falls and, as the temperature was well in the 80s, got ice cream. The rest of the days actually in lab were very busy. Kiley had run a qPCR earlier with DNA I extracted from several soil samples from our most recent sampling trip, including a very interesting sample from right next to a large group of snails. However, the qPCR results were not as we expected, so I cleaned the DNA and re-ran the qPCR myself to examine the results.   Friday, the IEH was closed for the 4th of July, making the week very brief!