Blogs

Here are some pictures from week 4.

7/12/10
   Katie and I prepared the drifters for Tuesday's teacher's workshop by taking them apart. We tried to get the drifter's GPS to triangulate but had some difficulties. I think it found itself eventually, though.

7/13/10

 Last week was my sixth! In that week I worked with my code and trying to do a 3d model image to see much better the different behaviors of the difference of ct and thermister. On Friday we went to OHSU and explore the graduate student's world. And then on Saturday, we went to Mt. Hood Hike, a great and amazing experience. This week I'll continue with the 3d's models! 

This last week was pretty basic.  I continued to try new DNA and buffer concentrations on the biosensors, and found that 0.5µg of ds DNA target works the best.  This is promising because it is the lowest concentration we tried, meaning that our samples will last longer.  The data on the different buffer concentrations was inconsistent and therefore inconclusive.  This week we will try different temperatures because the 52°C we have been using for double-stranded targets may affect the adhesive on the channels after multiple runs.  

This week, I worked on optimizing the synthesis of  Fe-CMC-BH.
There were numerous variables such as rate of addition of reagents, the method of dissolving CMC, ways to introduce Iron to CMC solution and such. Dr. Nurmi introduced a more advanced way of mixing the solutions: the homogenizer. It seems to be effective, but not quite sure why it is effective as of now.

I also made a different testing method of Induced Polarization. I am introducing four rods into a surface. Yet to test this new system.

7-19-10
Performed extraction on numerous samples from Marker 34. Exact details located in lab notebook.
Cleaned DNA post-extraction
Saved samples in -20C

Worked on updating my lab notebook including information from Yellowstone, serum bottle preparation, and stereoscope pictures.

Delivered mail as per Wendy

Delivered samples for BET as per Wendy to Jim Nurmi

Began work on poster

7-20-10

This week I compiled all of the persulfate decay curves I've collected across three temperatures and 4 solvents. Since my data is first order kinetics, I'm gathering k values from raw data and linearized plots (which gives an interesting comparison) to compile an arrhenius plot that should quantify the difference between persulfate decay in fresh and marine waters. From here on out my data will not be raw kinetics curves, but solely comparisons of k values. It's quite a change in perspective.

This week, I finished up the Deployments web page that I started working on last week. It's the hardest page I've ever done, as it involves selecting from a central database, saving many pieces of information and writing them back to the database by constructing tables. Unlike other pages, a huge portion of the code I wrote for this page was for the purpose of avoiding/correcting different types of errors that might occur, since there are so many. This week has definitely been very, very challenging.