Week 3: Waiting

It has become clear this week that the process of doing research can involve a lot of waiting. We have been working on making slush agar tubes for iron oxidizing bacteria, in order to reinoculate bacteria that have been growing for multiple weeks. It sounds simple enough, but because this has to be done in a sterile and anaerobic manner, the process stretched out over days. We also had to confirm that there were bacteria actually growing at different bands in the original tubes. This meant looking at about 40 samples under the microscope, as opposed to the usual two or three. From this, we were able to determine what samples would be subcultured. This particular project from start to finish took something like three days, and it was imperative to wait multiple hours between each step. But waiting is a big part of science!

 

The rest of the week has been fairly similar. I have been making media and buffers, keeping track of bacterial strains, and getting more familiar with the lab and important techniques. I feel like I have learned a lot already, though I know there is much more to be learned!