Week 7

Hello and welcome back everyone!

In one of my first posts I stated how I looked forward to genetically modifying bacteria because one can not control the outcomes and the possibility of finding something new. I also said how I would probably regret regret saying that in the future and it is starting to look like I was right.

My current research is looking into how efficiently bacteria can take free floating genetic material from the environment and integrate them into their own genetic makeup to see if the rise of genetically modified organisms from companies pose an imminent danger as sources for genetic material which could lead to uncontrolled pathogenic bacterial evolution.

I am comparing the efficiency of bacteria who are induced into transformation with calcium chloride and comparing it to bacteria who are left to take in plasmids by themselves. My experiment is basically a modified version of the pGLO gene experiment (a simple experiment you can Google).

As you all know, every experiment needs a control group in order to see if the results of the experiment are actually significant. This week, my project’s control groups failed because the bacteria did not grow in the way that I needed them to and so the experimental group’s results couldn’t be verified. I had to completely start over and remake my plates because it seems that the ampicillin in the plates denatured (having to start over repeatedly seems to be a common theme).

Thanks to my experience in research, I learned a valuable yet frustrating truth. One person can run thousands of trials before their experiment actually produces presentable results because success is low especially when it comes into delving into an area that no one else has worked on (and when working with something fickle like life).

The silver lining in all of this is that the constant restarts have given me the chance to become familiar with the lab equipment. I can now operate most of the equipment and perform all of the mandatory lab practices without needing constant reminders of what to do which is going to save me time if I have to redo something in the future (which i probably will).

I hope that my project will be able to produce presentable results by the end of my Senior Project but if it doesn’t then I will at least have the skills and experience that I picked up working at the labs. See you all next week.

- CJ Pimentel