from the lab bench

Surprise! I haven't been into the lab in over a week. Why? My boss said to focus on finals which is exactly what I'm doing. I must admit, I miss it. Slowly but surely I'm turning into the lactate assay master. Hmm, that sounded almost dirty. My boss mentioned I could take the summer off but I don't want to. I'm just starting to find my comfort zone and use my nimble fingers to properly pipette solution into test tubes. Plus I desperately need to earn some cash for any extra expenses.

Speaking of cash, I think I need to saturate this blog with a little angsty rant. Out of the countless times I've spent on hold with financial aid only once have I been met with a friendly voice on the other line. Yes, today wasn't one of those days. As usual, the helper lady took a typical, condescending tone treating me like I'm incompetent. I'd just like to say THANKS. It seems like somebody needs more baby animals in her life...

...you're welcome.

Photo credit

from the lab bench - Tyler Durden edition

Ya know that scene in Fight Club where Brad Pitt licks his lips, smacks them together and plants a nice one upon Edward Norton's hand?  Afterward Mr. Pitt liberally dusts a fine white powder atop the new kiss which sends Mr. Norton into a writhing pain? If you don't, care if I remind you?

Lye! Fantastic lye, also known as sodium hydroxide or NaOH mixed with a little saliva are the agents of this excruciating chemical burn. If you've seen Fight Club you're aware lye is often an ingredient used in soap making and in the manufacturing of paper products and whatnot. Yesterday I had the pleasure of mixing up a solution of sodium hydroxide to act as a buffer and decrease the pH of another solution. I accurately measured out solid chips of NaOH with still hands comparable to a surgeons. I then added the chips to a beaker containing the corresponding amount of water to make a 4 normal sodium hydroxide solution. This beaker, with stirring rod in tow, was carefully placed on a hot plate to ensure proper mixing. As the NaOH pellets interact with the water, heat can be seen dissipating from the beaker (the same kind of heat plundering Ed's hand). No wonder another name for sodium hydroxide is "caustic soda".

from the lab bench

Chemistry, 2006 by Thomas Allen 

Yesterday (Tuesday, January 25, 2011) I spent a cool three hours getting acclimated to the lab I will be working in, hopefully, until I graduate. I observed and at one point assisted in performing a lactate assay with another student lab assistant. To phrase this as clearly as possible, a lactate assay is a test demonstrating one kind of biochemical pathway.  It involves the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) which catalyzes lactate, the chemical compound in question, into pyruvate, another biologically important molecule. All of this stuff matters in processes like lactic acid fermentation, which occur when we metabolize or pump some iron. Whenever you 'feel the burn' you're actually feeling the build up of lactic acid in your muscles.

Spectrometer 20

Brown and clear bottles, some big and others small, were pulled from a fridge you neglect to store your lunch in because it's stocked with chemicals. I watched my new colleague pipette test tubes with the necessary requirements (water, buffer, LDH, etc) that allow the chemical reaction to take place. Twelve test tubes were set up with five different concentrations of lactate as well as one control. For accuracy, each concentration was allocated to two test tubes.The tubes were placed in a room temperature bath for thirty minutes and an ice bath immediately after the 30 was up. Putting the tubes into an ice bath halts the reaction. Afterward all samples were read using a Spec 20. A Spec or Spectrometer 20 is a piece of equipment that measures the amount of light absorbed by a solution (our dial was set to absorption not transmission which is the amount of light that passes through). Lastly, we attempted to construct a standard curve plotting our data, which is still in progress. Is it just me or is Excel 2010 newly confusing?

One of the better parts of this experience, thanks to funding, is not having to use wholly inaccurate rubber-bulb-big-glass-stick pipettes. Yay!! I know I will be running more assays because the whole point is to refine my laboratory techniques.