ADHD

On Monday, I continued working on my methods section until Chris, my mentor, arrived. Surprisingly, one of my friends from school was assigned to the same lab as me and she had just begun working there. So, she had to observe Chris and I for that day. Prior to lunch, I worked on two PCR plates and four Taqman plates. Then after lunch, I had to make an agarose gel to test my PCR. My PCR worked; however, it was not that great since some of the wells looked as if they were missing DNA samples. I assisted my friend in practicing using the pipette. Then, I completed one more PCR plate and scanned my Taqman plates afterwards. Fortunately, all of my Taqman worked out well. For the rest of the time, I worked on my methods section again and completed my blog.

Tuesday, I worked on a Taqman plate and two PCR plates. After running them on the machine, I had to wait until they finished, so that they could be tested on an agarose gel. After lunch, I tested the samples on the gel. My results were better than my results on the previous day. So, I completed two more PCR plates using a different primer, and ran them on the PCR machine. Then Chris taught me a new method using Sephadex to filter the DNA from our PCR. It was fun being able to learn a new method. This was a gel like substance that allows the DNA to separate from the excess materials used during the PCR reaction. After that, I worked on my blog.

I had a wonderful Independence Day celebration with my friends on Wednesday and returned to work on Thursday. I felt so excited to receive my first paycheck. When I came to the lab, I made an agarose gel and ran my previous PCR samples on it. It actually worked out well. Afterwards, I made another PCR plate prior to lunch. I made another PCR plate after lunch and I also began labeling my ADHD plates. I then waited for my PCR plates to finish running so that they could be tested on an agarose gel.

Friday was a great day! I began my day by making a PCR plate. I then ran my PCR agarose gel that I made earlier in the week. Fortunately, all my samples worked. Next, I ate lunch early because I was invited to observe a family visit. This is when the proband as well as the entire family come into the clinic area to be tested for ADHD.