lab raiding

This week I continued working on my ELISA. I'm trying to optimize the protocol so we can look at the concentration of antibodies in Blood Blank samples. The commercial kits cost $300 each (!). Eventually, the project will look at probably 7500 samples so having an ELISA we can use ourselves makes much more sense. I get to do lots and lots and lots of pipetting. It's always kind of tense for me at the end of the day when I get my results back. To develop the ELISA, I add a substrate for the enzyme attached to the antibodies in the plate. When it develops, it starts to turn blue but often it takes 15-30 minutes to get good results. Sometimes, I just watch the plate as it develops waiting for it to turn blue. After awhile I can't tell if it really is changing color or if it's all in my head hahaha. There are so many places to mess up when I make an ELISA that it's a little stressful waiting for it to turn color. So far they all have though which makes me very happy!

I'm also looking at the subclasses of a particular antibody that patients with HITT have in their plasma. This week I finished optimizing the ELISA for that part so I get to begin collecting data from more samples. That was very exciting because it will *hopefully* get in Dr. Arepally's new paper if the results turn out well.

This week, our lab killed some of the mice they do work with. I didn't go to see because I don't have clearance - I probably wouldnt have gone anyways, it sounds so gruesome. We also raided another lab that was closing so I spent a lot of time carrying stuff back and forth. At one point we have TEN CHAIRS in our tiny lab along with the piles of other stuff we found. It was fun finding all these cool gadgets and chemicals that we needed too.

first week in the lab

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Deerhake and I'm working in Dr. Arepally's lab this summer. The lab is rather small compared to others on campus - it consists of an undergraduate, lab tech, research assistant, and Dr. Arepally. She often makes rounds in the hospital as well. Hannah, a student in Howard Hughes last year, was asked to come back and work in the lab this summer. She and I both go to NCSSM so it's nice to have someone I'm familiar with. The lab is researching HITT, an immune response to the blood-thinner heparin which can cause severe clotting. The antigen is a complex of the heparin and the protein PF4. My project will be finding the concentration of PF4 in the general population. I will run ELISAs to find the amount of the protein in many many samples from the Blood Bank. This week, I've become oriented in the lab and have learned how to run an ELISA. I've got lots of pipetting to look forward to this summer! I've really enjoyed the team atmosphere of the lab and it's interesting to hear about different portions of the research. Today, some data came back showing the relation between charge density on the complex and clotting. Before, many hypothesized that size played the major role. It's really exciting to truly be on the cutting edge of scientific research, especially when the applications are so life-changing.