About Me

Hello! I'm Sophia Korotev, and I am a senior at Madison Country Day School. I chose to use my summer (and later, my school year) to intern in a lab at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) in the UW-Madison Department of Neuroscience under Dr. Darcie L. Moore. Cellular biology is not only the subject I most enjoy, but something I might consider pursuing in college. By participating in this lab experience I gained much more knowledge about cellular biology, and life as a researcher. In this blog you will find information regarding life in the Moore lab and common laboratory techniques utilized.

Lab Life

Beyond being the nicest group of people I have seen and could ever wish to work with, members of the Moore lab make science exciting. If someone is doing work in the tissue culture (TC) room and someone asks where that person is, someone will always respond with "they're doin TC life." We also make light of the massive struggle that is research; PCR doesn't always stand for polymerase chain reaction, it can sometimes stand for "pipette, cry, repeat."

Above and beyond the time we spend together in the lab, our group often plans lab-bonding activities on the weekends. This past weekend, for example, we went blueberry and raspberry picking then had a barbecue held at Dr. Moore's house. The Moore lab also has a thing for the Lord of the Rings. In fact, most of our lab equipment is named after various Lord of the Rings characters. There is a tiny freezer in the TC room we call Frodo; we call our large, -20॰ freezer Galadriel because it's tall and white; our 4॰ fridge was named Gandalf because...I have no idea. I was confused at first while I was reading the lab instructions for making ampicillin agar plates because it said to store the antibiotic in the Galadriel, so I had to ask what a Galadriel was.

Every morning our lab manager Kayla writes chores that need to be done on the white board next to the names of the undergrads (and me). Chores include making standard and frequently used solutions (such as 70% ethanol, 10% bleach, and TAE) autoclaving glassware or orange biohazard bags, and taking red biohazard bags to the Madison Environmental Resourcing Inc. (MERI) bins. Making solutions is a straightforward process that involves measuring the volumes of specific reagents and diluting them with double distilled water. The autoclave is something specific to labs working with biological material because it functions like a scary-looking, super hot dishwasher meant to kill all living organisms in used glassware, biological waste containers, and some solutions when necessary. Taking the red biohazard bags (like trash bags, but with infectious waste) to the MERI bins is more complicated than taking the trash out at home. It involves changing ones gloves at least three times, and lots of ethanol. Once the bags are tied in their bins and placed on the cart, they must be covered with a cardboard sheet so that people I encounter on my five story journey to the loading doc don't get scared about the biohazardous waste.

The fact that our lab is very serious about cleanliness makes this an especially great learning experience. If there is a smudge on a drawer handle, everyone will here about it. It is important to keep surfaces clear and sterile so that solutions do not become contaminated, and months of experimenting doesn't go to waste. I am excited to bring these experiences and this new state of mind to my lab work in school, even if it means I will have to pipette, cry, and repeat.