in the beginning

Post date: Jul 11, 2012 5:18:25 PM

For the last three weeks I’ve been working in the Green Earth Sciences building in the Environmental Microbiology lab. Basically, my mentor Jessica and I are trying to measure denitrification rates of bacteria in the San Francisco Bay by looking at different soil samples from the bay. For each sample we must extract DNA from the soil, amplify and copy the specific genes we’re studying (nirK and nirS), and then send the DNA off to a sequencing company who sequences it for us. Then, using all the sequences, we can make phylogenetic trees and compare/contrast the different species the DNA may come from.

It’s a lot of lab work, but it’s all really fun and a great learning experience! I’ve learned so many new techniques in the lab, like PCR (polymerase chain reaction), gel electrophoresis, qPCR (quantitative PCR), culturing bacteria, working with plasmids, spreading medium plates, and much, much more.

Next week we’re going to go on the boat that Jessica goes on to collect monthly samples, so I’ll actually be able to go out in the field and see how all the samples we’ve been working with were actually obtained! I’m super excited! Untill then, we’ll be doing more lab and computer work I guess, along with attending our weekly Friday reading group to discuss different environmental topics, like government policies on the environment, the nitrogen cycle, and ocean currents. Even though I don’t understand a lot of what they talk about they’re still interesting to listen to because lots of people from different areas of the department go. And it feels good whenever I do understand something :).