In Your Honour - Week Seven

Monday
Today I became so sick of not being able to reference my essay that I made a phD student who enjoys wasting time sit down me and the hons guys and show us how to use a program called Endnote.

That proved useful.

Fly count:zilch. Please note the new fly count. These will refer to fruit flies, as they’re the only ones I deal with while they’re alive more or less. Any blow flies I get are generally crushed, frozen or dissected immediately.

Tuesday
I went to the doctor again about chronic fatigue. I’m perfectly healthy. I hate it when they say that. Why do I feel so crap then?

She gave me a vitamin shot though. Then I sat through a bunch of meetings (I did miss one though – late from the doctor).

In the evening I did something called a microinjection. This involves mutating fly embryos by injecting DNA into them. This is a very, very painful process.

I left at seven o’clock (the view from our lab looks amazing at night by the way) having spent four, four and a half doing the stupid injection.

I go to bed that night and can see little embryos when I close my eyes. These things are about as big as a full stop and I spent so many hours looking down a microscope trying to align them (yes, line these stupid little things parallel to each other down the edge of a glass slide).

And after all this, it doesn’t look like many of them will make it.

Which means we have to do it again.

Fly count:Maybe a few little babies that survived the injection.

Wednesday
Today Alex taught me how to deal with the fly lines I’m about to get. It’s going to be a lot of work.

He also gave me a vial of adult flies that will be important for all the fly work I’m about to get.

I also froze a bunch of older baby blow flies for crushing. I still need primers before they are of any use though.

It may have been today, but instead of bringing in his son’s rabbit, today Tek brought in his son. He gave us all easter eggs.

Fly count: A vial of adults with white eyes (normally they are red) and possible injection survivors.

Thursday
Today was the day I looked for more injection survivors and could find a single one which a phD student told me how to deal with (this fly would later die and some might be tempted to blame the advice I was given for this).

I call the fly room so I can speak to Alex to ask his advice. Jin answers the phone. Jin is a phD student and is quite a character. I had a five minute conversation with him, during which all I said was “Is Alex there?”

Alex comes over and finds another half dozen survivors.

We need about 50. Not good.

I got some primers. Still waiting on another four though.


Fly count: a few more survivors and my vial of adult white eyed guys.

Good Friday
I did not attend uni today, but rather went away with my sister et al. for the weekend. I read a phD thesis about esterase-mediated OP resistance for some of the weekend.