Today we went to btec lab on the NC State Centennial Campus, where subjects like chromatology were explained to us. We were shown a little experiment where different chemicals were used to separate different parts of grape soda. Afterward, we took a quick look at several laboratories and rooms with equipment and machinery.
This is the movie of the day:
Movie of the Day:
Today we started off the day by finishing up our rare disease presentation. We researched and presented Zika virus as well as its cause of microcephaly. Other groups presented diseases such as Progeria (see the movie of the day).
Go check out our presentation below!
Also check out our research and notes!
After the presentations, we finished up the second documentary about cancer. We learned more about the history of cancer treatments, and it was fascinating. Advances in combination chemotherapy, as well as progress in curing childhood leukemia, were the main topics for the day.
Right before we went to lunch, we tested to see if Sydney and Cindy’s enzymes were actually successfully genetically modified or not.
After lunch, we did the same procedure as we did with the genetic transformations on Day 3. Here are our results:
These results show that the gene was there, therefore, the experiment was successful:)
Movie of the day:
Today we attached the prosthetic paw that we designed and 3-D printed to James. The bone glue worked well and it was an overall success. If only James was alive to try it out.
Then we brought back those suturing skills we learned from banana practice and used them on the rabbit. We started by stitching up the muscle layer over the abdominal cavity and then proceeded to stitch up the skin. Despite its length, the fur wasn’t too much of an issue. You can see all of this in the movie of the day!
Finally, we watched more of the cancer documentary to finish off the day.
Today we went to the Griffith Lab at UNC Chapel Hill where we met some biologists, who gave us a tour and talked to us about DNA among other things. It was a great learning experience, as you can see in our vlog. A big thank you to the people working in Griffith lab!
Movie of the day:
After lunch at Moe’s #sponsored #ad we watched a couple hours of a cancer documentary, which was both incredibly depressing and interesting.
Today we practiced micro-pipetting. There are 4 types of micro-pipettes that we used: P 0.5-10, P 2-20, P 20-200, and P 100-1000.
P 100-1000, P 2-20, P 20-200:
P 0.5-10:
We first practiced on colored water to make sure that we were ready for the real experiment we were about to do.
This is what our sheet looked like:
We used disposable tips to make sure there was no contamination.
YAY! COLORS:)
We did a mini lab where we put the color on the side of the tube to practice our skills.
Then we moved on to the real experiment!!
Enjoy the movie below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a closer picture of the diagram of the cell we were genetically modifying:
Today we facetimed Dr. Kwong and learned about the life of a trauma surgeon and a little bit more about oncology. We then practiced suturing on bananas and finished our gene modification experiment.
Movie of the day:
We first sutured our bananas.
Then we took out the finished result of our experiment from Day 3.
Our experiment was successful because our bacteria colonies were glowing (although we only had 2)!
Today we explored the abdominal cavity of James. We used scissors to cut through the skin but made sure not to cut too deep so we could preserve the organs.
We then explored the abdominal cavity, looking for the liver, stomach, gall bladder, kidney, caecum, pancreas, urinary bladder, testes (we all had males), and spleen.
We then decided to cut through the stomach. This is what we saw:
Since rabbits are herbivores, it was concluded that the green inside of the stomach was some type of grass that the rabbit was feeding on.
We also decided to cut through tissue to find the spine, and although our group couldn’t find the spine, another group did!
To take it one step further, we amputated James’s paw and decided to make a prosthetic. We took measurements to ensure a perfect fit on the prosthetic. Here is the design:
We decided on this design because the sphere on the top would work as a wheel that could help James function better than he did before.
At the last part of the day, we started watching a cancer documentary. It talked about how cancer treatment has progressed throughout the 1900s through 2000s.
Since it is the first day of this discovery term, we got our rabbit, named him James, and started the dissection.
Today we tanned James and opened him up from the thoracic region and up through most of his esophagus and trachea. We started tanning by cutting a slit right below the rib area and then continuing the cutting up to the throat.
We had to make sure not to cut through too many layers because the goal was just to take off the skin layer. Along the way, we used a probe to poke out a whole lot of connective tissue. Overall, the skin is now detached in most places, including the lower parts of the limbs. By the time we were done tanning, Amy was able to stick her hand through the skin layer.
Then, we made a deeper incision through the thoracic cavity where we broke the ribs and saw the heart, lungs, trachea, and more.
We then cut more to expose the trachea and esophagus.
Here is what we ended up with at the end of Day 1: