Author: madelinek001

This morning we went to Dr. Griffith’s lab. We were able to see organelle’s under an electron microscope and DNA under an electron microscope. This was very interesting because there are only a few electron microscopes in our area. We were able to see the DNA in both linear and plasmid form under the electron microscope. We also learned about the process needed to view things under an electron microscope. It was very interesting to learn how much work goes into preparing something to view under an electron microscope.

Today we skyped with Dr. Kwong. She is in a residency program at the Med Star Hospital in Washington, D.C. for general surgery and intends to go into a fellowship for surgical oncology. She answered our questions about cancer, immunotherapy, surgery, and becoming a doctor.

 

We also learned some basic suturing techniques so that we can close up our rabbits. We practiced suturing on some bananas.

 

 

After lunch, we observed our bacteria colonies to determine if our experiment was successful. The bacteria on the plate with ampicillin and arabinose plate fluoresced under a black light. This indicated that our experiment was successful. Additionally, we had borrowed the products of another group’s ligation reaction after we messed up our own. The two groups saw similar results on their plate from tube 3 (the tube that contained material from the other group).

 

 

It was interesting to learn about how much medicine has advanced in the past few years. According to Dr. Dienst, ~70% of the current medical procedures were not being performed when he was first a doctor.  In order to keep up with new medicine, he said that he reads six or seven articles per day.  It was also interesting to hear about how much medical technology has advanced.

  

        

The most interesting thing that happened during the dissection was examining the heart and lungs of the rabbit. We had some difficulty cutting open the chest cavity of the rabbit without damaging the heart and lungs of the rabbit. We started cutting open the rabbit too low at the liver instead of the just below the ribs. This caused us to have to cut through the ribs to expose the heart and lungs. I thought that it was interesting how small they were in the large rabbit. It was also interesting that the heat and lungs were small, because rabbits hop very quickly and are quite fast.

The most difficult part of the dissection was determining the best way to make incisions and cuts on the rabbit. When tanning the rabbit we did not want to cut into the muscle of the rabbit which was why it was so difficult. We also had some difficulty cutting open into the chest cavity of the rabbit without damaging the heart and lungs. Identifying the body parts and organs was also difficult, especially for people who have no prior experience. Beyond that, clean-up was difficult due to all the hair getting everywhere.

The most surprising part of the dissection was how easy it is to remove the skin of the rabbit. With the fetal pigs, my group had some difficulty getting into the pig. We had no such difficulty getting into the rabbit. The connective tissue was very easy to remove and only when there was some fat between the skin and the muscle was it somewhat difficult.

We are looking forward to dissecting out the rabbits heart and closer examining it. This will be very interesting because we were unable to do this when dissecting the fetal pigs. We have previously learned how the heart works and how blood flows through the heart, so it will be very interesting to see what the heart look like in person.