Our second day was packed with activities! Upon arrival, Liya and I met Dr. Taylor, the founder and president of Integrated Pain Solutions. We had the opportunity to sit with him and ask as many questions as we wanted. After spending over an hour speaking with him, both Liya and I learned a lot – not just about his business and his story but also about the importance of discovery throughout our college process and future career endeavors.
We were later introduced to two other scientists, Krystle and Ashleigh, who were working on urine samples in the labs. Coming from Memorial Day Weekend, they were extremely busy yet spent time showing us the procedural work and, again, answering many questions we had.
Although observing their work was educational, my favorite part of the day was the hands on experience in the lab with hemp flowers. Dr. Sean guided us through the lab procedures and taught us how they isolate the CBD and THC compounds. We used several chemicals, centrifuges, vortex machines, pipets, and a tandem mass spectrometer to study these compounds in the flowers and hemp oil. As we watched the machine warm up, Sean explained the various components of the device from the remove computer controls to the highly pressurized gas chamber. We were unable to analyze the results since we ran out of time at the end of the day, but tomorrow, we will resume our work and learn how to analyze the data.
It was somewhat exhausting to learn all the new information, yet studying hemp and the various cannabinoids is a fascinating field and an unparalleled experience that has taught me so much more about pain solutions. With what I learned today, I am excited for our next two days at IPS and learning more about mass spectrometry!
