Lab Week!

This week I began the first of a four-step process in my lab work: isolation of the frog liver DNA, gel electrophoresis to confirm presence of DNA, PCR to amplify DNA, then DNA sequencing for comparison. On Monday, I was introduced to the machinery in the lab by Dr. Nunez as mentioned before. I started the process with just two frog samples each test run, then quickly became comfortable enough with the protocol to work more.

Limited equipment, only 12 samples at a time, and up to two hours of waiting between certain steps of the protocol, the procedure to isolate the DNA for all 75 samples can take quite a long time. I would use these periods to write, read literature, and simply daydream...but eventually bored of these activities. Sometimes 10-hours a day in the lab and no internet access--what was I to do? Photo Booth and iMovie were my answers.

Tristram, this video is for you because you said I could post as many pictures of myself as I wanted to.
Mom, I am sure you noticed that my outfit didn't change during the movie. Don't worry. It represents one day and I did change my shirt the next day...maybe.
Dad, note that I am doing work and not just spending three months in Chile playing.
Dormans, there is one pose in there specifically for you.

It's my blog, so get use to it.

Update: After a week in the lab (and 361 photos later), I have completed about 60 of the 75 DNA isolations and confirmed 28 of those with a gel. YES!

Nicole Koontz Workspace

On Monday I started my first day of lab work with my frogs. Dr. Nunez helped me review the protocols and introduced me to what he called my "workspace". I resisted giggling just a little as my mind automatically thought of The Office. Thank you Dwight Schrute.

I also included a photo of the school's autoclave (yes, it is a communal autoclave and all the labs have to share.) It is just about a million years old and it is questionable whether it actually cleans the tools and other equipment that we put in it. hmmm.

Souvenirs for one and all.

Last weekend, we went to Niebla beach with our friends Jorge and Anibal. It was warm and sunny in Valdivia, not extremely hot, but tolerable. Tiffany and I decided to skip the jackets. It's the beach, right? Sun. Frolicking. Sand castles. These are the only things allowed. The particular beach that we visited is called Niebla--which means "fog" in Spanish--and true to its name, we experienced some less than ideal weather. I think we were right in the middle of a cloud. It was brisk and quite chilly. Instead of playing in the water, we decided to climb some rocks, wrap our towels around ourselves for warmth, and walk the beach. Personally, I decided to slip a couple times, cut my legs up, and fill my backpack with a collection of good skipping rocks which I intended to throw somewhere. Unfortunately, I forgot about the rocks until we were on our way home, but I thought of something else to do with them...
Of course! Souvenirs! To remember the event, we made some personalized souvenirs for Jorge and gave them to him the next time we saw him at FHE. I think he liked them.

To all those back home: Don't get too jealous. I will definitely make you some souvenirs too. And I think you will like them!

I dream frogs now.

These are photos of my latest frog collection trip in Parque Alerce Costera, just a couple hours south of Valdivia on the highway and a couple more hours on dirt roads--seriously in the middle of nowhere.Philipe drove his car which took quite the beating with mud, rocks and a group of researchers climbing in and out every ten minutes. Eventually, we even killed the battery and had to push start the car.
It was quite the rainy situation from 8am until 10pm, but for one brief second as we were preparing to leave, the rain stopped and we could see some of the beautiful valley vista.

Lunchtime

How To: Catch Crabs Edition

A few days ago we traveled a couple hours north toward Temuco and did some sample collecting for Tiffany's crab project. Dr. Jara, the mentoring professor, was a great help. He picked us up that morning, showed us the various steps of the crab catching process, brought us into the city after we were done and even bought us some ammmazing icecream (mine was blue-colored vanilla water icecream). Here is the wisdom that Dr. Jara gave to us, which I am now bestowing upon you, to effectively collect crabs.

1. Find a river with access (meaning a fence with barbed-wire that you can climb over or through).2. Simply walk straight into the middle of river. right in the middle.3. Next, set your net against the current and begin to shuffle the rocks in front of it. The crabs will be disturbed and the current of the river should force them into the net.4. After a few minutes of shuffling rocks, pull the net up and inspected the treasures that you have caught.Optional: At this point we also separated the two species that were present in this river and males from females.After a few short hours, we had over 60 crabs for Tiffany to study. Oh crab collecting!

Keep Your Mardi Gras, We Have Noche de Valdiviana

Every year, the end of summer is celebrated with Noche de Valdiviana. It is a week long festival in Valdivia with a fair, street vendors and artisans. The week concludes on Saturday night with a boat parade, fireworks and chillas.

Chillas are small bits of paper--fun when thrown in the air; however, they quickly become weapons of war. The goal seems to be to circle the Plaza, aka the battlezone, in the center of the city with thousands of other people, throwing them directly at others' faces then escape before retaliation. These little menaces get everywhere, and are the worst in your mouth or eyes. Here are pictures of the before, the beginning of the mayhem and the aftermath in the taxi, on the way home.