This Wednesday was my first day of work experience at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at St. James's hospital. I was quite nervous, but also very excited and eager to know what I would get up to over the course of the day. My employer Derek was very welcoming and I began to relax once I started talking to him.
Firstly Derek brought me to his office and showed me the basics of genetics and how they work. I know it may seem boring but it was actually so interesting as it linked into a lot of my junior cert science course.After, Derek introduced me to Ciara who works in the research lab. Ciara showed me around the rest of the building and different machines used. She also showed me actually results from different experiments and explained what they show the scientists. I really enjoyed working with Ciara as she explained everything in simple form and was very friendly and chatty and was also very easy to talk to and get along with.
Just before lunch I gave a saliva sample in order to do a DNA extraction test (I know it sounds horrible!) . We added a chemical to help separate the saliva and the DNA from each other and left it in an oven at 50 degrees for an hour. We then prepared the gel which would be used later in the experiment. I was given my own lab coat and gloves, I felt so professional! :)
After lunch I met with carol, who also works in Derek's research lab. She completed the DNA extraction test with me. It was very exciting as I got to pipette and use a "spinning machine". Although I was very very nervous using the "spinning machine" (can't remember the fancy name for it) as it is very expensive.
Once there was only pure DNA left we added a colour and but it on a gel. Electricity then flows through the gel from negative to positive electrodes in order to drag the DNA out. After about a half an hour we used the "Ray" machine (named after Ray Darcy). That was the most interesting part of the day for me as it showed me how long my DNA is. It also showed me how incredibly small DNA is as well. I didn't understand it at all at first but once carol showed me the results it suddenly clicked with me!
The best part of the day was the practical side of things and working with the different machines. The only bad part of the day was properly lunch as I didn't have a clue where to sit and there were loads of collage students around, but I will know for next week! ;)
Firstly Derek brought me to his office and showed me the basics of genetics and how they work. I know it may seem boring but it was actually so interesting as it linked into a lot of my junior cert science course.After, Derek introduced me to Ciara who works in the research lab. Ciara showed me around the rest of the building and different machines used. She also showed me actually results from different experiments and explained what they show the scientists. I really enjoyed working with Ciara as she explained everything in simple form and was very friendly and chatty and was also very easy to talk to and get along with.
Just before lunch I gave a saliva sample in order to do a DNA extraction test (I know it sounds horrible!) . We added a chemical to help separate the saliva and the DNA from each other and left it in an oven at 50 degrees for an hour. We then prepared the gel which would be used later in the experiment. I was given my own lab coat and gloves, I felt so professional! :)
After lunch I met with carol, who also works in Derek's research lab. She completed the DNA extraction test with me. It was very exciting as I got to pipette and use a "spinning machine". Although I was very very nervous using the "spinning machine" (can't remember the fancy name for it) as it is very expensive.
Once there was only pure DNA left we added a colour and but it on a gel. Electricity then flows through the gel from negative to positive electrodes in order to drag the DNA out. After about a half an hour we used the "Ray" machine (named after Ray Darcy). That was the most interesting part of the day for me as it showed me how long my DNA is. It also showed me how incredibly small DNA is as well. I didn't understand it at all at first but once carol showed me the results it suddenly clicked with me!
The best part of the day was the practical side of things and working with the different machines. The only bad part of the day was properly lunch as I didn't have a clue where to sit and there were loads of collage students around, but I will know for next week! ;)
