MAKING NEW NAD6- F, R AND PRESENTATION

April 04^th

Today we were going to make another PCR reaction, but we realized we didn’t have NAD6- F, R. But neither Mr. Adams nor I knew where the new bunch of NAD6 was located. Took us a while to find them so we looked for help to guide us through making some NAD6 from the concentrated bunch.

According to another researcher in the building we needed to make a mixture that we can use in an experiment with 9 part pure water and 1 part NAD6. If we put too little water the concentration wont bind the DNA, if the water is too much the solution will be diluted and we wont be able to work with it.

So to make a solution enough for the tubes, we needed 50 parts of NAD. So I made a mix of 45 part Water and 5 parts NAD6. So with this mixture next week we can make another PCR reaction put it under the same conditions in the Thermo cyclers and see how they work out.
Afterwards, Mr. Adams and I went over some ideas for my presentation, whether it be in a poster or during assembly. We went over some basic ideas that are crucial to mention in the presentation, the history of how the species were categorized before. We talked more about the morphology hypothesis and  examine the moths so that I know what their difference are physically.
Next week I am to bring a camera so that I can take some photos to include in my presentation. Its been a great semester at the internship, I have and am continuing to learn so much about science, research,lab work and my future plans to work in this field of science (lab/research). 

MORE MORPHOLOGY

March 29^th

Today we couldn’t make any PCR reaction. So we talked about the history of the species we are working with. Currently we are working with 3 groups, Xylis, Zale and Safia. Which were all placed in the ZALE group, and our work is to place them in their rightful taxas.

The species we work with in the lab however are all labeled ZALE until we get the sequence results and place them correctly. Last year Aileen Aisenberg made a "family tree" for the species and placed the ones she worked with in their right place. We are going to work a another group and do the same thing Aileen did last year, and by the end of the research we will hopefully be able to place all the species in their correct taxa. 

We didn’t do much today that I didn’t mention in other posts. In future posts I will hopefully have more details to fill up.

However, the morphology of the moths, seems very complicated, not easy to understand as they have so many small parts with complicated names.

SPRING BREAK

March 8th and 15th .
I didn't have internship in both these weeks because we were on Spring break.
Next week will continue making gel and designing PCR experiments.

AM BECOMING A RESEARCHER.

March 22^nd

Today Mr. Urban leaves us, so from now on its just Mr. Adams and me. I made gel to run the last PCR experiment, which was 5 microliter, so I added 1 microliter of dye. After running the gel we found that 3 of the new species (Safia) worked well with the conditions, but we couldn’t take a picture because the Electrophoresis didn’t work. After we checked that the species worked, I designed another experiment to run on Thursday.

The specimen that worked from last week was sent for sequencing so we simply have to wait for results so we can place the species in their right group of species in the family tree. The species that didn’t work are ZAL 2, 6 and 16 (Barcita phaegrapha). Mr. Adams suggested that we re-run the species that didn’t work and see which conditions will work better for them.

Now that I can prepare the PCR by myself I feel more confidant that ever being in a lab. I can even create experiments, decide amounts of ingredients needed for each and run them all by myself. After the results from sequencing we will be working more on the morphology part of the species than the molecular data set.