Today I went to my independent study for the first time, where I am supposed to work in a microbiology department on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for 3 hours total. My expectations for what a lab should look like was not very off. One thing I did not expect was how messy a lab should be. I understand that a lab can be messy sometimes, with notebooks left open and test tubes all over the place, but the lab I saw today had a very abstract look to it. It was messy but organized at the same time. For example, there are defined drawers to grab gloves, but nothing is labeled. Bottles are not organized in a neat manner, but they still remain on the shelf. The lab I work in is interested in the transfer of electrons to current harvesting electrodes by bacteria named Geobacter sulfurreducens. The bacteria must grow in solution without oxygen in them, so a mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide is put together in a gas, and is left to bubble inside the water to remove the oxygen. The oxygen above the water level is also removed by spewing out the same gas afterward. This process takes 25 minutes to complete. An anaerobic solution allows for the bacteria to grow, which will then make electrons for which we can manipulate.
Recent comments