Research Intern: The Good, The Bad & The Awesome!

So about two weeks ago, I started my internship with the biology department! I don't even know where to begin. I'm having the best time yet! The first day, Kristina and I watched a series of mandatory safety videos which where quite magnificent, if I might add. No, but seriously, some portions of the series were quite interesting and others were repetitive but that's okay!

Took a mini break from the videos to take this pic :)

One of the first tasks I had as an intern was to make media!! We made TSA and TSB media. TSA is made with enzymatic digestion of soybean meal and casein. After preparing the TSA, I transported them into agar plates which were then used in my doorknob experiment (which I will be blogging about soon!). TSB  (Trypticase Soy Broth) is another type of media used in microbiology experiments as well!

This is a picture of how much I weighted out to make the media. It's supposed to be double that to make two and a half trays but I did it twice because I didn't see that we had a larger flask to use. Next time I have to make it, I shall use the huge flask! :)

Precision is key :)

Incubation is complete!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Phoenix College garage, I snapped this picture of the gorgeous sunset!

"Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" Article

I read Time Magazine, from time to time, as I enjoy reading the health and science sections. An article that specifically stuck out to me was the "New Treatment for 'Sleeping Beauty' Syndrome" article. Being a college student, I sometimes have to force myself to stay up long nights doing physics homework or reading organic chemistry material for the next day and so whenever I'm able to squeeze in a nap during the weekdays, I'm extremely joyous.

This article on  summarized a study that was done on primary hypersomnia (excessive daytime sleepiness) patients. In contrast to the other kind of hypersomnia, recurrent hypersomnia, primary refers to this happening a long period of time whereas recurrent is from time to time occurrence. This study, published in Science Translational Medicine journal, studied a total of 32 patients with primary hypersomnia looked for a possible cause and treatment for this disorder.

What the researchers found was an uncharacterized chemical in the spinal fluid of the patients which stimulates the GABA-A receptor. This same receptor is responsible for sleep-inducing medications to take effect thus resulting in excessive drowsiness. A possible treatment or primary hypersomnia is a drug named flumanezil which is used for sleep-medication overdose which can possibly reverse the biochemical reaction with the unknown chemical in the spinal fluid.

What the case study found was that flumanezil injections did, indeed help patients wake up more alert and ready to take on their day. The only downfall of the results were that the patients still slept for prolonged periods of time at night but other than that, the overall results are astonishing! This case study opens up many doors for researchers and I look forward to learning more about this as more case studied get published.

click here to read the article!

Citation:
Szalavitz, Maia, and Maia Szalavitz. "New Treatment for ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Syndrome? | TIME.com." Time. Time, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. <http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/23/new-treatment-for-sleeping-beauty-syndrome/>.