Take Three.

Another week has passed! I'm getting used to my super busy schedule and once again, it's all about time-management and making a healthy balance between school, home and everything else.

In the lab, I am continuing on with my contamination experiment on door handles. The weirdest thing happened where the number of colonies actually decreased throughout the week. I'm guessing it's because the door handles were cleaned by the janitors or I had an error by collecting too much sample but at the same time, it's been the same sampling size throughout the initial week of experiment. I did some gram staining for practice, sort of like my trial week for plating and so forth. I learned something new today: the purpose of the wax on micro-slides is just for the person to know where their sample was placed. I thought it was to keep the water and sample in place and would press too hard on the micro-slides. Doing so, and drying my slides on a hot plate, the wax would displace itself from the initial circular shape and make weird "G" looking shapes and so forth. This made it difficult for me to identify the bacteria. I plan to use what I learned for future reference and hopefully my gram staining next week will be more accurate and easier to use when looking in the microscope.

Gram Staining! I love the colors.

Art-sy drying book. 

upside igloo-looking bacteria. 

Day zero are clear, once again! (I'm doing something right!)

Day two plates with bacteria in 'em.

Last but certainly not least, Josh and I decided to grow some of the colonies in TSB tubes, insert them in the incubator for 24 hours and this allows the bacteria to grow and multiply, allowing us to have plenty of bacteria for gram staining and so forth. This method would be more effective than scraping the colony itself and not having anymore left if we scrap the entire colony out. I shall check on these tomorrow morning to look for bacterial growth and once that's complete, I can do more (effective) gram staining and begin identifying the bacteria. 

Day one  TSB tubes going into the incubator for growth time!

P.S. Thanks to Jeremy for finding this ^ brand-new red rack for me (red being my favorite color!). I put my name on it to claim ownership :D THANK YOU JEREMY! I love it.

Photos of the Week:
(this is a new segment where I'll share non-internship related pictures from my week, hope you enjoy them!)

Sunrise on  Wednesday

Sunset also on Wednesday

 I love the sun/sky/stars etc.

Hope you all are having a great and productive week! Keep it going!

Greetings, Khadidja.

Microscopes, applications and football.

This week has been super hectic for me. Apart from the internship, I finished my blog post about the REU's which I'm really exited about. If only one person can benefit from that post some-how, I'll feel accomplished! I'm busy with the transfer process as well but I rather be busy than bored so I'm not complaining!

This week in the lab was really exiting! I starting gram staining and I was able to prepare my plates and will be able to identify my bacteria now. Josh and Matt also plan on helping me use the microscope to photograph my samples and will be sharing those with you in the near future.

This is the sample that I used for gram staining. (it looks heart-shaped, just in time for Valentines day.)

Gram staining sample. I plan on researching more on the biochemical aspect of gram staining. (blog post, perhaps?)

Day zero samples came back clear again. 

I like this pic as it shows my swabbing technique. I'm getting better!

This shows the inside anterior handle (left) and the  outside posterior handle (right)  of the women's restroom and you can clearly see that the inside handle is less germy than the outside handle.  

Similarly, this shows the inside anterior handle (left) and the outside posterior handle (right) of the men's restroom handles, the inside showing more colonies than the outside. 

Day one samples.

Not sure on how to flip photos on Blogger... help?

Last but not least in my photo gallery, I drew a flowchart for derivatives and integrals while I was studying for my calculus exam and this is what it looks like:                                             I hope students who are visual learners, like myself, can benefit from this.

Today, I am also going to the lab to do some gram staining and identifying bacteria. Hopefully, I can learn how to use the camera on the microscope so I can share my findings with you all. I hope you all are having a fabulous week and an even better weekend. Anyone going to watch the Superbowl this weekend???

Greetings, Khadidja M.

Hello fellow STEM students! I have been working on this list of REU's for a few days and this is what I came up with! REU stands for Research Experience for Undergrads. Most encourage juniors and seniors to apply but many also consider sophomores as great candidates as well! What's great about these is you get to travel to another city, do research and to meet new people from around the nation! Most of these are paid internships and include housing and so forth. I broke it down to majors and due dates for everyone to quickly find what they're looking for. I recommend choosing a few and applying to them. Most are due on the 15th of next month and you have to send out transcripts and have letters of recommendations done so get on it!!!!

If you're looking more specific to your area of study just Google and put (your major/area of study) REU and 2013 to find the ones being offered this summer!

Good luck to all, Khadidja Meghoufi


William & Mary Department of Physics- Williamsburg, VA
Physics students interested in research are encouraged to apply.
Due Date: February 1st, 2013.

University of California- Santa Cruz- Climate Change/Marine Ecosystems
I'm assuming any biology majors interested in climate change etc. can apply!
Due Date: February 15th, 2013

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio- Chemistry Majors.
This one seems most interesting to me!
Due Date; February 15th, 2013

Summer Research at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
Minorities and females are encouraged to apply! Chemistry, Physics and Engineering majors are encouraged to apply!
Due Date: March 1st, 2013

Grand Valley State University- Allendale, Michigan- Math REU Program
For Mathematics majors!
Due Date: February 22, 2013

Illinois State University- Math REU
This one is for math majors who want to get into education specifically.
Due Date: March 15th, 2013

Nevis Physics Lab- Columbia University NYC
For Physics majors!
Due Date: February 22, 2013

Vanderbilt University- Nashville, Tennessee.
Science &Engineering majors encouraged to apply!
Due Date: February 15th, 2013

Oregon State University- Math REU
I heard the campus is beautiful! For mathematics majors :)
Due Date: February 20, 2013

University of Washington- Seattle
For physics majors.
Due Date: February 28, 2013

University of Kentucky- Engineering REU
Due Date: February 15, 2013

Purdue University- Indiana
Physics Majors apply!
Due Date: March 1, 2013

Georgia Tech- Atlanta
Chemistry & Biochemistry students!
Due Date: February 15, 2013

Texas A&M University
Chemistry Majors apply!
Due Date: February 15, 2013

University of Southern California- Los Angeles
Chemistry students encouraged to apply!
Due Date: February 15, 2013

Back To School!

Back to school, back to business! I was anticipating starting school again because I knew that my internship would start-up again also! It took a little while to get back into the lab, I had a little frozen moment when I had to plate my samples and I had to re-read the instructions on how to do so since I haven't done it in a while.

This week would be the first official week for experiment and Josh and I continue to learn more through our findings and plan on re-adjusting the procedures and so on to get the most accurate results and so forth. As I was taking samples of the doorknobs yesterday, I noticed an odd yellowish substance in the women's doorknobs. I got a tiny bit of it on the cotton swab and look forward to going back to the lab tomorrow to see what sort of bacteria is on it. Another thing I'm looking forward to is the research conference in March! it just happened to fall on my birthday and I think it's going to definitely be unforgettable!

Here is the photo of the yellowish substance on the door. I was really grossed out.  Thank goodness for gloves!

Ready for plating!!!

Day Zero results came back clear, as expected. These are the disinfected samples so we are able to watch the growth increase day to day as the samples continue getting analyzed.

For the first time throughout this experiment, one sample came back with too much bacterial growth and I had to write down "too numerous to count" or simply "TNTC" which I never knew was an option in research data.

This has to be my favorite part of my internship, I love preparing the samples and plating them . P.S. I was a little too matchy-matchy today. I usually mix & match. P.S.S. Red is obviously my favorite color! :) P.S.S.S. Thanks to Melina for taking this picture!

I like to add personal pictures to my blog just so you can get a better feel as to what I'm about so here is a picture of me and my beautiful niece who's turning 8 at the end of this month. Auntie loves you! (She asked me for a cat and a trampoline for her birthday. I don't think her parents would approve)

Last but certainly not least, my favorite chocolate in the world. 

This week has been so good to me! I'm getting settled down with my classes and professors. I'm more determined this semester than I've ever been. I'm looking forward to everything that this semester has in store for me. I hope you all had a good week. Check back next week to see what that yellow substance on the door could possibly be! Josh and I also are planning to start identifying the bacteria that we have so far so get excited for that as well! Thank you for reading!

Greetings, Khadidja M.

Trial Week of Door-Knob Germ Experiment!

So, a few weeks ago, right before the winter break began, I started my door knob experiment. I always wondered which bathroom doorknob was germiest, the men's bathroom or the women's so this is the experiment I decided on conducting. Previous research has supported the idea that women are more likely to wash their hands after using the facilities and in a case-study conducted in Turkey found that women scored higher than men when it comes to proper hand-washing knowledge so this experiment is geared to further study those habits. I expect that overall data will show that less bacteria will grow in the women's doorknobs than on the men's doorknobs.

The first day, Josh showed me the different swabbing methods and we chose the isolation method to streak the swab samples onto the agar plates that I previously prepared. Afterwards, I went to collect the samples. It took some getting used to but now when I do my sampling, it feels some-what automatic.

At first, Josh and I decided to start with day zero, where we disinfect the surface that we take the samples from and the day zero are expected to come back clear. Day one and on-wards should have bacterial growth on the plates. The samples were checked every 48 hours and were initially stored in the incubator and later moved to the refrigerator to allow for bacterial growth to slow down. Bacterial colonies were put into the data sheet in my lab book.

Into the incubator we go! :)

Ready to plate!

This is the sample from the men's outside, posterior doorknob.  

bacteria. just fabulous!

I think that because of the winter flu season, the bacteria that was taken grew in large clusters and in different colors whereas the samples from this week (the second week of school ones) were smaller and more consistent throughout the plates.

This trial week has allowed me to get better at my sampling and plating technique as well. I also asked a lot of questions to make sure that I was doing everything to the best of my ability.

P.S. I shall be posting my blog post for this week as well. You will be able to compare the results from this week with the trial week results from the winter break ones.

Thank you for reading :) Good luck to everyone this semester, whether you're taking classes, teaching or even both! Remember to treat yourself to something nice (i.e. a manicure, facial, massage or a trip to the park)!

Greetings, Khadidja M.

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/>.