Another Race…

It is time and I am almost done. All I have left is to rearrange and tighten up. The end comes through so heavy. It gets really stressful trying to balance the academic load. The good news is that my paper is coming along at a better pace. Much faster than I expected; it’s reliving to know that completion is just around the corner. This semester has been the hardest by far. I guess it make sense when I think about it because it’s not going to get any easier. Classes are just building off each other. It’s so important to stay current. Back to the race against the clock; I’m almost done with my paper. Good Luck to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To say this past couples of weeks have been pretty busy would be an understatement. So I crammed for my chemistry test and I did pretty well. Better than I thought I’d do so that is definitely a high point for the week. As for Calc., I’m feeling like I was feeling 2 weeks ago about chemistry; not very good at all. So over the weekend I will be reviewing notes and doing homework… I wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving! And be cautious on the roads as this is the time of year more people tend to drink more. As for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the paper is currently under construction. I need to review the articles I selected, and I am also missing additional data that I am hoping to stumble across in a new article. Be safe everybody.

Project X

So Friday 11/15/13 I went with Matt and Danielle to the park on 7^th Ave. S. of the I10. Danielle is trying to catch a crawdad. I was pretty interested, more so than I thought I’d be. I’ve already talked to Matt about doing something similar, and I got approval. I’m a huge discovery fan, so a project similar to this is perfect for me. Initially, I thought Danielle was going to try and catch critters with food. Turns out they have all the food they need out there to survive; late connection. This Friday 11/22/13 we have made arrangement to head back out there in the morning so I can areas to collect samples or set traps. I will get concrete procedures tomorrow, but for the meantime I have to get back to homework…Danielle should have something good on her next visit; the place is crawling with bugs.

The spiders are everywhere!

Running to make it!

Where to start? I think the hardest thing for me to do is to get started. I’ve been here many times before and I don’t like it, but things get done when I’m in this situation. Time crunches! Feels like as soon as I get up I start working and it feels like I’m barely moving. My fellow STEM buddies are holding it together and in my head I running in circles. So I quickly looked at stress relievers and affirmations came up, but I don’t have time to affirm anything. Ahhhhhh! My next posting won’t be so stressful...I hope. Got to go time is ticking. See you all in lab!

EUREKA!

Well this week has been very busy. Currently, I am in the middle of two review articles. I was not ready for all the science talk. My first couple articles were not too reader friendly. So I had to search the website for more options, and I am so glad I did. I found an article that made more sense, and so much more interesting! I have been learning so much about P. aeruginosa; talk about system overload. The article I’m reading now has promising results. According to an article published in BioMed Central journals, active immunization using exotoxin A confers protection against P. aeruginosa. In this article an experiment was conducted using mice and rabbits that were infected with the P. aeruginosa bacteria. The animals were immunized and became resistant, and the ones that didn’t died, and this is just the beginning of what I found. Next step is to find out if similar test yielded the same results.

Findings

Ok, so my sample was gram negative and oxidase positive. Glucose Fermentation confirms I have Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

 
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is normally found in moist or wet areas. It has a rod shape structure identifiable to trained eyes. This is a bacteria has been found all over the world and has become resistant to antibacterial drugs. The bacteria can infect the blood causing a host of problems. People with a weakened immune system are susceptible to infection because the lack of defense against invasions. These bacteria have evolved to find new ways to be resistant against conventional treatment and can pass along genetic materials that allow other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well.

1st Experiment Gram Staining

So I got accepted as an S-STEM intern, and have been given my first assignment of Gram Staining. My first Gram stain was not so great and had to redo it. With some help from Josh and Matt I was able to get a good picture under the microscope. Below you can see a picture of the bacteria growth on the petri dish.


This is the progression after one day. In the picture you can see the zigzag pattern where I rubbed the inoculation loop. Today 10/24/13 I performed an Oxidase Test. Essentially to perform this test a small piece of filter paper is soaked in 1% Kovács oxidase. Then the bacteria from the petri dish is rubbed with an inoculation loop onto the paper and if the sample turns purple that means the microorganisms are oxidase positive and if there is no color change that means they are negative. As of the moment, my samples are back in the incubator undergoing a new test. Glucose Fermentation.