• Question: what would you rather be doing then paper work?

    Asked by dickson1 to Judith on 14 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Judith Sleeman

      Judith Sleeman answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      Well, today’s been a good day because this is the closest I’ve got to paperwork! I’ve been in the lab most of the day (apart from a short meeting with my PhD student about writing up his final thesis). I have a summer student in the lab trying to make a giant gene to turn skin cells into brain cells (a long shot but would be seriously cool if it works), so I was showing her how to put DNA into bacteria to grow it up to make more. Then a colleague of mine wanted to take some pictures of cells using my microscope to make sure that her exciting new result is ‘real’, so I was helping her. Soon I’ve got an online chat and then I’m going to go to the tissue culture room to set up some cells for an experiment I want to do next week. I’m hoping this will be the last experiment for the paper I’m trying to write, but I seem to have been saying that for at least a month! Whoops, now I’m 5 minutes late meeting my summer student to show her the next step. Summary: I would MUCH rather be doing actual experiments than paperwork!

Comments

  • Photo: Anouk

    Anouk commented on :

    Like Judith I’ve been in the lab most of the week, which is great. Playing around with parasite DNA, running some PCRs (Polymerase Chain Reaction, it amplifies the part of the DNA you are interested), running some gel electrophoresis (to separate the amplified DNA fragments by their length so I can see if the PCRs have worked). But I also enjoy fieldwork. Going out and collecting my parasite DNA samples. I get to go to sub-Saharan Africa and visit schools in rural and poor communities. It can be pretty tough, as some places don’t have electricity (torches are vital!) or running water, so you have to use a bucket of well water to wash yourself, I give up on hair conditioner when I’m in the field, its impossible to wash off. And still it is more fun than paperwork. 🙂

  • Photo: dickson1

    dickson1 commented on :

    thankyou for answering my question!