• Question: what do you do in the labratory

    Asked by anon-184900 to Rebecca, William, Martyna, Callum, Alice, Adam on 4 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-185024.
    • Photo: Rebecca Roddan

      Rebecca Roddan answered on 4 Nov 2018:

      I do lots of different things:

      1. Making small molecules using organic chemistry – I make molecules then purify then using lots of different techniques. I then use techniques like NMR and mass spectrometry to see whether I’ve made the right thing.
      2. Expressing and purifying my enzyme
      3. X-ray crystallography: setting up lots of trials in different conditions to see if I can get my enzyme to form crystals, ‘fishing’ the crystals (this is really fun as the crystals are so so tiny and you can only see them under a microscope. You use a tiny loop and have to try and catch your crystal in it then freeze it in liquid nitrogen afterwards), you have to then send the the crystals off to a synchotron (a large facility which produces high energy x-ray beams) and then with the help of some robots, collect your data, then do all the data analysis. It’s a really long process but every step is different and it’s so rewarding if it all works out in the end.
      4. Enzyme assays (basically doing lots of small scale enzyme reactions)- I test different small molecules with my enzyme on a really small scale to see if they act as substrates (i.e. does the enzyme accept them and use them to make products). I then sometimes have to do these on a larger scale to isolate the product and then lots of characterisation techniques to see what exactly the enzyme is making.

    • Photo: Callum McHugh

      Callum McHugh answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      My lab work is quite varied. As a taster….. I do organic chemistry where we make and purify different molecules that we might be interested in studying. We also try to grow single crystals of these molecules and then study their structure by carrying out x-ray diffraction experiments. We look at the behavior of our molecules and measure their absorption and emission properties and their ability to conduct electricity. We also do lots of theoretical chemistry on a computer, where we run calculations to predict the behaviour of our materials and to try and understand the experimental results from the lab.

    • Photo: Martyna Pastok

      Martyna Pastok answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Loads of stuff! Perform experiments in general. I produce and purify proteins, isolate DNA, I am preparing some assays and different tests, I am growing bacteria cells, insect cells and mammalian cells… Loads of fun with various equipment and instruments.

    • Photo: William Glass

      William Glass answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      I work in a computational lab so I work on computer for most of the day! Typically I write bits of code, submit simulations to large computers and analyse data. I also have great chats with other lab members and share ideas, there’s always something going on!

Comments