Banana Milk, Cheese, and Milk Coagulation Experiments at Dinner??

Good morning from DAirY 18 of SSP Cell Biology at NMSU! 

We kicked things off at 8 a.m. with a three-hour stretch of in vivo mutagenesis in the lab. Yeah, but honestly? Morning labs are kind of a vibe. It’s the best way to stay awake, and there’s just something unique about fighting for your consciousness between carrying out precise lab protocols and napping. I had banana MILK for breakfast (it was as delicious as it sounds), but I was also counting down the minutes to lunch because the hunger was real.

Big win of the day: all teams finalized the oligos we’re ordering! That means next week we start our very own CRISPR project! We squeezed in a quick lecture after lab before finally heading to the dining hall, where a very cheesy lunch was. 

Serene convinced three people to try this ranch + French fries combo. I didn’t hop on the trend because I already had my go-to which is just the burger patty with CHEESE from the dining hall burger bar. Trust me on this. No bun, no toppings, just patty and CHEESE. If you know, you know.

Post-lunch was two lectures back-to-back for about four hours but they were very interactive and insightful. Our brains were melting a bit by the end (from the heat or from learning?), but we pushed through. Then it was time to change into formalwear for the evening dinner, which is always like a little reset. I sat with Risha (one of our TAs!), Amanda, and Gabe, and dinner turned into a science experiment…

We (Risha) decided to test MILK coagulation at the table using 2% MILK and that enhanced water stuff that contains citric acid. The results? Look at Figure 1 and 2 above for reference. The MILK definitely curdled, but not in a satisfying “science fair win” kind of way. We talked it through and concluded that the temperature and type of MILK (note to Risha: use whole MILK next time) probably threw off the results. Still, we love a spontaneous dinner lab, especially one that you can eat afterwards.

Also yes, I had two more burger patties with CHEESE. If you know you know.

After dinner, we headed straight to Foster Hall for our nightly study session. And when I say we locked in, I mean we locked in! Aarav P and I left behind some doodles on the whiteboard before we all left the study room after 3-4 hours of grinding (Figure 3). Our night ended with a spontaneous trip to Panda Express (W Mr. Sakyi) & (again, brain work = midnight hunger). They were just about to close, but that meal hit extra hard after a long day.

Now we’re calling it an early night because tomorrow’s a big one…we’ve got our 4th of July field trip coming up! 

That’s it for Day 18! Thanks for reading, and tune in next time to hear about our adventures off campus (spoiler: it involves fireworks). For now, byebye! 

— Mary Hong

Mary Hong