University of Guelph Biochemistry Day 11: MOE, mulberries, and SDS-PAGE- typical but atypical day
It’s another wonderful Friday at SSP filled with learning and labs!! After breakfast at 7:30 (the cottage cheese here is good), we went to the Summerlee Science Center to get our laptops, then to Alexander Hall, where Dr. Hebda taught us how to map homologous protein models in MOE.
One important aspect to remember is that while doing energy minimization on two superposed homologous proteins, it is crucial to inactivate one of the proteins, or else everything will start to clash and look like spaghetti.
Progression of running energy minimization on two homologous proteins together. Look at the rightmost image– how terrifying!
There is a mulberry tree on campus, and they look really tasty, but we probably shouldn’t eat them… I thought they were blackberries at first but then I realized that true blackberries don’t grow on tall trees. :()
Lunch time! The food at Guelph is actually amazing and really healthy too, and I would insert a picture here, but I didn’t take any unfortunately.
In the afternoon, it was time for labs! Today, we prepared SDS-PAGE samples for our target protein for our group (Sophia W, Lucas L, and I)’s organism, Fusarium oxysporum, and ran it for 1 hour until it was finished. Then, we took the gel out to stain overnight.
Before:
After:
After the lab, I walked over to the UC for our daily formal dinner, where everyone needs to wear formal clothing (eg. no shorts, no shirts with text) and sit at our assigned tables. It’s pretty nice how we switch tables every 5 days so that by the end of the program, everyone will hopefully get to sit at least once with everyone else.
On the first day, we actually had a QOD (Question of the Day) regarding how many times we can switch tables (there were other conditions too) before you sit with someone you have eaten dinner with before. Oh right, shoutout to TA Amogh for writing the QODs every day! They are part of SSP tradition and are always really fun to solve.
Walking back to the dorms with lab groupmate, Sophia W. (indicated in blue). Her backpack frequently opens independently, so she is holding it so it doesn’t spill out. Fun fact: there are 4 name duplicates in our cohort of 36! 2x Sophia, 2x Lucas, 2x Henry, 2x Br(y/i)an.
We saw a few skunks and groundhogs, and many squirrels.
-
Sophia J.
Participant
Hello! I am Sophia, and I am a rising senior from Oak Park, California.
