FINAL PROJECT: Abstract and Reader's Reponse > A guide to undergraduate research in the Hamza Lab
Good plan....start writing.
December 10, 2015 |
Marybeth Shea
Marybeth Shea
I have written a workplace document that contains useful background information on the lab, instructions and tips for basic lab techniques, and protocols for experiments. The primary focus of research in this lab is heme homeostasis. Heme consists of an organic ring around an iron atom. It plays a key role in various biological processes in most eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms; you may know it as the oxygen-binding prosthetic group in hemoglobin. The Hamza lab studies heme transport and synthesis in the worm C. elegans, as well as in zebrafish, yeast, mice, and some human cell lines. As undergraduate research assistant, you will perform genetic modification or screening on these organisms. In this manual, I have also provided protocols and information about PCR, DNA transformation, and Western Blots for these experiments. I have also included a guide to basic lab techniques such as proper pipetting and prevention of sample contamination. In the final section of this guide I will talk about the most important aspects of lab communication and critical thinking. You will need to balance willingness to ask questions with independent and critical thinking. In other words, while you need to think and figure things out on your own, don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand or if you think you did something wrong.
READER PROFILE: I’m imagining a reader that believes he or she has no use for this guide because they believe they can just figure everything out on their own.
READER RESPONSE: I appreciate the thought, but do I really need this guide? I’m sure I can figure out these things on my own. I mean, doesn’t the lab have all these protocols written down? And everything else I can just figure out with trial and error and by asking questions. Besides, I’ve already practiced pipetting in BSCI105. That should be enough. As for independent thinking, I won’t need that. I’m just going to be a lab rat. They expect me to just do what I’m told and bang out data. I won’t need to think for myself.