Today

I finally have characterized the temperature inside my microfluidic device to my satisfaction. I had done it once before, but then I pulled all my equipment apart in an attempt to reduce vibration and it had to be redone. Two weeks later, it is completed. It should have taken two days. But I have the issues dealt with, and I feel like I can finally move forward with doing research.

So today I was supposed to start working with a new strain of bacteria. Like my old strain, it is supposed to express GFP, or green fluorescent protein. When you shine blue light on GFP, it emits green. Over the last 3 weeks I have figured out a good protocol for growing this strain, as it has a different growth curve than the previous strain. But when I went to image the bacteria, they didn’t glow. A few weeks ago, they did. So my afternoon’s work was for naught.

I write this because it strikes me really funny. My problem today was that my genetically modified fecal coliforms didn’t fluoresce. Hahahaha. In a previous life, I could only dream of having a problem like this. And in this life, I’m living that dream.

Thanks Jack. 🙂