Science (non) Fiction

I’ve done plenty of stupid things in the lab during my process of learning how to run things, where things are, etc… but it’s usually because I’ve never done whatever experiment before, or I’m trying to change things around to work something new in. This week, however, my big mistake had to do with simple math and remembering things I should be able to easily remember (which is a more embarassing kind of mistake to make, let’s face it). I was doing a Western blot, which is a process of separating proteins on a gel and then applying antibodies that bind to the one protein I want to find. Anyway, when I was applying the primary antibody (there’s a primary antibody that recognizes the protein, and then a secondary antibody that recognizes the primary antibody), I didn’t really think (apparently) and did a 1:10,000 dilution, which is a fairly typical way of doing them. However, what I failed to add into my calculations was that my primary antibody was already diluted 1:100, so I essentially did a 1:1,000,000 dilution. Which resulted in an essentially empty blot at the end of the day, and a very pissed-off me, not understanding what I’d done wrong yet. Fast forward to this morning, in the shower (which is where I have all my important revelations :lol:), I was thinking what I had to do when I got into work, and I all of a sudden realized what had happened and had a huge ‘d’uh’ moment. So I rectified the situation for today’s blot and, tada, it worked!!! Maybe not giving me the exact answer I was really looking for, but enough to know it worked and I can adjust from here

Also, in other work-related news, I got my semester-review from my boss, and while he’s still wanting me to take more ownership of my project (which is something I struggle with, and he’s aware of that), he’s been very pleased with my progress over the past few months, and says he’s seen an improvement in the things he mentioned to me last time - so yay! So I had a good review, and good results - great way to end the week and a good kick-off to a relaxing weekend!