Finally starting the labwork

After two long weeks I will finally start some experiments. For the past two weeks I was culturing my cells and analysing fibres (see the pic). To analyse synchrotron or µCT data we use a software tool called Avizo. The computers designed for this sort of task are amazing they have £4000 video cards and 256 GB of RAM. This is required since each scan from the synchrotron weights at around 65 GB and you need to load the complete data set into memory, which is intense :) Despite such a powerful computer, the software crashes all the time. You spend hours working on your project and when you try to save it, it crashes. Through all those struggles I managed to learn it a bit, but I still have a long way ahead of me.

As I mentioned I will finally start some experiments, however it will be quite intense. I have experience but I haven’t done much in those labs, so even finding flasks is quite a challenge. Another problem is that I need to seed the cells and find the way to stick them into 100 µm a diameter kapton tube (used for x-rays) this week, as on the weekend I need to send it off to America. I really don’t want to let down my supervisors, but there are a few things that I can’t control. Firstly, we don’t have a kapton tube yet, have no ideas how long it will take to get it. Secondly I don’t think I have 3 million cells needed for seeding and lastly I have no ideas how to do freeze drying :D . Well I guess I was too eager to get into the lab and now I get it all at once.

I will update you later, on how it went. :)