Update on my life and project

The past few weeks have been busy. Apart from doing my project, I was going to the gym almost every day. I love “The Gym” it's so cheap - only 16 pounds per month and they have so much equipment. However it can be quite crowded, so I need to carefully pick the time when I'm going. Also I'm using two really nice apps, called: BodySpace and Runtastic Six Pack, they together provide me with a full workout without any need to worry what i'm doing next.

Lets come back to my project, though. The situation is basically as follow, I can't really do much until I get my fibres. I have done confocal microscopy of my cells within collagen gel and µCT of it, however for the next step we need fibres. Unfortunately, electrospinning (the process to make fibres) is heavily depended on humidity and in Manchester it's quite hard to get good fibres. Furthermore, we couldn't find a furnace with an exhaust thus we have to use one down in Harwell. The last few batches of polymer weren't ideal as they turned the final product really brown. So we can't use them. The supervisor who is helping me with fibres is now away in Japan, so I have to wait. I will have a call with him soon, so I will possibly go down to Harwell for a week to make a lot of fibres and characterise them there.

Also I'm still struggling with getting trained on Avizo (the software for analysis of µCT data). I have been asking for training for ages and now it appears that they are doing training in 2 weeks, however they never send out an email inviting people. They pretty much have selected whoever they thought needed it. I only found out about this last week, I did apply for training, but I'm number 18 in a waiting list and they will train only 10 people at a time. So I don't know when I will possibly get the trained. So far all that Henry Moseley stuff has been quite frustrating.

On a positive note, I had some free time on a weekend after finishing my literature review. I felt quite inspired so I decided to draw. I have included an image of the final drawing in this post. I actually gave it today to my supervisor. She is so nice, so I thought I will give it to her as a gesture of appreciation. :) Luckily she really liked it.

Tomorrow I will do tours in the Mill imaging facility for Manchester being the European City of Science. Kinda scared as I am not that familiar with the equipment. I will try to go earlier and attend other people talks, so I know what to say. :)

Anyway, sorry for missing on blogs all the time. My life has been quite chaotic recently. :)