Week 5: Carolyn

As the end of my summer here at HSS approaches, I spent more time in the lab this past week. RNA extraction and isolation is becoming more natural for me as it slowly consumes my time here!
Early in the week, I continued to work with members of Dr. Otero’s lab to complete the RNA isolation from cartilage samples. After the RNA is isolated, there are some quick tests that can be done to measure the quality of the isolated RNA. The first measurement we took showed that our RNA was not of high enough quality to yield meaningful results. We then went through the process of ethanol precipitation, which helps to increase the quality of the RNA. While our final quality was still not great, it was at a useful level.
This week brought many advances in the RNA isolation from bone tissue as well. All materials I had ordered arrived this week and I was able to attempt a new protocol. I achieved incredibly good results with this new protocol based on the quality of my extracted RNA. To ensure these values were due to good technique and functional protocol, I plan to perform more extractions next week. These samples will then be sent to the genomics facility for further processing. This will return more information on the quality of the RNA as well as the necessary data to begin looking at gene expression in the samples. I look forward to taking this next step in the process and learning more about the final steps in obtaining the data from these experiments.
In addition to looking at bone and cartilage, I developed a protocol to extract and isolate RNA expressed in the bone marrow as well. In the process used to isolate bone tissue only, the bone is placed in a centrifuge and the marrow is spun out. It collects at the bottom of a sample tube. I tried two different stabilizing agents – RNAlater and TRIzol. Due to the high cellularity of this tissue, I achieved a very high concentration of RNA on my first round of testing. The quality of this extraction was within the range that I was hoping to achieve, but could be improved. I plan to continue to extract this tissue and send a sample to the genomics facility with the bone samples next week.
As my clinical time was very limited this week, I hope to get back into the OR and the clinic next week. I will be able to continue extracting and isolating RNA back in Ithaca, so I should not miss these valuable clinical experiences.
Outside of lab, I had the pleasure of seeing some of my college friends this past weekend. As always, we had a great visit filled with great food. It was quite refreshing to hang out with these wonderful people, and I am already looking forward to seeing them again – hopefully soon!

This was somehow the only picture that all four of us took together! We will have to remember to take more pictures next time. 

During the week, I am sure everyone saw my debut as an audience member on Late Night with Seth Meyers. In reality if you watched, you likely only heard me, as Moni and Patrick and I were not fortunate enough to be included in the visual aspect of the show – however we did perform very well by laughing at all the jokes!
The longer we are here, I am feeling less and less like a tourist here in NY so I have slowed down on some of my adventures in the city. Not to worry though – my quest for good desserts here is still going quite well. This week I tried some desserts from the Spot Dessert Bar (I split these with Kirthana and Patrick, so I am not a total pig!). They were very interesting and I highly recommend checking out this fun place.



At Sunday’s ice cream festival, Donna and I tried the green tea ice cream served in a fish-shaped cone from Taiyaki – this was beautiful as expected, but fell a little flat in terms of taste. I have included the picture here though because the cone is so darn cute. The highlight of this festival was watching Spanky drop his ice cream flat onto his chest, so I was satisfied with day.




After gorging on some BBQ with a group of friends, we decided to get scoops of cookie dough from the infamous DŌ. While it was absolutely delicious, I definitely ate too much! I need to start playing more squash to keep eating all these desserts! 


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