Week 6: Alex

Hello friends!

This week was particularly interesting as I spent some time in the Clinical Microbiology laboratory within the Laboratory Medicine division of the hospital with Dr. Lars Westblade. Throughout the week, I was able to spend time at different workstations, learning how pathogens from different sources (wounds, blood, urine, etc.) grow on different culture mediums and how these growth patterns can help diagnose an infection. I also learned how antibiotic susceptibility testing is done and how it can help physicians properly treat patients. I was absolutely amazed at the diagnostic equipment they have. I remember in high school we would grow bacteria on an agar plate with different antibiotics to illustrate resistance patterns. Although that's still done here, what amazed me was the automated equipment they use here for diagnosis of infectious diseases. I got to see a Biofire in action, which is essentially a machine that can detect antibiotic resistance directly from clinical specimens via PCR. Although I was scrambling throughout the week trying to understand all the biology that goes on in the laboratory, the engineer in me absolutely revelled at the state of the art instrumentation.

It was very interesting to see more of the "behind the scenes" component of diagnostics. Throughout my time here, I always heard doctors say they would send a sample for testing, and now I finally got to see what they meant! It was great to go full circle on what is done to treat patients.

In other news, I'm very excited to be heading back to Ithaca in 8 days! Although I've loved the hustle and bustle of NYC, I do miss the hiking trails, beautiful forests and natural beauty that Ithaca has to offer.

Until next time!

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