Getting Back in the Swing ... of Things?

A quick update to those who still happen to check this blog.

Though we have a bit of a problem with background noise, our dual SYTOX Green / rhodamine phalloidin stain is an apparent success! Well, more or less; we have another set of fixed slides we will stain with an adjusted staining protocol.

The indominable Isaac had a few preliminary viewing sessions of our slides, and the colors for both stains (green and red respectfully) can be seen. From a very rough qualitative observation, it seems as though the distance between the nucleus and the slide decreased slightly in the 2xg samples, as expected. What was not expected was that the distance decreased in our microgravity samples as well, but to confirm this, we will need to look more closely at these images when our team assembles at Duke.

Also, if anyone at Duke is interested in taking part in this program, we are founding a club for the purpose of providing support to any people who have the ambition, guts, and cast iron stomachs to be just as crazy as us! Feel free to email any of us (though just me at jkf4@duke.edu is fine since I haven't discussed this with any of my teammates) for more info on the program. I will be blunt, however: it ain't no walk in the park (well, maybe Central Park at 2 AM). Is it rewarding? A resounding yes.

Look for us on the field during the Student Activities Fair this Saturday!