S-Stem Scholar Jaira Munoz Zavala's Blog

The following days in the lab we learned about P-Glow transformation. On this day, we prepared media, made labels and learned how to prepare before any experiment.  (Sept. 17th, 2019) The most important things we always have to do every time we go into the lab are: sanitize the table where we are going to work (with ethanol 70%) wash our hands before we start working.   Have a list ready for the materials we will need during the day.  This will prevent cross-contamination and mistakes during the experiment (we will have everything close to us while working in the experiment). LABELS: In order to keep track of all the experiments, everything has to be labeled correctly.  THE LABELS HAVE TO BE AROUND THE DISH, BUT NOT IN THE MIDDLE (IT SHOULDN'T COVER WHAT IT CONTAINS) Labels have: Name of the person (or Initials) Date of when it was done. What it contains  MEDIA: There are different recipes for media, the one work with is this one:

This is the second part of my second day in the STEM program: "Dilution experiment." Also, I learned how to properly mix a solute in a solvent.  (Sept. 13th, 2019) CALCULATE DILUTION: The first dilution experiment we did was to practice using micropipettes. Later on, we used this equation for another experiment. That is why I included it here: Equation: M 1 V 1 =M 2 V 2 During the experiment, we pipetted different amounts with different pipettes. First, we pipetted from the solution with a high concentration of food colorant to a tube with water. Then, we pipetted from the second solution to another tube with water, and so on. We ended up with 5 tubes with different colors (that showed different dilutions): red, dark orange, orange, yellow, pale yellow. Later on, we learned how to properly mixed solutions. We mixed glucose in water for future media. We measured .25g of glucose. We threw to the trash the excess because you never put back to t

On my second day in the STEM-TRAIN program. I learned "how to use a micropipette" through a "Dilution experiment."   (Sept. 13th, 2019) The micropipettes have different volumetric measurements. They all measure in microliters ( μl = 1 microliter) (1000 μl = 1 ml) There are 4 different types of micropipettes in the lab, with different ranges each one. They are also color-coded, BUT ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE RANGES BEFORE USING THEM. ALSO!! I had a hard time reading the small lines in the pipettes. :  PARTS OF A PIPETTE: DO NOT THIS WITH THE PIPETTES!!!! Never go below or above the ranges of the micropipettes. You can break them if you do this, or they will need to be recalibrated.  Do not let the tip attachment to touch anything, not even the substance you are working on. It can contaminate future experiments, or ruin the mechanism of the pipette. Do not let the disposable tip to touch anything but the substance you're working on. I