2021 Weeks 13 to 14

Hello from someone who went into work on both Palm and Easter Sunday, but at least spent Good Friday and Holy Saturday away from the lab, which can't be said for everybody! I powered through the staining of a further three sets of brain samples before the Easter weekend, but on Maundy Thursday I was horrified to find that the samples I'd prepared the previous weekend looked awful down the microscope. Thinking that the staining had degraded over time, I made plans to come in on Holy Saturday to image the samples finished on Thursday, but on the day I didn't feel up to it and delayed it to Easter Sunday. Fortuitously, Sunday was the only day I was called in to deal with another matter, so I drove over, dealt with that, realised I hadn't needed to do as much as I thought, and proceeded downstairs to the microscope room…

I started by using one of the current week's slide, and unfortunately it looked just as bad as the previous weeks' samples. After sending dejected messages to my family, I realised it could be worth cleaning the objective, and lo and behold, the images looked brilliant! I stayed until 6pm, then got in before 9am on Easter Monday and made it through all but one of the slides stained for brain cells and disease protein before having a well-needed haircut. On Tuesday I imaged that final slide and the ones that shouldn't show anything, then spent the rest of the week analysing the images (1000 in total because of the separate colour channels!), practising surgeries with my supervisor, and putting together my talk, which I gave at the postgrad/postdoc seminar on Friday afternoon.

With all that was going on, I'm quite impressed that I managed to bake two cakes during that period: an orange drizzle at the end of March that actually ended up with some glaze on top, and another marzipan cake this Thursday for a pre-Ramadan food fest. Yesterday, I made the most of the pack of limes I bought for Thai curries last week by making my first lime drizzle cake, which looks a little unappetising due to the lime zest in the drizzle not soaking through the cake. Still, it smells lovely, and I'll report on the taste next week!

2021 Week 12

I was in a tempestuous mood on Monday; I already felt uneasy over the lack of office space and having to contact security to be allowed into the building, and then came confirmation that I won't be able to start the bulk of my project work for at least another five weeks. Thankfully, my current work wasn't impeded by Friday's delays, and removing brains actually felt therapeutic. 

On Tuesday I confused security by coming in for an hour in the morning to transfer my brains to their storage buffer, and then returning after the ARUK Conference sessions to image my brain slices that had a 25-hour wash. Thankfully, they had stained really well, although on Thursday I realised that the control slices also had some background colour on them, so I may need to tweak the settings and/or protocol.

Wednesday was my first full home-working day in a while because the weather put me off going in post-conference, and I realised that there wasn't anything that needed to be done before Thursday morning. I was up early on Thursday, and going from animal unit to lab and back again while in a lab meeting was only slightly chaotic. Going through the surgery procedure with my supervisor was really useful, and helped me to appreciate that what I'm doing and the conditions under which I'm doing it are challenging, so I should give myself some credit! I also took the next lot of brain slices home ready to take for processing on Friday morning.

Thankfully, this Friday went totally smoothly, the roads were very quiet when I dropped off the slices, and they were ready for collection before the final conference sessions began, which gave me much more flexibility for the rest of the day. I was less focused in the afternoon, but I was able to stay grounded and get through my to-do list. I'll have to brave the winds this afternoon and Sunday to finish this set of experiments, but I'm happy to have some structure heading into the next week.

2021 Week 11

It's hard to remember this week prior to Friday, but I will do my best with help from my work diary and 5 Minutes Before Bed journal! 

Monday began with a lab meeting, my notes from which I helpfully wrote on the Wednesday page. On Tuesday, I took brain samples to the other campus to be prepared for later experiments and got a blood blister on my walk home. On Wednesday, I drove to a subway station car park to finally send off my damaged phone and request a replacement, and got to the lab early to help inject some mice. Later that day, I collected the brain slices and filled up with petrol for the first time in six months, once I'd realised that the car needs to be unlocked in order to open the petrol catch. I had a relaxed morning on Thursday before presenting at the journal club and running my primary antibody incubations with ease, which is how I expected the experiment to continue the next day!

I was in early on Friday, managing to start my first wash at 08:41 and salvaged my coffee cup from my locker before the asbestos removal work started in the corridor. About 15 minutes later, the fire alarm started sounding, which we assumed was something to do with the asbestos works, but we followed procedure and left the building. Moments later, we learnt that there was a real fire, and so began several hours of waiting for the building to be made safe. During this time, there was nothing to do but sit around drinking coffee and eventually have a pizza lunch, where we successfully convinced the server that we are students to get the free drinks offer, despite not having our IDs with us! Shortly after the pizza, we were allowed to retrieve our possessions; I was accompanied by one of the firefighters, and was relieved to find everything as I'd left it. On Saturday, I was able to finish my experiment after the first half-hour wash was extended by nearly 25 hours, but access will still be restricted going into next week. I also had an enjoyable walk around the city, and interacted with one of my favourite bands, B*Witched, after listening to the first episode of their new podcast, Starting Over!

2021 Week 10

Last week was pretty successful, I'm still managing to navigate the uncertainty, and becoming hopeful that I'm now closer to the next time I'll see my family and partner in person than the last time. On Tuesday and Thursday, I was in the in vivo lab reminding myself of the surgical procedure, while Wednesday and Friday taught me that the Thioflavin S stain needs to be made up fresh on the day from the powder! At the weekend, I experienced my first power cut as an adult, and baked my go-to marzipan cake!

2021 Weeks 8 and 9

I regretted not making last week's post cover two weeks, so now that week 9 is over, I'll make my past -and hopefully future- self happy by combining the past two weeks! 

All the way back on Monday 22^nd February, I collected slices for an immunohistochemistry experiment to work out the best dilution for staining the star-shaped support cells, and to test whether the stain worked alongside rabbit antibodies. I also repeated my stains for neurons, the cells of the brain which fire electrical signals, and disease-causing proteins, which confused me the previous week. I took images on Thursday and Saturday; this confirmed that the former antibodies were compatible, and I saw much more of the structure of the brain's immune cells than I'd seen previously! The confusing staining pattern for the disease-causing protein was still present, which at least meant I could rule out interference of other stains as the source of the werdness.

This week, I used my fancy non-cross-reactive mouse antibody alongside the rat antibody to see whether disease-causing protein is located near to the star-shaped cells. My first images suggested that's not really the case, although the confusing staining seemed to be a bit brighter in the star-shaped cells than it was in the neurons. For once I took the whole of Saturday off, but it was still very busy, with an online bellringing course sandwiched by nail painting, and the selection of 1–3 Eurovision songs depending on how much later I stay up!

Nail art to support Jüri Pootsmann, whose song Magus Melanhoolia came third in Estonia's national final for Eurovision 2021.

2021 Week 7

Almost at the end of week 8 now, but here's a quick post about last week, when the weather evolved from snow to double-figure temperatures! I collected my own brain slices on Tuesday, and delightfully my rat antibody to visualise the star-shaped support cells in the brain arrived the same day! I couldn't resist trying it out, which was a good decision, as I realised the mouse secondary antibody also bound to it, so I've been able to order a better mouse secondary antibody to test next week without wasting multiple slices!

I imaged on both Friday and Saturday because there was lots to get through, but I've ended up with good images of four brain regions, even if the staining pattern of one of the antibodies was a little unexpected! Outside the lab, I baked another lemon and blueberry drizzle cake and took a nice long walk in the Sunday sunshine.

Maybe next time the blueberries won't all settle at the bottom!

City views

2021 Week 6

Hello from the snowiest week of the year so far! 

Because of the snow on Monday night, I delayed my experiments by a day, which was very useful as it meant I was home for most of Wednesday's Rosetrees Interdisciplinary workshop, which focused on contributions of interdisciplinary research, including physics and computer science, to developing new knowledge and therapeutic targets for brain neurodegenerative diseases. 

This was also the week I made traditional ragù by myself for the first time, following Nonna Alba's recipe from the book Pasta Grannies! The recipe calls for carrot and celery rather than my usual mushroom and pepper, half-and-half pork and beef mince, plus milk and nutmeg. My tip is to put a lid on the pan when frying the carrot, onion and celery to maximise their tenderness. After a little over an hour, the mixture bubbled down into a glossy sauce that beautifully coated the pasta.

I ventured into work on Saturday to image my slices, which was successful, but it was oddly draining to spend 5 hours at the microscope, so I'm hopeful that next week's slices won't be delayed and I can have a weekend away from work. 

2021 Week 5

It was quite difficult to stay motivated this week, but after working most of last weekend, I've done no work this weekend in an effort to feel revitalised going into the second week of February. I was productive in the kitchen, making tasty vegetarian panna cottas and a less successful lemon/orange/plum drizzle cake using (too much of) the liquid from a batch of poached plums!

Two for one: Panna cotta topped with poached plums, and plum, orange and lemon drizzle cake!

I also tried a few new recipes, including black bean pork noodles and a meatball-parsnip combo that also led me to make grilled pitta bread pizzettas for a couple of lunches - the joys of WFH! 

Black bean pork noodles with added pepper, and a feta, tomato and parsley pitta-zzetta.

I also went on a 2-hour walk on Saturday to a pleasant viewpoint in the city. 

2021 Week 4

Going for a different format this week, focusing on the things I'm thankful for from each day: 

Monday had a couple of firsts for the year: the first large group lab meeting and my first coffee! It was good to see everyone's faces and hear about two of the postdocs' latest findings. 

On Tuesday I sorted out my surgery documents, applied for postal votes for the upcoming Scottish Parliament and local elections, and watched the hilarious and heartwarming film Man Up.

On Wednesday I baked a lovely lemon and blueberry drizzle cake - my first containing whole fruits, and it tastes wonderful!

On Thursday I had a lovely chat with the lab technician and enjoyed making creamy pasta with prawns, adding some chilli, tomatoes and parsley in place of chives.

Finally on Friday, I made sure my maths course report was in the correct format and went for my first ever smear test, which was incredibly quick and relaxed.

2021 Week 3

Monday: Today was successful; I started the penultimate assessment of the maths course, imaged another region of the hippocampus in my slices from last week, and rearranged this week's surgery slots to better fit my schedule. In case my next antibody arrives during the first half of this week, I'll write my email request for slices so that I can hit send as soon as I know it's arrived. In general, I was pleased to have put a wash on before 9am, and making my bed and washing my hair this evening between episodes of The West Wing wasn't too taxing. 

On Tuesday morning I had another successful surgery practice, but couldn't help feeling disappointed that I wasn't trying it for real. I made a little more maths progress and started working through the figures from the journal club article, which I finished reading today (Wednesday). I also finalised the plans for next week's surgery attempts and found the second week of the Programming for Biologists course very straightforward. This broccoli pasta dish I made for dinner will definitely be added to my rotations, it was the perfect way to use up the broccoli I had leftover from Sunday lunch!

The rest of the week was pleasantly productive, and over the weekend I made good progress on the final element of the maths course, as well as attending some fun online events.

2021 Week 2

When I began writing this post on Thursday, I was very pleased with my progress this week; my double staining protocol to identify pathological markers in brain tissue was going well, I had submitted my first of two conference abstracts, and I felt confident enough to retry recovery surgery for my EEG recording project next week. Two thirds of those things were resolved successfully, but I found out on Friday that the latter is effectively on hold until the current lockdown ends. I have been exceedingly grateful to be able to continue working during the tier 4 and lockdown restrictions, but the circumstances are not ideal for PhD projects that require lots of training like mine does. 

Outside of the lab, I baked this delicious marzipan loaf cake for the third time, which was even more moreish warmed along with poached plums.

I bought some reduced kale during my weekly shop, which motivated me to finally make this sausage and kale hash; it was so good I made it twice! I also made the most of a bunch of spring onions by making tasty Chinese and Greek-inspired recipes. I watched a few more films, including Castaway and La La Land right now, and concluded season 4 of The West Wing. 

I'll use next week to consolidate my surgery practice and notes, making sure I can get up and running as soon as possible after lockdown, and make a push towards completing the mathematics course. Onwards and upwards!

Just like that, it's 2021!

It's a new year and I'm feeling refreshed after using my student privileges to spend the festive period across the border. I'd been back in my uni city barely an hour when another round of national lockdowns were announced, but thankfully the labs are continuing to operate as they did in tier 4. After a negative lateral flow test result on Wednesday, I popped into the lab to check on my antibodies and transfer some piping to the animal unit. Today was very email heavy, but speaking to two of my supervisors was useful, and my plans for the next few weeks are taking shape nicely. 

I'm also trying hard to to improve my work-life balance from last year. Paradoxically, a lack of TV in the flat has made it easier to switch off in the evenings, because I now use my work laptop to watch TV and films. So far this week I've watched Point Break, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the first two episodes of Pretty Little Liars. Relaxation has also taken the form of making new recipes, including delicious spinach and ricotta gnudi and a healthier beef chilli recipe. This weekend I have my second test, and so long as it's negative, I'll pop into the lab to make a buffer ready for next week.