Written by Hannah Wilson
The beginning of my summer was dedicated to moving the BioBE center’s molecular biology lab to a new location on campus.
Sue, Roo, Ashkaan, and Jeff all pitched in the help pack up the old lab!
The lab is unpacked and up and running!
I dedicated the next part of my summer to finishing the DNA extractions for ~350 swab samples collected from cohort 2 of the EPA weatherization project, and then the corresponding fungal (ITS) and bacterial (16S) library prep (nearly 700 samples in the end). I also completed the DNA extractions and metagenomics library prep for the vacuumed dust samples of the EPA weatherization project (~150 samples), the DNA extractions and 16S library prep for Gwynne’s latest Urban Air data collection effort (~60 samples), as well as finishing the library prep for the adoption study that Ashley had been overseeing (~96 samples).
In August I took some vacation time to visit Europe, traveling with my partner, Craig. We spent the first part of our trip in the French countryside. We got to go cheese tasting in medieval villages, and visit local markets, castles, and beautiful cathedrals.
We then traveled to the south of France, to Marseille and Toulon, and took a ferry to Sardinia. Sardinia was a very interesting place full of rich history, culture, and amazing landscapes.
We topped off our trip with a quick stopover in Amsterdam, where we had a lovely visit with Craig’s friends that he hadn’t seen since college.
I spent the last part of the summer updating protocols, troubleshooting methods, working on manuscripts, and harvesting vegetables from my garden and making tomato sauce.
I’ve also been training a new addition to the lab, Mitch Rezzonico, who just started his Masters in Bioinformatics here at UO. Mitch has been learning common lab techniques, like DNA extraction and PCR amplification, as well as helping Sue with some data analysis.
Mitch preparing for PCR.