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profile Cecilia Lanny Winata Aliases: Lanny/Cecilia/Xenopus Location: Singapore Occupation: Grad Student, National University of Singapore Interests: Zen, Martial Arts, Japanese Culture and philosophy, Life Sciences, Religious philosophy, Christianity Hobbies: exploring new places, learning new things, walking (preferably outdoors), cooking, eating good food, home making, swimming, sea sports, anime (Naruto being the best by far), good music to accompany my different moods, and good books to read Schools/Past Affiliations: TK Bunda Hati Kudus, Jakarta (Kindergarten); SD Bintang Kejora, Jakarta (Primary 1-2, 4-6); Ironside State School, Brisbane, Australia (Primary 3-4); SLTP Santa Ursula, Jakarta (Secondary School); SMU Santa Ursula (High School); Indonesia International Taekwon-Do Federation (Jelambar, Jakarta); National University of Singapore archives November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 April 2006 May 2006 August 2006 October 2006 January 2007 August 2007 January 2008 March 2008 June 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 September 2009 affiliates 5h4d0w's Lair My old Friendster blog credits skin by: Jane |
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 4:02 AM
Xenopus microinjection Today I learnt how to microinject Xenopus embryos. It's quite different compared to the techniques for zebrafish microinjection. Basically, we need a larger needle, more volumes of injected stuff (DNA/RNA/morpholinos), and more strict time frame in which we could perform injection. The latter is due to the complete holoblastic cleavage of the Xenopus embryo, which causes each of the cells to be totally separated from each other, unlike in the zebrafish, in which you can still inject things into the yolk and it will eventually be absorbed by the overlying cells. Since a colleague came into the lab, my working life has changed. He may be an ordinary person, just a regular chinese guy. But he taught me two things: courage and persistence. Ever since he started work in our lab, and since he was supposed to be kind of my junior, naturally I had to condition myself to provide guidance for him, who is new to developmental research. Oddly enough, I started to learn many things from him. He was a solid molecular biologist, with 10 years of working experience, while I'm an inexperienced grad student who went into PhD program without any knowledge even on how to perform a successful PCR. The latter maybe over exaggerating. But it's true that my molecular biology foundation were very superficial. I also started to have the opportunity to learn new techniques. He is more outgoing, and he talks to people more than me. I guess everyone talks to people more than me. He is willing to learn new methods from other people and as a result, I tagged along with him. One example was the Xenopus microinjection. Although I have never microinjected Xenopus before, I did it on zebrafish many times, and because he didn't have much experience on microinjection, he called me to help him. So I learnt. By working with this colleague, I started to be more adventurous. One of the things he made me do is to apply for a computer account in IMCB. I didn't have a computer account for 3 years of my time working there. Each time I connect to the internet, I either used a lab computer or a password 'borrowed' from a super nice research assistant (at that time, now he's a grad student just like us). Another breakthrough was cubicle space. I didn't have a workstation then. My only space were my senior's lab bench, which measures about 1 m2 and was always filled with toxic stuff and bacteria. Perhaps the closing down of the Frog facility just beside our lab contributed to this, however, if my colleague hadn't decided to occupy a space left by the frog people, and persuaded me to move over and claim another workspace for myself, I wouldn't have dared to do it on my own. I guess his rather thick skinned attitude has its virtue. I learnt that it's good to be demanding a little at times, at least when it comes to things we really have a right for. You may think that he's some inspirational character, which talks a lot of sense and wisdom. But I wouldn't say so. He's ordinary. He complains a lot like other people, he can be rather pessimistic most of the time, and he's quite easily discouraged. Up to this point, I still can't figure out what's so inspiring about him. Perhaps that's where the inspiration comes from, just by being ordinary. 0 Comments: |