This week we made some great strides with thesis and lab.

After getting in a shipment of 100 new TL zebrafish last week, this week has been all about breeding. The fish aren’t quite used to their new home, so we’ve had some difficulty getting embryos, let alone a large enough clutch to run an experiment. On Thursday, we finally got a good-sized clutch- around 350! More than enough embryos to test two time points. I dosed my 2 hpf embryos with tBHQ and DMSO vehicle control, so check that off the to-do list!

In addition to lab work, we all finished our thesis introductions this week! After hours and hours pouring over each subsection, peer editing, and revising we all have finished products of which we are proud. It was interesting for me to see how each of us focused on a slightly different aspect of the experiment. I focused a lot on development and how our results might vary across time. Nabil focused more on the oxidative stress mechanism and what is occurring chemically (it’s easy to spot his biochem major). Nick, on the other hand, focused on the target genes that are involved in the oxidative stress response. Although our theses seem very similar in design, the different emphases we all chose creates three unique studies regarding the same mechanism and genes. And the fact that the divergence happened without us knowing or being told is a little bit amazing to me.
We are now all about to leave for break, and when we get back the focus will more (briefly) away from writing and back onto lab work: breed, collect, dose, wash, freeze, repeat. That’s what I’ll be talking about this Thanksgiving to my family and friends around the dinner table. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!