Over break, I will be microinjecting to knock down Nrf1b and Nrf2a, leaving me with only a couple more weeks of microinjecting and scoring following break.

I analyzed some preliminary data, which did not show any statistical difference in heart score between the phthalate group and control for Nfe2 knockdown fish. Sometimes morphological changes are subtle, and I am looking forward to performing some RT-qPCR to determine whether tbx5 and several other genes involved in heart development show reduced expression, as some previous papers have reported.

Gwen has been working on the final steps of ChIP, and will be back on campus for several days during break to finish up the process. Mel took otic vesicle measurements in her Nfe2 knockout fish, and will be working on injecting Nfe2 knockout embryos with cfap70 in the coming weeks. Rachel has ordered a new forward primer, and has been continuing to try different primer combinations and map them within alas2. She has also been practicing her microinjecting, and has moved on to using a control morpholino!

The semester is going by fast, and we all are working hard to advance our respective projects.