It takes a total of 181 experimental hours from initial extraction of total RNA to final expression and quantification of recombinant protein levels for ONE species, including preparation time, and assuming that nothing goes wrong.
On the UROPS website, it asks: Can you commit yourself to 6-10 hours of UROPS research per week?
This is my 16th week working on this project, and my report is due in 2 weeks time. If I restrict myself to (let's say) only 10 hours of week doing UROPS related stuff, I will need 18.1 weeks. Which would leave me with, uh, no time to write my report!
Bearing in mind that I now have 6 proteins (2 of which were previous students work), 11 mRNA samples, 8 more or less confirmed dna sequences and the facts that 1. preparation time stretches when processing large number of samples; 2. it is not possible to not screw up somewhere and have to redo things; 3. I did go on a 1week trip to melb somewhere in between, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Either 4mc is a lie, or 6-10 hours is a lie. Either way, my superiors think I'm working too slowly, while my contemporaries think I'm overworking/overworked. As for me, I shall continue being a lab rat. -squeak-
moi moi moi
GGGGAACGA is a 22 year old female who loves God, biomedical science, traveling and music. She takes great pleasure in learning beautiful things like languages, the workings of the amazing human body and the evil microbes in our midst, etc. The latter two sometimes makes her rather disturbing company, unfortunately. She often pokes fun at herself, loves a challenge, can be unflinchingly (stupidly) stubborn and often alternates between taking herself overly seriously and not at all. Ger may be found in extremes of intense activity or mindless drift. Much to her detriment, ger is also a master procrastinator who never finishes anyth-
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