For me, week 4 went by way too fast. David is definitely right, there really aren’t enough hours in the day when it comes to getting work done in the lab.
My name is Nicole DeNamur and I’m working in Dr. Becket’s lab. The overall goal of the Becket Lab is to investigate antibiotic resistance in the ocean microbiome. As a summer intern, my first goal is to come up with a non-biased way to lyse bacterial cells without fragmenting their DNA. I have been using a concoction of enzymes to do this. This past week, I’ve been focusing on using enzymes including lysozyme, mutanolysin, and lysostaphin to successfully lyse gram positive bacteria, as well as E. coli. Later in the internship, I aim to isolate mobile elements, or DNA that can move around the genome including plasmids in bacterial cells. My project relates to the overall goal of the lab because it is believed that the mechanism of antibiotic resistance is spread around the bacterial genome through these mobile elements. This week, REU students had the opportunity to tour Illumina in La Jolla where we learned about the different products and careers offered at the company. We got a behind-the-scenes look at certain sequencing systems, and learned about their manufacture and the difference between sequencer models. It was an informative and interesting tour, and I’m definitely considering applying for a job or internship there after college.
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Watch this space for weekly updates!Every week, one of our CSUSM NSF REU students will post their blurb, summarizing their week, and chronicling our program. AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
August 2023
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