I decided to take a few photos in the lab where I do my research. I'm doing my PhD in Bioengineering, specifically, I'm developing electrochemical microeletrode array sensors to study angiogenesis.
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| My front door, and how to dress for success. I'm demonstrating a pose I learnt in a lab in Korea. |
Simply put, when a tumour first starts growing it lives off the oxygen and nutrients from our blood stream, and is actually quite harmless. But when it gets to the size of a pea, it needs its own dedicated blood supply and this is where the trouble starts. The tumour acquires its own blood supply by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). With it's own blood supply it can grow large and affect the organs around it and worse, break off into the bloodstream and spread to other parts of the body. I'm developing technology to look at the way the tumour stimulates blood vessels, and how the chemistry of the blood vessel cells is affected as they respond to the tumour, because stopping the process would mean keeping tumours under control.
What I love about my research is that it's very multidisciplinary, which means sewing up aortas in one lab and sewing with hair-thin gold wire in another lab. Here are a few snapshots of my research, two years in.
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| My dependants: I have to feed them every two days and get a baby-sitter when I go on holiday. |
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| Choosing between a toxic gas and a toxic explosive.... |
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| I think I ought to submit this to PassiveAggresiveNotes.com |
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| This thing is older than me. |
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| Collage from my lab-book. |
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| One of the highlights of my PhD was visiting the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT, in Boston. |
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| Head in a jar |
Things you hear in a Bioengineering lab-meeting: "That water smells like eyes."
It's nice to see that all the labs are the same, minus the dependents that is. I'm particularly amused by the passive aggressive messages.
ReplyDeleteI think the chemistry stuff makes for the most interesting "sciencey" photographs. Goes to show that passive aggressive notes flourish in EVERY workplace :)
ReplyDeleteI am so inspired by these photos, and pretty much in love with your blog :) just thought I'd let you know!
ReplyDeleteWarm fuzzies...thanks for letting me know! Hope you'll document some of your science adventures?
Deleteoh gosh this is the best collection of images to sum up the past four years of my life xD you bring out the art in wet lab equipment - that's talent
ReplyDeletepandaphilia style
Ha ha thanks! You can look at your lab equipment day in and day out and forget the magic sometimes.
DeleteInteresting how lab work is universal- you can find yourself in a lab anywhere in the world and know your way around because they are all the same!