Construction: They closed off the hallways across from us!
Our lab got funding for a HUGE second Nikon microscope! The table arrived this past Friday
Down time in the lab Friday evening
Update: What I have been doing
NSF: I finished a solid draft of my NSF proposal, finally squishing it into two pages. I gave it to everyone I could think of and several people gave me great ideas / correction tips, not least of which was Khalid. His were the most helpful.
2nd year report: I've got a second round of my slides almost done, and will go over them with Kevin and Khalid next week. I'll be scheduling another practice talk for this coming Friday.
Experiments: I was able to show that my DNAzymes are indeed active in a very solid experiment gel, showing that they can cleave a 20 bp DNA / RNA hybrid substrate. The controls look great too. That was the last piece that I really needed.
What's next? The next two weeks are the home stretch to the Oct. 21st second year report. I have an exam in biotech I'll be taking during that time, as well as doing reading and looking over papers to prepare for more questions on my project. I'm also trying to examine RtcB structure more carefully. I discovered some features of it I want to understand better. After second year report and Nov 7th presentation, you can expect more updates on experiments and lab life!