Patience Rewarded

After a long process of degrading proteins and purifying DNA, I have seen my chromosomes—if small dots surrounded by cytoplasm are considered chromosomes. I was actually surprised that I saw any chromosomes, partly because I had to stay after class and rush to get it finished and half of the slide was covered in glue. Even after this anticipation, I have only “seen” the chromosomes, there was no analysis done to it that can tell me anything about what is coded inside or how those genes are expressed—that is saved for tomorrow.

Probably the hardest technique to master is patience. While viewing my slide, I saw next to nothing; there were a lot of lymphocyte nuclei, but none had ruptured and released their chromosomes. Ms. Hall and her TA have repeated several times to me that when your patience is done that is when to move on. Most students had left the lab before seeing their chromosomes because they didn’t have the patience to find one ruptured nucleus amongst tens of thousands of nuclei. I stayed a while after class and found my chromosomes with the help of Ms. Hall.

In a final test of my skill, I will be expected on Friday to present a subject that I randomly drew today. It will not only test whether I retained my understanding of the analysis of the techniques I learned, but if I can put all of the activities Brown is offering aside until I finished researching my subject and organizing my presentation.