12.4.12
This Tuesday (December 4th), I went over to RPI for my first day working in the actual lab. The goal for today was to print 15 slides of peptide matrices to be able to run tests on in the future. There are 56 peptides that we are working with, and each peptide is printed in a 3X3 matrix on each slide. This means that there are 9 dots per peptide, and 504 dots per slide! Ben showed me how the computer program worked, and we checked the (x, y, z) coordinates of the printing needle on each slide so the machine would run correctly. The x and y values were mostly already correct from previous runs, but the z coordinates (height) needed some adjustment so that the needle was touching the slide. This placement of the needle allows the machine to dispense the correct amount of peptide on the slide. The printer works automatically after the programming is set, and the whole process takes about 3 hours! After double checking the coordinates, Ben showed me how to use the centrifuge to spin down the peptides. When the peptides were ready, we put them in the printer, and started the program. We had to watch it through its first cycle to make sure that it wasn't missing any dots because the machine often doesn't function correctly. Today the machine was running well, and we did not see any malfunctions!
I can't wait to return next week and see what's next!
Hard to imagine printing peptides, but you are doing it! I am very impressed with your work for this week.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the larger purpose of your activities?
I also cannot wait!!