RM's+Week+of+November+12

RM's Logbook


 * Monday, November 12, 2007**

I wasn't in school today.


 * Tuesday, November 13, 2007**

I wasn't in school today, again.


 * Wednesday, November 14, 2007**

Today, I had a lot of catching up to do in my logbook, as I was gone during the preceding two days of school. I'm also planning to go to ND tomorrow for labwork.


 * Thursday, November 15, 2007**

Today, I went to ND. It was another very productive session- I prepared my silicon wafers with APTES and DNA [|plasmids]. This was the first time I really had to handle the samples. I prepared the APTES solution with 1980 microliters of water and 20 microliters of the APTES. The 4 samples soaked in the solution for 15 minutes, and then I dried them with nitrogen gas. In the process, I dropped one silicon chip, but no other casualties were incurred. Next, I deposited DNA plasmids on the surface. It was actually a mixture of 4 microliters of DNA plasmids and 36 microliters of a magnesium(II) buffer solution. After that was completed, I washed the samples with water, to remove the excess plasmids, and then dried them again with nitrogen gas. I placed it in a container, and next Tuesday, I will view it under the AFM.

I also met Dr. Lieberman for the second time. She encouraged us to look at AL's samples that had holes in them to obtain the cross sections of each sample. This will tell whether these holes that developed are on the silane layer or in a web of DNA that formed across the surface of the sample. She suspects that they are holes in a DNA web that formed on the surface. Dr. Lieberman also related a technique that would help AL. To fill these holes that were discovered, she said scientists use a drop of water and drag it across a sample surface. By doing so, a few particles fill the holes, and the excess water can be sucked up, using a pipette.

Next Tuesday, I will probably be able to set up the AFM, which will also help me more than just watching it occur. I feel that I'm finally breaking into this project.


 * Friday, November 16, 2007**

I updated my logbook, entering what I completed yesterday at ND. I also found an article online from last year that talked about holes similiar to the ones we observed under the AFM. I bookmarked the page, so that I will be able to read it on Monday. Hopefully, it will give us some clues for the holes we found.

Week of November 5

Week of November 19