Week Three

This week has been great for lab results. Earlier in the week, Josh enlisted the help of Meredith to perform a takedown of ten mice, testing for differences between the results of chimeras, normal B6 mice, and a naive Gal KO mouse (in which the Gal antibodies commonly present in mice and pigs are knocked out). Tests were done using the spleen and the fluid from the peritoneal cavity of the mice. According to the hypotheses for this takedown, there should have been a loss of B cells that bind Gal in the FACS analysis, as well as a loss of Gal antibody secreting cells in the Elispot treatment. These were predicted in the Gal KO mouse as well as the control B6. Both the FACS and the Elispot yielded clear results. I've been helping with the centrifuging, cell counting, and FACS and flow-jo analyses on each part of the experiment this week, and I've been learning new techniques and protocols every day.

Another thing that came in this week was a newer version of the toxin product that needed to be tested before using it on mouse injections for bone marrow transplants and irradiation to induce chimerism. The product worked well, so it is safe to say that a switch can be made from the old product to the new one.

Meanwhile, Ellen and her postdoc Tosh have been continuing to conduct their research on tumor cells in mice, using the GFP (green fluorescent protein) and identifying it in the pictures taken through in vivo imaging down at a lab at the MGH main campus. Ellen and I have been helping to assemble the data maps into easily readable files on the computer.