Adventures in Bio science

Last class at Spark! we did a self assessment of how we are doing for the first semester in Spark. We met at incubator which was cool because the atmosphere is very different from the classroom at BRDG Park. Seeing the incubator students at work and meeting with mentors helped put the Spark! incubator experience into perspective. Well back to my self reflection. For the first semester I think Spark! has helped me develop organization skills because I need to learn to keep my product record and information I've learned in order so I can use it in the future. Besides classroom work I've also been a better at managing my time because I have to plan in site visits and travel time for Spark! events. I think overall I've learned a lot so far about

The other day I went to the AIMS program to hear about a nervous system and brain lecture with a cadaver demonstration at the end. I thought the lecture was very interesting because it went though all the parts of the brain and their functions. The presenter also compared brains to each other showing how alzheimer's damages the brain. The alzheimer's brain had shrunk and the grooves in the brain were very deep with little protection on them. Besides alzheimer's, concussions and other traumas to the head create similar effects on the brain. In order to protect your brain from this irreversible damage wearing a helmet and limiting contact sports that can cause repetitive damage to the brain. On the more technical side, I learned about the outer layers that protect the brain and how the brain develops from birth. I was excited to attend this lecture because I'm interested in studying neuroscience. So, learning some basic knowledge about the brain and it's functions hel...

Recently, I attended the World of Genomics exhibit at the Saint Louis Science Center, created by the University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Institute of Genomic Biology. The exhibit had different stations that explored genomics brain and behavior, using DNA to make drugs, looking at the early emergence of life, health industry, food, and fuel. These station all had unique research and ideas about how genomics can transform the industry to create products that are more sustainable and efficient for the future. At the food and fuel station I met a post doc who was modifying plants like sugarcane and sorghum to create biofuel. These plants can not be consumed but they can create biofuel in a more efficient way the protects the planet. Also, a cool thing he was growing was some plants in an agar solution. He had made agar and put two hormones in it that help promote plant growth and a seedling and closed it off the grow. You could see the root systems and growth of this plant which was ...

For the first 12 weeks we have not done a ton of work in the labs, but we´ve been really busy visiting different events and learning about bioscience. So, when we started our bacteria petri dish test I was really excited. The first bacteria swab we did we got too choose as many bacteria infested spots to swab and see the results. I had a lot of fun walking around BRDG park thinking about where bacteria was growing abundantly. I swabbed the vending machine, door handle, drinking fountain, and my toe. I also swabbed areas that I hoped would be sterile in the lab like the micropipette box, bleach, and coverage solution. My results were quite varied. So to draw conclusions we did a second swab on certain areas. I decided to reswab the vending machine and drinking fountain because the first plate had massive growth and for fun I did my fingerprint. The results in the second swab dishes was crazy because the vending machine bacteria had tons of bacteria but the drinking fountain did not. My ...

So far we have gone to a lot of cool events that have exposed me to new fields of science; especially our recent visit to Express Scripts. I really enjoyed the Express Scripts talk because it tied in some of the key components to the healthcare and technology industry. Being able to hear how they are connecting the growing use of technology to the good of our health shows the endless opportunities for the future. One of my big takeaways from the event was seeing how they use data science to help patients. Before the talk, all I really thought about in the healthcare industry was doctors, nurses, researchers, and people who design biotechnology. Seeing that data science plays a huge role in helping the future of healthcare was cool because as we learn how to do Python Iḿ adding to my coding skills that one day could help me understand data science. Overall, the Express Scripts Panel was really cool and made me think more about the future opportunities in healthcare.

Last week we attended the Fall Symposium at the Danforth Center. I was honestly a little scared to go because it seemed like such a professional event. To start of our adventure at the Symposium we talked to workers for biotechnology and lab companies. Surprisingly, it was super interesting. I really enjoyed listening to Mrs. Kremer from Promega talk about the company and the cool technology they have developed. Promega took the illuminating gene from lightning bugs and modified it so it can be inserted into parts of the human body or other organisms to see if the cells are living or not. If the cell glows then the cell is living. This technology can be used for cancer research, testing health products/medicines, and research in plants. After we talked to a few other tables we then went to hear two lectures in the main auditorium. Both of them were cool topics, but way over my head. But that's alright because the experience of listening to this research gave me a good taste of what...

I have officially been in Spark! Bioscience for six weeks. We have done such a wide range of activities and dabbled in lots of areas of science. So far one of my favorite events we have done was going to the Museum of Transportation. I liked the hands on work and getting to here stories from April. It was also a lot of fun because I learned more about native and sustainable plants in Missouri and how I can incorporate those into my own garden. Another activity I really liked was going to the Fall Symposium at the Danforth Center. It was cool to start networking, even though it was pretty scary at first. I also enjoyed listening to the presentations. Both of them were beyond my knowledge but it was interesting to see how much work and passion they put into their research. Hopefully I will one day be like them with a new research topic of my own. I have also enjoyed starting to work in the labs at BRDG Park, but can´t wait until we start doing real lab work and finding data of our own. O...