2011 Summer Focus Research Bootcamp

Written by Peggy Ni - YSP Volunteer

On June 9^th and 10^th, YSP conducted its Research Bootcamp for the Summer Focus students to learn basic laboratory techniques and develop good habits with their lab notebooks before starting in their research labs. I helped out with the June 9^th afternoon session on microbiology, and here is a summary of the lessons that were covered.

One thing the students learned is why bacteria are an important scientific tool ubiquitously used in laboratory research across multiple disciplines. In a lively discussion led by the instructors, Drew Schwartz and Sarah Greene, the students came up with a few main reasons for using bacteria. These include the single genome copy in bacteria, which allows researchers to easily knock-out or express genes of interest, as well as fast doubling time, which permits researchers to quickly perform manipulations and observe the resulting phenotypes. After this discussion, the students learned the technique of bacterial transformation and plated their cultures for analysis the next day.

The students learned another important lesson that is critical for a successful summer research project: sterility. The instructors emphasized the distinction between laboratory bacteria that we manipulate for our research and the environmental bacteria that can fall on our plates or tips and contaminate our work. The students learned good habits to maintain sterility, from keeping tip boxes closed when not in use to flaming ethanol-soaked loops that are used to spread cultures on plates. Additionally, this topic is great because it allowed the students to learn the scientific method. Specifically, LB plates were left uncovered at various places in the room for different time points to see the amount and types of bacteria that would grow. For this lesson, the students asked a scientific question of their choosing and then tested it. For example, some hypothesized that leaving the plate under a vent or in the sink would yield the most growth. In a related lesson, the students smeared their fingers on LB plates before and after a certain manipulation. I thought this experiment was fantastic because, again, *they* asked the question. Also, there were a lot of good discussions on how to best test these questions. One question that was tested by quite a few students was whether washing our fingers would result in less bacterial growth.

For all of these activities, the instructors emphasized writing down the steps (and any changes) in the lab notebook. And, I thought the instructors did an especially great job in stressing the science and why we are doing certain steps, not just the steps themselves. I asked one of the students, WahWah San, what were the most important things the bootcamp taught her. "How to use materials and write a good scientist [scientific] method in our notebook," she said. Thus, it appears that the knowledge of how to use basic laboratory reagents and how to think and write like a scientist was successfully communicated. I asked WahWah if she felt adequately prepared to start her summer research after the bootcamp, and in what must feel very encouraging and gratifying for the instructors, she replied, "Yes I do."