Lab Technician Wisdom

The project is currently being modified. First, the samples have increased from twenty to forty of objects containing fomites. I have increased the sampling because the error bars become extremely high in my past bar graphs of my standard deviation. My first attempt to correct error bars is as follows: I got rid of my outliers or outside values of my set of data, but half my data was eliminated or taken out from my set of data. The removal of these values caused me to have a total of 12 or less values, and the total sampling was 20. In conclusion, twelve divided by twenty will give me 60% of data and 40% of lost data. Furthermore, increasing the sampling will have less removal of outliers and more values for better averaging. Thus, the average values of my data or quantified results have been better, and also my standard deviation has better results. Figure 1 below shows how I came to this conclusion of increasing my sampling in a small range of data.

Figure 1. This is a rough sketch of my simple idea of why I increased my sampling to forty samples than twenty. The graphs show how outliers can ruin a graph. The orange bar graph is an ideally great graph, other than, the blue bar graph with horrific error bars.

I’m, also, trying to find a way to make media with hand washing antimicrobial chemicals like triclosan and chloroxylenol that are the active ingredient in antibacterial soaps. The main antimicrobial chemical is chloroxylenol by GOJO in soap dispensers in bathrooms around campus. It used to be triclosan ingredient soap dispensers but the school switched it out for reasons like not foaming when dispensed, financially expensive, or other reasons. Once the media of TSA plus antimicrobial is achieved, I will start inoculating swab samples to test whether or not microbes are resistant to soap dispenser ingredients of either triclosan or chloroxylenol. Figure 2 below shows the soap dispenser around school campuses bathrooms.

Figure 2. This gave me idea to sample the grey button in on this soap dispenser in bathrooms. The bag inside can hold up to 1250 ml of antibacterial soap, and 1700 uses of one bag.

 

This whole week I came in and realized that I had to prepare media, sterile test tubes, and other research material needed for my project.  Spraying of chemicals, like preservatives on the cadavers was performed. This would prevent saprobe microbes from feeding on them. Helping Kim set up labs was, also, done. Making TSA plates from the receipt of Jose and Josh was learned this week. I would say it was very simple, and I thought it would be a more complex lab set up. I was wrong. I was mentioning to post this picture of art on a TSA plate, but never had time. Figure 3 is the picture after of inoculation of two microbes that I haven’t identified.

Figure 3. This is made from two microbes. I would guess that the white one is S. epidermis and the orange is still unknown, and I could be wrong.

Pardon My Absence

I felt bad for not coming in this week for my internship, but I couldn’t find a last minute baby sitter for my children. My oldest had a week off from school for spring break, and the youngest was sort of sick.

On the other hand, I did get a lot done today on the deadline for blogging and discussion board entries. I, also, had time to be ahead of the curve for my microbiology lab assignment known as the “Case Study Report of an Unknown Specimen.” Basically, I got a labeled test tube, marked by the number seven, and received a patient information form and reason for her reason at the hospital before my spring break. Figure 1 shows the patient form, and Figure 2 show the  unknown test tube labeled “7” for further testing.

Figure 1. The case study form was sort of funny because they added that her past medical history stated " a single mother on welfare." Why is it logical to know this information?

Figure 2. The test tube from left to right is the unknown microbe and the other tube is the "Mannitol Fermentation Broth Test." This test shows the by product of it's nutrients that it produced and the color indicator showed that it fermentated acid but no gas in the inner tube "Duram tube."

My job was to identify the unknown microorganism and what measure of antibiotics to kill the pathogen. I performed techniques like inoculation of my unknown microbe to isolation media’s like MacConkey Agar (MAC) or Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) plates. These types of media allow for selective and differential growth of either gram negative or gram positive groups of bacteria to grow and thrive depending on the media. For example, I inoculated my unknown to MAC media and nothing happened because MAC media is for gram negative bacteria. My conclusion was that my unknown was a gram positive bacteria, and further lab techniques like smear preparation and gram staining gave me a view of my bacteria under the microscope for selecting the correct Dichotomous key. Lastly, the biochemical tests on the key narrowed the identification of the microbe

Figure 3 below shows the final lab for this case study of identifying the right antibiotic to diminish this foreign microbe causing this infection. This plate is called a Mueller Hinton plate with a lawn of Staphylococcus aureus.

Figure 3. Clockwise from the top left corner is a small white disk of antibiotics in the center of the quadrants, respectively: ampicillian 10 micrograms, vancomycin 30 micrograms, erythromycin 15 micrograms, and, lastly, penicillin 10 micrograms.

I’m currently about two weeks ahead, and started writing my report because I began identifying the antibiotic I’m going to use. This assignment is relevant to the STEM program because I will have more time to spend in the internship.

I had help from Matt earlier today on how to approach the modification of my project I plan to continue but with alterations. For instance, the previous project bar graph had unacceptable error bars of my standard deviation. I tweaked with my data by eliminating the outliers in a statistical view. Graph 1 below show the new and improved bar graph with proper error bars.

Graph 1. The error bars are within the bars and I combined first and second attempt objects like the rails and elevators as one bar. I, also, excluded data like zero's and outliers from the data I collected to correct the error bars.

I, also, still plan to sample objects around the campus like the bathroom faucets and their door handles, cafeteria tables, and other possible areas of contact. Instead of sampling twenty objects of classroom desks, etc., I will, unfortunately, sample forty objects to prevent abnormal error bars. I'm still brainstorming on how to approach the antimicrobial of microbes around the campus.

No Pictures Please

Figure1. I look so tired in this picture, and it was posted on the website. Here's a link to view other peoples picture on the website. I think I saw Jose's Pic

                                     Click Here for Other Pictures

           I finished my poster last Friday on the first day of March, and started it the day before on Thursday. The second day working on my poster was for modifications and changing of the format style. Although I didn’t get the nice glossy thick paper like the other students poster, I had my poster printed out in Student Union on regular paper. The reason for my low grade paper texture was my failure to turn my rough draft on time for peer review. On the other hand, it was free of charge thanks to an office coordinator of the Student Life and Leadership.

Prior to attending the conference for my poster presentation, I had been nervous the whole month the application had been submitted online. When I got there, it was simple. I thought, for example, that I would present on stage with my poster followed by a speech. I admit that I learned a lot from this experience before and after the ASU student research conference of More Graduate Education at Mountain States Alliance (MGE@MSA). The first lesson learned is always be prepared for the unexpected and identify the highest priority. I should have been more organized in prioritizing my assignments on my agenda. Second, never use obstacles in life as an excuse for failure. The realization is that I do have a family, school, and internship, but my determination can exceed further and I can work harder. Thirdly, I should have not judge the event without having prior conference experience. This student research conference was, for instance, my first experience. Overall, the atmosphere of determined, intelligent, and science related college students of undergraduates and doctorate’s was interesting. I glanced at a few posters, and had a judge give advice on some helpful tips on my continued research. Moreover, they had pretty decent lunches during the lunch hour and breakfast. I really enjoyed the humorous ASU instructor remarks about “Why it’s important to pursue higher education?” I liked his story about how he grew up in a bad part of New York, and now he has a family to support that he couldn’t have dreamed about due, in part, to his father’s pushing mentor ways. The most hardest thing I found hard at the conference was the post registration of obtaining the Certificate of Participation.

Figure 2. This picture shows similar details of the long lines and post registration of last years conference.

I have a question for my fellow colleagues of the STEM Scholar program. Have you taken that psychological test online that one of the speakers had on the Power Point of your true intentions in academic school work? Basically, if your smart or do you act like it?