Bacteriology!

Since work started at 10AM, Sarah and I got up early and left home around 9:30 to make sure we got there on time. We found the building just fine, and made it into work, where we met Sandra, a PhD student in the lab. She was going to be supervising my project, while Fiona, her assistant, would supervise Sarah's. We also were introduced to Niall and Genevieve, who work for the National Salmonella Reference Laboratory (based in our lab), and Claudia, who seems to be the office manager. Dearbhaile was in a meeting, so Sarah and I sat around for a bit waiting for her to get done.

When 10:45 rolled around, the lab took a tea break at the canteen downstairs, so we joined them. It seems to be a fun group of people, very cheerful. We headed back upstairs to the lab, where we ran into Dr. Cormican, the main lab professor. He's apparently also the microbiology consultant for the hospital as well, so he's rarely in the lab. It's cool though...that's how Fred is, and we get along fine. I'm curious to ask him about that sort of job. It seems appealing to me.

By the way, the lab website (accessible here) could give some extra information on what goes on in the lab. Also, if you go to the UREKA website I posted in the last entry, you can get more specific info on my project (it's Project 3).

Sandra showed us around the lab for a bit, and introduced us to some of the materials we'd be using. Dearbhaile was available after that, and she talked with us about our projects and some general lab rules. We were also introduced to a lady who works with the EPA office at the University, who I'll probably be in touch with since the E. coli I'll be looking at was gathered from water samples around Galway. From there, we went and got lab coats so we could start research.

First, though, we took a lunch break, and went to Supermac's. It's the Irish version of McDonald's (actually...really close to it). It was okay, but overpriced. Back in the lab, Sandra showed us how to extract DNA, which I'd done before, and then let us head home. I think this summer is gonna be really awesome. Sarah and I headed back to Corrib Village after that, to meet up with the others and see how their day was.

I think we'll take it easy tonight. I'll probably make some pasta or something. Should be a good time. We're supposed to start our work days at 9AM, but since we have a talk tomorrow, we don't go in til 10AM. Awesome. Til tomorrow, then!