The first step: culturing Staph Saprophyyicus on a blood agar plate. I am so proud of how beautifully spaced my colonies are
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Since most classes were online, the opportunity to actually be in a class in person was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I wasn't sure what the full extent of the class was, but I knew that I wanted to do something with my hands and get out of the room all day. Because of COVID-19, I had my own lab station, and a 1:13 teacher student ratio. It was awesome.
This was my first upper-level lab, and I sincerely wish I took more upper level lab classes during my time at UW. When studying biology, it's hard to be remain motivated when it all seems theoretical. With this lab, it was a simulation of the real world. It's a mystery. Someone is sick, gives you a sample, and you have to figure out what's making them sick. It suddenly strikes you that what you are learning is important, is truly absolutely critical in the real world. It's also reassuring that there are multiple steps in the investigative process before diagnosing and treating a patient. I know I could never work as microbiology researcher, but I'm intrigued by the idea of a becoming a medical laboratory researcher sometime in the future. The idea of studying urine/blood/sputum patient samples through a series of tests is incredibly fun. Maybe in the future when I'm thinking of a career change, I'll come back to this field! |