What a day. Wow. Imagine your first kiss. Remember the odd mix of terror and excitement? Fast pulse and racing thoughts? That was me today, except I wasn’t kissing anyone.

Today was my first day working in the lab on real-world research. I can assure you it was nothing like the labs we had for my cell biology class. I don’t think I have ever felt so utterly overwhelmed and yet so completely excited before. Today was a day of simultaneous terror and ecstasy.

My advisor started me out with a simple protocol for immunofluorescence staining. He gave me a quick rundown of what to do (ie. a stream of instructions as I furiously took notes) and showed me how to get started. After the initial setup was correct, he gave me a book to photocopy and said goodluck. The book was essentially a primer for immunofluorescence, explaining details and protocols. We learned about immunofluorescence in class but learning the basic theory and learning protocol are two entirely different things.

As with any biology protocol, there is a decent amount of downtime while you are waiting for things to incubate. During that time we worked out where I would “live” (an irony that did not escape me) and I now have a desk to myself. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so proud about a desk before! It even has a locking filing cabinet and cork-board cubicle walls for hanging stuff.

The sheer autonomy I experienced today was amazing. I did my own thing while the rest of the lab did theirs. The senior members were of course helpful whenever I had a question but no one sat around watching what I was doing, making sure I wasn’t screwing up. Granted, it was a very easy protocol, but that did not diminish the sense of autonomy I felt. Here I was, in a lab, staining cells that could one day show up in a publication. I had been entrusted to perform a task and was given the tools to do it. This wasn’t a class, this was real! Wow!

On the flipside, here I was, staining cells that could one day show up in a publication! I was terrified I would screw something up. Besides the knowledge of working on real cells (that someone else had invested the time to set up and grow), I knew I was working with very expensive stuff. I asked, out of curiousity, how much some of the antibodies cost. My advisor chuckled and said “One vial of antibodies costs $300. Welcome to science!” Oh dear. Three hundred dollars for less than a mL? The weight of that knowledge was felt heavy and hard while I was working

I did have one mishap, accidentally diluting the blocking solution too much but luckily we caught it before I proceeded to the primary antibodies. Other than that, I managed to finish the protocol without messing anything up. We checked it out under a low-powered scope and things lit up, although very dimly. Next tuesday we are going to look at it under the nicer, high-powered scope. I can’t wait.