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Month: July 2017

The Internship

Posted on July 25, 2017 by A Scientist called Erica

Reading time 10 minutes

The Curious Incident of the 6pm Panic

Posted on July 18, 2017 by A Scientist called Erica

Reading time 14 minutes

anxiety conference Mental Health PhD PhD life Science

Panic at the Conference

Posted on July 7, 2017 by A Scientist called Erica

Reading time 4 minutes

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Getting that work life balance. ⚖ - - I wanted to address a trend I have been seeing across social media- the "how much work I am doing all the time" brag. - - Sometimes through your PhD or in your science career you will need to stay late, or work a weekend. But, it is completely possible to do your studies in a 9-6 capacity. A PhD is hard, it requires a lot of work, and it can be very easy to progress into a work late, work weekend attitude... but this isn't a good thing to do. - You are doing a PhD, but the PhD is not your life. You can take breaks, and have time off work and feel good about it. And its important to. - - There has been an increasing trend on social media where students are basically bragging about how much extra time they are spending in the lab (almost the opposite of the 'how little revision you have done' brag), and this does not sit well with me at all. This can inadvertantly guilt-trip those who are taking a weekend off, and make themselves very critical of their work ethic. - The strength of your PhD will come from the value of the work you do, not the amount of time you spend doing it. Its understandable to spend extra time in the lab, but I truly think this "always working" ethic is damaging and should not be promoted. We are allowed time off without feeling guilty. And in fact, in my experience at least, having a good break can really help you clear your mind from a problem, help improve productivity and overall improve work performance. Of course the work hours you keep is completely your choice of course, but please remember that a PhD does not need you to work 24/7, and do not feel guilty for taking time off. • • • • • • #Phdlife #researchlife #science #gradlife #worklifebalance #phdchat

Lets take a closer look at some starch. 🕵️‍♀️ - Today I am using a scanning electron microscope to look at some starch molecules in extreme detail. - I am currently looking at free starch which is simply some starch suspended in water. In SEM, the sample is firstly coated with a thin layer of metal. The electron beam of the microscope focuses on the surface of the sample, emitting secondary electrons which are measured by a detector. The way the electrons interact with the atoms in the sample changes the signal emitted- which through the detector allows a image to be built up! (Thats the jist of it anyway- there is a lot of more in depth info about SEM on the old interwebs). - If you go 👉 you will see a image taken of some wild type (normal) wheat starch granules. You can clearly see the two types of starch granule A-type (the large granules) and B-type (the small granules). - I am also going to be 👀 at some starch from mutant wheat lines where an aspect of the starch synthesis pathway has been altered to see what happens to the structure of the starch. - I am really enjoying using the SEM so far-its great to be able to see so much detail in my samples! - The only downside is that the microscope needs to be kept cool- making the room rather nippy to sit in for long periods (hence all my layers) but I am super excited to see if the changes we make in expression of genes can be seen at a structural level! • • • • • #scienceselfie #instascientist #womeninscience #womenwhoscience #womeninSTEMM #plantscience #Postdoclife #postdoc #biology #plantscience #science #research #whatascientistdoes #scicomm

Weighing out itty bitty amounts! My lastest experiment uses approx~10mg of wheat flour, that is just a 100th of a gram! I weigh out the samples individually and record the weight which I will later account for in my calculations- its super hard to weigh out an exact small amount every time so this is a easier method. But, on this sample I measured out exactly 10mg 🤩 (scroll right for the proof photo!!) this hardly ever happens!! For those of you who can't even imagine what 10mg of flour looks like... That eppendorf I am holding contains 10mg of wheat flour, its that slight beige powder at the bottom! If you scroll to the right you can see a more up close picture! When you first start weighing these tiny amounts it can be a bit hard you will weigh out wayy too much or little! Over time you get your eye in and will measure out near 10mg each time! When weighing out these small amounts we use a scale where you can open and close doors surrounding the scale, this helps to make sure no breezes interfere with the weighing process. There are even scales which can measure to even smaller amounts which is just crazy! And why am I doing this? Tomorrow (🤞) I am going to be using these samples in a starch quantification experiment where I will measure the amount of starch in the wheat grain. We have a few samples of grains from wheat which have a very different starch structure, and so we want to see if this change is reflected in overall starch content. • • • • • • • • #Postdoclife #plantscience #biology #scicomm #science #Instascience #scientistsofinstagram #scicommunity #starch #experiments #scienceselfie #womeninscience #womeninstemm #stemm #research #labs

Busy starching around! The @JohnInnesCentre was asked to run a stall to inspire kids with science, as part of a open day run by a science sixth form in Norwich. We have playdoh, slime, iodine for staining strach in foods and household items, microscopes to look at starch...! The slime and playdoh has gone down so well much to the annoyance of parents leading away their super sticky kids!! We have had a blast, and its been great to see so many kiddies and parents experiencing science. Check out the caption from yesterdays videos to find out how you can make your own slime and playdoh! • • • • • #scienceisfun #scicomm #outreach #scienceforkids #biology #plantbiology #inspiringthefuturescientists #scicomm #science #norwichdoesscience #Norwich #schoolscience #womeninstemm #womeninscience

Or maybe you prefer to make slime (video part 2) In the previous video you saw me making up a mix of playdoh, a nice mouldable dough. Cornstarch is used to make this mouldable dough, it is composed of 70% amylopectin and 30% amylose, and give you a beautiful pliable dough (mix no.2 in this video). The first sticky slimy mess however, has been made with waxy maize. This maize starch contains no amylose, and really shows how much the properties of srarch can be altered. Without amylose molecules the starch is able to gelatinise as normal and become sticky, but is unable to reform as a stable matrix as it cools instead remaining as a slime. These distinct properties of starch means that we can use starch with different amylose and amylopectin compositions for different things- waxy starch is great as a adhesive, whilst normal starch for doughs...! Again you can make this slime at home! Use the recipe at the bottom of the previous video but instead as "waxy starch"- this is readily available online (apparently its particularly popular in protein shakes for body builders!) • • • • #instascience #science #scienceforkids #experiments #biology #starch #plantscience #scicomm

Busy making playdoh! (Part 1) You know that coloured dough we all used as kiddies to mould shapes and people, well its made mostly of salt and starch. Starch is composed of two molecules - amylose (long linear chain) and amylopectin (branched form). Most of the time starch is made of about 70% amylopectin and 30% amylose. As you heat up starch it begins to gelatinise forming paste, which is why we like adding corn starch or flour to casseroles. As the starch mix begins to cool down, the amylose molecules link together stabilising the mix and forming a moldable dough. As you will see in the upcoming video (look at my profile for the next video) you will see what a difference is seen when the composition of starch is changed... You can easily make playdoh yourself at home! : Heat 2 cups salt with 2/3 cup of water for 5 minutes. In a seperate bowl mix one cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. After the salt mix has become hot, mix the cornstarch mix in-it will instantly start becoming a dough! Cool down the mix and, add some food colouring for some added colour and voila home made playdoh! • • • • • #Instascience #homemadescience #biology #experimentsforkids #experiments #biology #plantbiology #scicomm #scientistsofinstagram #science

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Getting that work life balance. ⚖ - - I wanted to address a trend I have been seeing across social media- the "how much work I am doing all the time" brag. - - Sometimes through your PhD or in your science career you will need to stay late, or work a weekend. But, it is completely possible to do your studies in a 9-6 capacity. A PhD is hard, it requires a lot of work, and it can be very easy to progress into a work late, work weekend attitude... but this isn't a good thing to do. - You are doing a PhD, but the PhD is not your life. You can take breaks, and have time off work and feel good about it. And its important to. - - There has been an increasing trend on social media where students are basically bragging about how much extra time they are spending in the lab (almost the opposite of the 'how little revision you have done' brag), and this does not sit well with me at all. This can inadvertantly guilt-trip those who are taking a weekend off, and make themselves very critical of their work ethic. - The strength of your PhD will come from the value of the work you do, not the amount of time you spend doing it. Its understandable to spend extra time in the lab, but I truly think this "always working" ethic is damaging and should not be promoted. We are allowed time off without feeling guilty. And in fact, in my experience at least, having a good break can really help you clear your mind from a problem, help improve productivity and overall improve work performance. Of course the work hours you keep is completely your choice of course, but please remember that a PhD does not need you to work 24/7, and do not feel guilty for taking time off. • • • • • • #Phdlife #researchlife #science #gradlife #worklifebalance #phdchat

Lets take a closer look at some starch. 🕵️‍♀️ - Today I am using a scanning electron microscope to look at some starch molecules in extreme detail. - I am currently looking at free starch which is simply some starch suspended in water. In SEM, the sample is firstly coated with a thin layer of metal. The electron beam of the microscope focuses on the surface of the sample, emitting secondary electrons which are measured by a detector. The way the electrons interact with the atoms in the sample changes the signal emitted- which through the detector allows a image to be built up! (Thats the jist of it anyway- there is a lot of more in depth info about SEM on the old interwebs). - If you go 👉 you will see a image taken of some wild type (normal) wheat starch granules. You can clearly see the two types of starch granule A-type (the large granules) and B-type (the small granules). - I am also going to be 👀 at some starch from mutant wheat lines where an aspect of the starch synthesis pathway has been altered to see what happens to the structure of the starch. - I am really enjoying using the SEM so far-its great to be able to see so much detail in my samples! - The only downside is that the microscope needs to be kept cool- making the room rather nippy to sit in for long periods (hence all my layers) but I am super excited to see if the changes we make in expression of genes can be seen at a structural level! • • • • • #scienceselfie #instascientist #womeninscience #womenwhoscience #womeninSTEMM #plantscience #Postdoclife #postdoc #biology #plantscience #science #research #whatascientistdoes #scicomm

Weighing out itty bitty amounts! My lastest experiment uses approx~10mg of wheat flour, that is just a 100th of a gram! I weigh out the samples individually and record the weight which I will later account for in my calculations- its super hard to weigh out an exact small amount every time so this is a easier method. But, on this sample I measured out exactly 10mg 🤩 (scroll right for the proof photo!!) this hardly ever happens!! For those of you who can't even imagine what 10mg of flour looks like... That eppendorf I am holding contains 10mg of wheat flour, its that slight beige powder at the bottom! If you scroll to the right you can see a more up close picture! When you first start weighing these tiny amounts it can be a bit hard you will weigh out wayy too much or little! Over time you get your eye in and will measure out near 10mg each time! When weighing out these small amounts we use a scale where you can open and close doors surrounding the scale, this helps to make sure no breezes interfere with the weighing process. There are even scales which can measure to even smaller amounts which is just crazy! And why am I doing this? Tomorrow (🤞) I am going to be using these samples in a starch quantification experiment where I will measure the amount of starch in the wheat grain. We have a few samples of grains from wheat which have a very different starch structure, and so we want to see if this change is reflected in overall starch content. • • • • • • • • #Postdoclife #plantscience #biology #scicomm #science #Instascience #scientistsofinstagram #scicommunity #starch #experiments #scienceselfie #womeninscience #womeninstemm #stemm #research #labs

Busy starching around! The @JohnInnesCentre was asked to run a stall to inspire kids with science, as part of a open day run by a science sixth form in Norwich. We have playdoh, slime, iodine for staining strach in foods and household items, microscopes to look at starch...! The slime and playdoh has gone down so well much to the annoyance of parents leading away their super sticky kids!! We have had a blast, and its been great to see so many kiddies and parents experiencing science. Check out the caption from yesterdays videos to find out how you can make your own slime and playdoh! • • • • • #scienceisfun #scicomm #outreach #scienceforkids #biology #plantbiology #inspiringthefuturescientists #scicomm #science #norwichdoesscience #Norwich #schoolscience #womeninstemm #womeninscience

Or maybe you prefer to make slime (video part 2) In the previous video you saw me making up a mix of playdoh, a nice mouldable dough. Cornstarch is used to make this mouldable dough, it is composed of 70% amylopectin and 30% amylose, and give you a beautiful pliable dough (mix no.2 in this video). The first sticky slimy mess however, has been made with waxy maize. This maize starch contains no amylose, and really shows how much the properties of srarch can be altered. Without amylose molecules the starch is able to gelatinise as normal and become sticky, but is unable to reform as a stable matrix as it cools instead remaining as a slime. These distinct properties of starch means that we can use starch with different amylose and amylopectin compositions for different things- waxy starch is great as a adhesive, whilst normal starch for doughs...! Again you can make this slime at home! Use the recipe at the bottom of the previous video but instead as "waxy starch"- this is readily available online (apparently its particularly popular in protein shakes for body builders!) • • • • #instascience #science #scienceforkids #experiments #biology #starch #plantscience #scicomm

Busy making playdoh! (Part 1) You know that coloured dough we all used as kiddies to mould shapes and people, well its made mostly of salt and starch. Starch is composed of two molecules - amylose (long linear chain) and amylopectin (branched form). Most of the time starch is made of about 70% amylopectin and 30% amylose. As you heat up starch it begins to gelatinise forming paste, which is why we like adding corn starch or flour to casseroles. As the starch mix begins to cool down, the amylose molecules link together stabilising the mix and forming a moldable dough. As you will see in the upcoming video (look at my profile for the next video) you will see what a difference is seen when the composition of starch is changed... You can easily make playdoh yourself at home! : Heat 2 cups salt with 2/3 cup of water for 5 minutes. In a seperate bowl mix one cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. After the salt mix has become hot, mix the cornstarch mix in-it will instantly start becoming a dough! Cool down the mix and, add some food colouring for some added colour and voila home made playdoh! • • • • • #Instascience #homemadescience #biology #experimentsforkids #experiments #biology #plantbiology #scicomm #scientistsofinstagram #science

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