Bye bye, cells

This week has been a jittery sort for me. I’ve been everywhere trying to sort out my work and it hasn’t gone anywhere. So I guess what happened yesterday should have come as a no-surprise. When I stepped into the cell culture lab in the morning, the carbon dioxide indicator on the incubator reads 9% instead of the usual 5. I shuddered. Now, the lab I was working at isn’t exactly new, so it was no big deal for equipments to go haywire. Anyway, the cells had been incubated over the weekend and I have to take them out since changing the medium and checking on them is a must. Happily, I got everything prepared and peeped under the microscope. To my horror, I see no sign of life or any sign of cell proliferation. Perfect. I stoned for a minute or two, thinking of what could have gone wrong over the weekend. When my mind clears, the word “incubator” popped up. Ahaa… Apparently my intuition is a spot-on. Seeing 9% carbon dioxide in the morning meant trouble.

Now, I’m no expert. And I have no idea what excessive carbon dioxide can do to those delicate cells. So I took out my phone and texted the expert, waited for minutes before she came hurriedly. It was an agony. It felt like a drama - waiting outside the operation theatre for the doctor to announce the patient is dead. Ok, I am exaggerating but you get the gist of it right? Yes, the cells were half dead, not fully dead yet. I reported the fault and the earliest the vendors could get it fixed is today. And this morning, I checked. My cells are dead. There goes my effort. Anyway, sacrifices are necessary in cell work and no point blaming anyone because everyone’s experiment failed!! After the entire episode-of-the-day, I had a rolling good time at the welcome week. It was a total waste of time, but having free lunch and taking a stroll around school thereafter with some friends was refreshing. Before long, it was evening and my wonderful LZ was waiting to go home with me. Wow…I didn’t know it take so little to make my day!!

Another thing. I was drying some powder dissolved in toxic solvent and in a flurry, I slammed the oven door on my hand just now. Don’t ask me how.

I realized it’s only Tuesday, and it is already so eventful.