Today was my first day of work. I was assigned to follow around a post-doc as he isolated the cardiac myocytes we were culturing. In layman's speak, this translates to:
Prepare a couple of buffered solutions, one with calcium and one not.
Go downstairs through the "renovations" and pick up a lovely albino guinea pig.
Bring said guinea pig upstairs and put on lab bench.
Prepare phenobarbitol injection. (the same stuff that is/used to be used in lethal injections)
Give injection to guinea pig.
As soon as reflexes stop, indicating brain death, tape down legs.
Remove fur; cut through ribcage.
Snip dorsal blood vessels.
Snip ventral blood vessel.
Remove heart (still beating) and wash to remove blood.
Hook heart up to a drip of the buffered solutions. The calcium-containing one will cause the heart to still beat disembodied which is pretty freaking cool. Total time from death to hook up: less than one minute. Otherwise the heart is dead and you have to start over.
Rinse heart with an enzyme solution to dissolve everything but muscle tissue.
Cut up heart to release cells.
Culture cells in pretty pink stuff.
When he wrapped up the guinea pig body to hand to me, I nearly dropped it. It was still warm.
A-freaking-mazing. I cannot wait to go back tomorrow where I get to actually do some of this rather than just watch. That will probably include the shot as the girl I'm shadowing is squeamish when it comes to animals. It's amazing what sitting on your inner "oooh, the cute little animal" can do in the name of science. This research, eventually, may shed light on what causes unexpected massive, usually fatal, heart attacks (like the one that killed my grandfather) and possibly aid people with cystic fibrosis.
2 comments:
that job sounds awesome. congrats
L,
Sean
It's not just that my best friend had a heart attack this winter, it's that I also hate guinea pigs that makes me excited about your work.
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