The Attractin Gene

This week, I completed the steps necessary to sequence intron 23 of the attractin gene in the final specimen. If a majority of the sequences are sequenced successfully, I will have performed my last PCR, gel electrophoresis, PCR clean-up, and nanodropping for my senior research project. These are all processes that I have performed so frequently (completing these processes for nearly five hundred PCR tubes) that I have become well acquainted with both the timing and protocol involved; however, as I have realized throughout my experimentation in this laboratory, there are always new challenges and obstacles in research that one must work through before obtaining desired results, and, thus, I am well prepared to have to repeat certain portions of the experiment as necessary. Yet, completing the procedure necessary to sequence the three introns in the attractin gene in the samples was a very rewarding accomplishment, as I will now devote all of my time in the laboratory to cleaning and analyzing the data. I am eager to further experience and learn the next stages in this research project.

I further attended the laboratory meeting on Tuesday, where we discussed numerous statistical tests that Megan, the postdoctorate who is mentoring me in the laboratory, is applying to published data concerning genetic variance in house mice. She hopes to uncover patterns of natural selection in house mice by examining this data; however, she commonly found that the amount of data was insufficient for a complete portrayal of such patterns.