"What the heck are you doing exactly?" - an explanation.

"What are you going to Maine for?" "What are you doing in the lab?" "Are you doing any work or just going to the beach?" "Are you going to be in an actual lab?" "Does it count for school credit?" These are just some of the few questions I was asked right before coming to Maine, so I thought I would explain exactly what the heck I'm actually doing here. I will try to explain the best I can without talking all scientific and making me smarter than you or giving away too much of the project (it's not my research, I'm just helping).

My work schedule (the boring part...skip forward if desired): Every morning I wake up about 7:30 am, which the sun has already been shinning in my window for a good two hours before that. I wake up with the rest of the house, fix breakfast and my lunch for the day (there are no fast food near here..except Subway but I don't count that because it's actually a cardboard factory). I leave my house at 8:30, walking about a half mile to get to work. I "start" work at 9 ish (ish is what we call "Bigelow" time). Around 12 I get an hour lunch break and then it is right back to work until 5 ish. I go home, we have dinner as a house and then we just hang out until it's time to go to bed. That is Monday-Friday.

My research (the not so boring part): From the pictures I've posted so far, you are probably thinking that all I do all day is hang out at the beach and go on research boats (picture on the left is actually me on a research boat looking like I know what I'm doing...I'm pretty good at that)...however I am a burrito sometimes when it's cold out. But hey, I didn't choose the burrito lyfe, the burrito lyfe chose me.

But in fact I get to actually wear a sexy white lab coat and goggle that make me look incredibly cute...

In simple terms what I will be genetically modifying  a parasite found in oysters into a vaccination delivery system that can be ingested through the gut. "How on earth are you going to do that Emma?" you might ask... Magic.

The not so smart-ass response? I'm working with a parasite found in oysters along the east coast and parts of Mexico that my mentor has been working with years. Awww look at my little babies growing.. proud mama moment. (picture left of the little buggers growing).
 Last year my mentor shipped these little troopers off to a lab that has humanized rats (that just means they're genetically  modified to have the same immune response to a human) and they fed the mouse P. marinus and checked for any harmful damage. The crazy thing is...nothing happened to the mouse. Their livers didn't shut down, they didn't die, they didn't even get a tummy ache! The only thing that happened is a immune response...you know what that means?.....come on you can do it..... ANTIBODIES, 500 brownie points to whoever got that. So the mouse made antibodies to the parasite but the parasite didn't cause any harmful damage to the mouse because it is an oyster parasite. So this summer I'm taking advantage of their weakness..mwahha so weak, so tiny.
 I'm going to genetically modify them to express a coating protein of a virus. If you don't know how vaccinations are made get a notebook out because here is a brief explanation: They take the coating protein of a virus (but not the harmful DNA of the virus) and insert it into your body (through a shot).
Your body will make antibodies for that coating protein so if the virus was to ever get into your body at a later date, let's say through some sick-o who decided that attending class was better idea than staying home.. Your body will recognize that as a foreign object and attack it before it can cause any harm.
If I can make the parasite express the coating protein of a virus, then it can be taken in a sugar pill and boom you have a vaccination that can be taken orally. This would be amazing because in third world countries it would be a lot easier than having to have needles, and someone there to give the shot. It would just be pill you would take. Very cost effect and these little craps can survive just about anything you throw at them.

I will be starting this project next week when the stuff I need gets in the mail. Right now I'm trying to grow the parasite on plates. They normally grow in a liquid media, so it's my job so see if I can't turn that liquid into a solid by adding the right amount of agar so they grow on a plate.
Which would be very useful for choosing single colonies and drug experiments. However, I have run into the problem that they just grow and grow but not divide. In fact the plated parasites are now 153% bigger than the liquid media...I'VE CREATED A MONSTER!!!

My non-life lab: Just a quick update... I found the perfect time to go jogging is right before sunset. There is a trail that has a lot of really cute houses right on the waterfront, which makes me miss my sister-in-law dearly she loves going on walks to look at houses.

Also, The General Store right on the corner of my street makes pants-dropping-drolling-diabetes-chocolateheaven-mississippi-mudpie-brownie-cake-pudding piece of heaven all for 3.01. I get a sugar high looking at it. My mood is starting to improve, I just figured I need a little me time every now and then and go for a run helps. Also I need to focus more on me, I use to be a lot happier before boys. So this summer I'm living boy free and focusing on me because I'm pretty awesome and study show the more attracted you are to a person, the more they make they make you laugh, which explains why I think I'm so funny ;).