Week 8

I’m not going to be imaging the new samples in my immunohistochemistry research until Tuesday but here are some pictures of the initial results that were promising. The most recent assay focused upon shaving away as much excess epithelium and connective tissue as possible- in some of these images it is unknown whether the brain is present in the plane.

First neuropeptide- Choline acetyltransferase (red) with DAPI (blue)

Calcium-dependent neuropeptide

Corazonin

Immunohistochemistry with earthworms hasn’t been done in the lab/anywhere else before so the positive results are encouraging. The fluorophores are all attached to various invertebrate neuropeptides that earthworms may or may not have.

I appreciate the work life balance that I’ve been able to have this summer. It can become very unbalanced in research and my superiors actively try to make sure that I’m not overworked. I was able to take a trip up to NYC to see relatives who were visiting the states and it was perfectly fine to take a day off to accommodate that.