I am caveman. Hear me roar.

The work I did in lab today excited me so much that I will be dedicating a post entirely to that success. It's actually not as big as I make it out to be, but I thought that what I did was really cool and I'm really proud of it.

As I believe I've mentioned several times, my main project involves making transparent brains. My goal is to look at them in 3D and trace fluorescent projections from primary somatosensory cortex to higher processing regions. The transparency is working great (I think), the fluorescence is there, and the main problem has been how to image the brains. I think I finally found the right microscope (I'll find out for sure next week), and the only other problem was holding the brain steady during imaging. I needed to either find or build a containment device. I had the general idea to make a circular chamber, attached to a microscope slide, that the brain could fit in. After trying to cut up centrifuge tubes and realizing they just weren't the right size for the brains I had, there was no other choice but to just build the containment device I needed to exactly the right dimensions. Actually, that I didn't realize on my own, I was told it by my mentor. It's safe to say I had a major mental freak out at the thought of having to build something by myself like that. 


After some discussion with my mentor, we decided that it'd probably be better to build what I needed as a square instead of as a circle. Squares would be much easier to build, and it'd have about the same dimensions as a circle would. And, I could make any dimension I wanted. After carefully measuring several mouse brains (my controls, which I'll be trying first on the microscope next week) to determine the best size device to make, I finally settled on a good size to make a trial contraption to hold my brains in. 


So, yesterday and today, I've learned how to use several useful tools and machines. (Like a giant electric saw, which is really scary!). No worries, I still have all of my fingers :). My poor lab, I kept having trouble in the first few hours yesterday and would need to find someone and say "I don't speak tool...please help me!". I'll outline the main steps to making my brain holding device:

• Start with a block of plastic
• Cut it to the desired length and with (band saw)
• Cut out the inside dimensions (end mill). This was the tricky part. The original larger plastic blocks we had were higher than I wanted them, and the end mill tool I was using was too short to penetrate through the entire block. I had to use the end mill to carve out the inside dimensions as far in as it would go (which was luckily exactly the height I wanted). I was left with a border, a square canyon, and a square in the middle, still attached by the bottom
• Cut off the bottom so that block is at desired height and pop out the middle square (Dremel and hand saw). I was left with a block with the inside completely cut out. 
• Perfectly level both sides of the block (end mill again). 

End up with final product, which is exactly how I pictured it in my mind:

The idea is for the brain to go right in the middle, and the outside plastic walls hold it in place and prevent slippage during imaging. And, since I designed this to be the exact dimensions of the brain, it's a perfect fit. Now all I have to do is glue it to a microscope slide! 

I never thought I could be successful at building something on my own, constructing something and making a physical object out of a mental image. I was able to physically represent my thoughts. That's an amazing feeling which I've never experienced before. It was so neat to be able to see my idea come together slowly and work with my hands to make it happen. Also, it was kind of exciting when I'd be cutting up the block, and tiny pieces of plastic would go flying everywhere, including on me. (no worries, I was wearing eye protection!!). By lunchtime today, I was COVERED in tiny bits of plastic, which were really obvious on my black sweater. And hey, I don't mind getting dirty if I get something cool out of it! All the better that I got dirty, what's the fun in doing something cool if you can't get a little dirty? Plus, it makes for a great story to tell people. "Why are you covered in white powder?" "I spent my morning drilling through a block making a custom brain holder!!!!". 

By the way, did I mention I've been trying my best to learn about all the fun art programs like Adobe Illustrator? I drew the above image! On my computer! Super simple actually (several weeks ago I would have cried at the thought of having to produce something like that), and I'm proud of myself. Any progress is good and I'm really glad I'm learning :).

And to top it all off, I was so excited that I stayed in lab for an extra hour and started to construct a second containment chamber. It's only about a third done because eventually I told myself I was being ridiculous for staying in lab so late. So I'm going in tomorrow morning to finish it!!!! (Yes, I'm that excited about building this that I'm going into lab on a Saturday morning).