Week 5- Mariela

I spent most of the time at the lab this week. Thankfully, I was able to kick off the main part of my experiment. I collected healthy donor patient samples and processed them- that is, extracted platelets from the plasma and cells from the "buffy coat", the portion of blood containing white blood cells and some platelets. I've been getting more comfortable with the techniques and with picking cells at the CellCelector (but I am definitely not equipped to handle a million dollar machine by myself!).

I was also able to process my first patient blood sample. Collecting samples from healthy donors was easy enough; there's literally millions of people that would qualify, just so long as they consent to departing with a few milliliters of their blood for science. On the other hand, proper patient donors are much, much rarer. Unfortunately, the best patient donors for our purposes would be patients that are not in the best shape: experiencing metastatic prostate cancer that has not responded positively to treatment. These patients could have higher amounts of circulating tumor cells, which is part of the focus of my project. Given the nature of their condition and the pace research moves, they likely won't be able to directly benefit from this research. At the clinic, I've often heard patients who are interested in clinical research mention wanting to also contribute to learning more about cancer and hopefully help other patients. It's important to me to use their donations wisely and try my best to

Alright, back to the lab stuff... Most of the extracts collected would eventually go on to RNA-seq, which will likely happen after I leave. I'll be sure to leave clear instructions of the protocols that I've designed and properly organize my samples, and they'll update me on the progress of the project after my departure.I'm excited to see if anything new comes out of this project!

Fun in NYC: I attended the Radiology Welcome Reception this week with some friends from my cohort. It was a lovely time talking to the doctors and sharing what my research is about with an interested audience. Not to mention the incredible food and drinks! I'm thankful to the radiology team for extending an invitation to us.