Peculiarities of the Thai Laboratory & A Preliminary Overview of my Project

(The title of this post sounds best if you pronounce “laboratory” in the british manner a.k.a. “lab-OR-a-tor-y”...)

Sometime within the past two weeks I started working regularly in the laboratory at Mahidol. [Insert nerd joy here] To say that I am completely and utterly stoked about this is a gross understatement. I am one of those sick and twisted individuals who loves, loves, loves the trials, tribulations and satisfaction that working at a lab bench brings. Until you have done it, and enjoyed it, it is a hard sensation to explain. The only way I can begin to explain it is to compare it to a “runner’s high”. Many avid runners (or swimmers/bikers/rowers/etc) claim that they can reach a state of euphoria whilst engaged in their physical activity of choice. Instead of getting my kicks from the side-stitches, lack-of-oxygen, and knee beating that running induces in my body... I get that same rush of endorphins from working in the lab. I kid you not. My own little “bench buzz.” And, I’m admitting to you all right now, I am an addict.

Working in a lab here has its own set of challenges. First of all, I am a ‘guest’ someone else’s lab. I was the head-honcho (or as Dr. Smith might say “Grand Poobah”) in the lab at Mercer. So, being in the new-kid-on-the-block and walking-on-eggshells mode has been interesting. Naturally, most everything is at least a little bit different than what I am accustomed to. Here’s a quick and dirty overview:

1. No bunsen burners. Oil lamps are used instead (I actually really like this... I hate lighting gas
2. A battery operated pestle "motor" is used to destroy the tick during the DNA extraction. Apparently, it is too much work to destroy it manually.
3. There were no gloves large enough to fit me. I felt like an ogre in the land of hobbits.
4. The pipettes have fully functioning tip ejectors... an upgrade from what I am used to.
5. I have to make my PCR cocktail from scratch. No ReadyMix... I have a brand new appreciation for the convenience of lab kits.
6. Sandals are acceptable footwear... I don’t think I can break my habit of wearing closed toe shoes.

Additionally, I am in the ‘prove-it’ stage with my mentor and fellow lab mates. While there are all incredibly nice and very accommodating, I am being constantly watched... often I even have someone peeking over my shoulder, double checking my pipette settings, and analyzing my technique. Not my favorite position to be in, but I hope that this will die down now that I have now passed the first “test” of successfully taking an engorged tick from extraction to DNA quality analysis via gel electrophoresis on my first attempt. Did I mention that I got my very first, successful results this week (on my first try, no less)???!!!! Boom-shakalacka. After a fair amount of anxiety that I somehow could have lost my lab juju somewhere over the Pacific, I not only got results but was complimented on the clarity and intensity of the bands in gel run. Let’s just say this makes be a very, very happy camper. (This is that endorphin rush I talked about earlier...)

And, for those of you who held tight through all the nerd-speak, I now have my quasi-official project!! Here is my still-being-developed-schpeel:

I am working with engorged ticks, of varying species, found on vertebrate hosts throughout the Thai National Parks system. The hosts range from the expected (wild dogs, dear, boar) to the totally bizarre (monitor lizard, asiatic water snake, king cobra). This is a small (120) subset of ticks that has been collected, over a period of 3 years, by the Ph.D student, Chalao. The vast majority of the ticks collected for his dissertation research were taken directly from vegetation (much like the ticks I collected in the GSMNP), so “my” subset are the oddities. I’ll be identifying the ticks taxonomically and then doing the molecular tests necessary to determine what (if any) pathogens they are carrying. I will be using primers that test for a wide variety of pathogens including bacteria, protozoans, and viruses.

The scope of this project is much bigger than anything I have every done and I am REALLY looking forward to spending the next 9 months with it.