My summer stats:

8 Protein Purification attempts (4 for RPA, 3 for Protein aRPA, and 1 for RPA 2+3) 

2 successful purifications

>30 SDS Page Gels

Mentored another undergrad who was new to the Lab

2 sets of the DNA Enzyme Digest, Gel extraction, and Ligation 

And MANY transformations and maxi preps (Gotta get that DNA)

I post these stats not to say "Look how much I did", but to prove to myself that I accomplished a lot this summer, even though at times it felt like everything was failing. I went into this summer with grand expectations for what I could get done and throughout the past 8 weeks I have had to learn to adjust my expectations and forge on. I think the number one thing this summer has taught me is that the hardest part about scientific research is not the science itself, but the perseverance needed to continue when something fails over and over and over again. 

My new rule of  Thumb: Never expect anything to work on the first try. 

I look back on my original plan for the summer and laugh a little. I wanted to do 6 protein purifications (2 for each protein) over the first 3 weeks and I expected them all to work HA! I learned in the first week that more than one purification a week for my protein was NOT a good idea, I was going to burn out if I did that. And it took 3 purification attempts (3 weeks in) to get my first protein. Then it took 3 more attempts to get the second protein I needed. Also, while I learned a lot about trying to modify a plasmid for the expression of my 3rd protein, most of what I have learned is what doesn't work. I optimized gel purifications, determined that our DNA ligase was dead, and tried 2 different combinations of enzymes, but in the end depending on how my last experiment next week goes, I may have to abandon gel digests and move to a new method: PCR. But learning what doesn't work is sometimes the most important information you can get. Finally, becuase I spent the whole summer purifying the protein, I did not have time to run the biochemical assays on the proteins that I had originally intended. I plan on doing those experiments when I return from my semester abroad in January. 

Also, this summer, I was not only forging ahead on my own project, I was also teaching a new student in my lab how to purify. And now, after 2 months of work together, she is going to take the reigns and try to purify on her own next week. It is really rewarding to now look at the work that she can do and know that I must have been at least a half-decent teacher :) and as I get ready to study abroad in a few weeks, I know I am leaving her with the tools to continue our project in the lab in the coming semester.

Anyways... I exit this summer with plentiful protein purification and lab knowledge and 2 successful purifications of protein (that will each be good for 50+ repeats/experiments each) and the protocols to purify sucessfully in the future.

What a wonderful experience and I can't wait to return to my research in the spring.

And I leave you all with this beautiful meme I made: