Project 2: Natasha Tian

The promise of freshly-brewed coffee and sweet temptations from the bakery have nothing to do with my enthusiasm for Friday morning lab meetings. I usually look forward to these informal gatherings of three main labs as it gives us a chance to find out what everybody is working on in the lab. Today I require an extra caffeine injection to counteract lingering jetlag from a conference in Colorado . Travelling to international meetings to share ideas with other scientists is a perk of the job. After the meeting I rush off to examine my cell cultures. This involves checking the growth of brain cells (‘neurons') and their processes called ‘axons', which navigate over long distances in the developing brain. Since it is virtually impossible to watch axons growing inside a living brain, scientists often culture cells of interest in a dish. This enables us to follow the behaviour of nerve axons day-to-day or even on a finer timescale using time-lapse video microscopy. Time-lapse essentially produces a video of the culture, which can be set to fast-forward in order to study the cells over a period of time, without having to check on them round the clock, which is often detrimental to the cells as well as your social life.

After lunch, I set to work counting cells on slides. These cells have been stained with an antibody that recognizes a particular molecule that may be involved in axon navigation. By comparing cells that lack a certain gene that is known to affect axon guidance with cells that possess this gene, I can see whether certain guidance molecules differ in quantity or distribution. By the end of the day, I feel slightly queasy - a common feeling after having stared down a microscope for a while.

A bit about me:

I am a second-year PhD student working in brain development at Edinburgh University . Prior to the PhD, I graduated from Oxford University with a Biological Sciences degree. I then took a ‘year-out' working in cancer research and antibiotic resistance with hiking trips to Peru and Iceland in-between. I began my Masters degree in Edinburgh , which counted as the first year of my ‘4-year PhD'.