Imaging insect brain stems with a scanning electron microscope to see how well they are spread out on a new type of biosensor. I was told I was imaging the top of the sensor, I only found out afterwards that it contained insect brains.
I conducted some research more than 30 years ago to find out what happens to fish bones after people use the fish for eating, and the bones become part of the archaeological remains that we find today.
First, I needed to obtain some fish bones from dead cod. I obtained filleted cod bodies from some generous fishermen at a fish market in Grimsby. I then carried the cod back to London (where I was working) in a giant black plastic sack on the train. Unsurprisingly I got some strange looks from other passengers.
To get the bones, I had to dissolve the flesh off them using an enzyme (a protein that speeds up chemical reactions such as those involved in breaking down flesh) called “papain” that comes from papaya fruit. To do this, I soaked the cod bodies (some of them 1 metre long) in the warm enzyme solution for several days until the flesh dissolved, then sieved the bones from the horrible gelatinous gunk and then washed and cleaned them individually before drying them.
Although I carried this work out in a fume cupboard (a cupboard with fans in it to suck away fumes and toxic compounds) the smell of dissolving fish filled my university department, making me very (more?) unpopular with my academic colleagues. I also chose to do the work dressed only in a lab coat, underpants and trainers, to avoid having all of my clothes smelling of rotten fish. I didn’t do it more than once…
I was carrying out research in reducing effects of peristomal skin complications. One of the digestive enzymes I studied was trypsin and I looked at the activity of trypsin in various pH buffers. To take it a step further I added fetal bovine serum, a natural inhibitor to trypsin. As the name stands it was derived from the blood of a baby cow. Thankfully I was only using very small quantities.
Comments
Andrew commented on :
I have worked on investigating how long cream cheese takes to go off. Gets pretty smelly!
James commented on :
I conducted some research more than 30 years ago to find out what happens to fish bones after people use the fish for eating, and the bones become part of the archaeological remains that we find today.
First, I needed to obtain some fish bones from dead cod. I obtained filleted cod bodies from some generous fishermen at a fish market in Grimsby. I then carried the cod back to London (where I was working) in a giant black plastic sack on the train. Unsurprisingly I got some strange looks from other passengers.
To get the bones, I had to dissolve the flesh off them using an enzyme (a protein that speeds up chemical reactions such as those involved in breaking down flesh) called “papain” that comes from papaya fruit. To do this, I soaked the cod bodies (some of them 1 metre long) in the warm enzyme solution for several days until the flesh dissolved, then sieved the bones from the horrible gelatinous gunk and then washed and cleaned them individually before drying them.
Although I carried this work out in a fume cupboard (a cupboard with fans in it to suck away fumes and toxic compounds) the smell of dissolving fish filled my university department, making me very (more?) unpopular with my academic colleagues. I also chose to do the work dressed only in a lab coat, underpants and trainers, to avoid having all of my clothes smelling of rotten fish. I didn’t do it more than once…
mohammedfaraazullah commented on :
I was carrying out research in reducing effects of peristomal skin complications. One of the digestive enzymes I studied was trypsin and I looked at the activity of trypsin in various pH buffers. To take it a step further I added fetal bovine serum, a natural inhibitor to trypsin. As the name stands it was derived from the blood of a baby cow. Thankfully I was only using very small quantities.