ACTG

Day 26 June 16 – ACTG

Ok so today I worked with the genetic machine I looked at yesterday. Well the man who taught me was very nice and patient with my lack of Arabic, but we had communication issues. Most language barriers can be overcome with drawings, hand signals, or help from others; complex explanations of genetic procedures are not one of those things that can be overcome. I think the name of the machine was the PBR, PCR, or something like that. I was trying to organize my explanation of the machine and the process involved but realized my understanding was laughable, I didn’t even understand the damn name….
I feel really bad when people here buy me stuff, even if it is customary. Went into the village after work and I asked what a food item was. He insisted on buying it for me, despite my best efforts. Now the thing cost 12 pounds, a little over 2$. Now two dollars is nothing to me for lunch, it's a bargain. Then again it is one eighth of his monthly pay. It is annoying but I guess if the tables were turned i would be doing the same thing for him in the US.
When I come hope I promise to figure out what the machine did and how it works. For my own reference, look up master mix and lycera.


By the way ATCG are base pairs, I think. They are abbreviations for the four chemicals that make up DNA. Hey any scientists reading this, any help would be appreciated, or anyone with WIKIpedia and time to kill.

Abassa, Mi Casa

Day 25 June 15 – Abassa, Mi Casa

I left early with Dr. Elghobasy to head back to Abassa, I had not been back for almost two weeks. We stopped to pick up some food on the way there. I returned to my room to put away my food and found that I had a roommate; the evidence was his dirty dishes.

I was then taken to the Infectious Diseases Laboratory to spend the day. There I learned that there are two categories of diseases, infectious and deficiencies. Infectious diseases include Fungal, Bacterial, and Parasitic. Deficiencies, an example would be a vitamin C deficiency.

I was shown an example of a fungal infection in the laboratory next door. Fungal infections are usually secondary infection, meaning they get this because they are already sick. The fish can easily get these diseases due to improper handling. If the slime is scraped off of a fish, the animal becomes much more susceptible to infection. This can occur when fingerlings are moved from pond to pond or anytime fish are moved with nets. The fish I saw looked like it has cotton balls growing off of its sides, under the fungus was an open wound. The fish’s fins were also rotting and looked terrible. We scraped off a small piece of the cotton ball and examined it under a microscope.

Then I left with a geneticist to look at a machine used to compare genetic material. I think the name was the PBR machine. The geneticist told me that the basic purpose of the machine was to compare two pieces of genetic material and tell if a certain strain is present in both samples. I am looking forward to working with this machine tomorrow.

I feel bad for the lower level of scientists here, even with a masters degree they still make 100 pounds a month, yea 20$, that sucks. They work for this small amount of money in the hope that they will move up the ladder where they can make much more money. Most of them also have side jobs; one owns her own veterinary clinic, another has an internet shop. Only after then asking many times did I actually tell them that at Pizza Hut I earn their months pay in three hours.