Extracting RNA from DIATOMZ

In order to measure transcript abundance to collect data for my project, I need to extract RNA from frozen diatom cells. These diatom cells remain "frozen in time" from my experimental assays, which expose lines of diatoms to ammonium. By freezing the cells in liquid nitrogen, I can later extract their RNA and get a good idea of what the transcript abundance was at that time.

To find out more about my experimental assays click on the link up there (which is also here) and then watch my video down below about RNA extractions. These videos together describe some of the most important work for my project!

Extracting RNA from DIE-atoms, among other things

I've been very busy in lab and such, but managed to post a new video onto the YouTubes, which you can see right here:

  
Warning: awesomely awesome intro in this video that's totally worth watching.

It's funny, we had a pretty cold and slightly miserable October that brought us our first snowstorm of the year, but so far November has been very kind to us. Yeah, today it was cold and rainy, but we've had temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s for most of the month with plenty of sunshine.

While I've enjoyed the beautiful weather on campus, I know all too well it'll get really cold once again and more snow will fall. But until then I'll be sure to appreciate the nice fall weather as long as it lasts.