Almost There....

This week I spent preparing for my coming experiments... Because I don't have as much lab experience as some others in our lab, making solutions and other simpler tasks can take me a bit longer... but I take it all in as a learning experience...

Unlike other students, I'm not working directly with another student at IHE. The original plan was to continue another student's work, but due to time constraints we have a Plan B. This is the plan I've spent this week developing and finalizing (with much help!).

I will be conducting batch tests with different species of algae. I am investigating the optimal growth conditions for high nutrient loading under varying light regimes for each species. Other studies have tested species under high nutrient loading, but optimizing multiple parameter environments has not been well-covered. After running a series of batch tests, we are hoping to be able to pinpoint optimal growth conditions under these conditions, with a hope to expand to other parameters in the future.

After this week: preparing growth medium, determining trial matrices, finding out where things are in the lab, getting trained on various equipment, making mistakes and fixing them, finalizing the protocol... it's time for inoculation! Monday will be the day the algae garden is started... and hopefully they are happy there!