My 2010 Summer

So, this was the first summer that I had spent away from home, and away from the farm (duh).  So almost a year ago, I started to look for something to do for the summer as a trial, which I thought would be interesting, and help to advance me towards that magical degree known as a Ph.D.  I found a few programs known as REU, or Research Experience for/as Undergraduates, basically an internship, but more research based in a lab.  I applied to two, and got in to the first one that I wanted to be in down in Lincoln Nebraska, about 470 miles from home.

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Once I got down there, we all (62 of us from all over the States, and Puerto Rico) met and got to know each other.

Out at the picnic to get to know each other

So after getting to know each other, we split off to each of our research areas.  Mine was in the Bioenergy program, so we went to the lab that we would be in for the rest of the summer while we were there.  Now since I was working with DNA of sorghum (a relative of corn that is more drought tolerant and can survive warmer temperatures), and I was looking for lines that showed cold tolerance, and the markers that could be used to identify them from a molecular biological basis.   

The press to squeeze the sap out of to test

Sorghum leaves drying after cleaning of the soil

Gel-boxes to run the DNA

Gel-cam to take a picture

At the end of the 10 wk program, we all made a poster to showcase the work that we did

My poster

So that was my summer of 2010, lets see what happens for this coming summer