2/21/2017: Week 2 – Exciting Exciting Moments

Sorry this post is slightly later than usual, but another week is over, and I've got some exciting news to share! 

Before I start, slight clarification: I'm not the only intern currently working with AniCell. I work with Irene and Nikash, two of my friends from school who are also conducting their Senior Project in conjunction with an internship at AniCell. On Saturdays, I also work with Sarah, an intern from a different high school.


MORE LIFE ON THE RANCH (LITERALLY)

Remember how I said we were waiting for the horses to give birth? Well, on the 17th, one of the mares (Lil) gave birth to a healthy filly! Lil was expected to deliver that night, but she unexpectedly went into labor around 2:00 P.M. I wish I could say I was there to see it happen, but the interns weren't notified in time due to the surprise factor involved. I do have some pictures though!


Beautiful Filly

Lil Finally Meets Her Baby

Unfortunately, this week's "Life on the Ranch" portion will end here, as I wasn't actually able to go to the ranch last Saturday. I do know Cheyenne is very close to giving birth, so I'll make sure to keep you all updated on her status. 


BACK TO THE LAB AGAIN

Because we were expecting Lil to give birth soon, our time in the lab this week was mostly spent preparing for the production process. This involved a lot of sweeping, mopping, and sterilizing (surprisingly, not as boring as it sounds), as well a few more lessons about stem cells and the reproductive system. Aside from this preparation, we also spent some time packing products and exploring the -80°F freezer where the liquid products are stored. 


Pretty Chill in Here

As you can see, a lot of "snow" builds up in the freezer due to the extremely cold temperature, and we spent a good amount of time playing with some of the "snow" that we cleaned out. 

Anyway, because we learned how to pack certain products during Week 1, we performed all the steps by ourselves this time (including getting the boxes to the front desk before 4:00 P.M. so the FedEx employee picks them up). Afterward, we prepared some carrying containers for the liquid products.


Tubes to Hold Smaller Tubes of Product

Eye Product or Contact Lenses?

The green picture above is of the topical product AniCell produces for eye injuries. Each dot is one product to be used on one eye. As stated in the picture caption, they look very similar to contact lenses, and are basically applied the same way. This is just one example of the product we packed. I'll try to get pictures of different products here in the future as well. Also, if anyone was wondering, the "Equus" on the side of the tube in the first picture indicates it will be holding product made from horse cells, as opposed to "Canis" tubes which hold product made by dog cells.

Now that the lab has been prepared, and more importantly, Lil has given birth, we have both amniotic fluid and amnion to work with in the lab for the production process. Although I started with some of these procedures today (they were super cool, by the way), I will elaborate on all the lab work in my next post, once I've gone to the lab again this week. However, for this post, I do have some pictures of the lab, as promised. 


Product Packaging Side of the Lab

Biosafety Hood on the Product Processing Side


ALONE TIME

On my own this week, I spent some time reading the papers I mentioned last week (the ones on cancer Dr. Barcelo gave me), but I think it would be better if I wait till a later post to go into detail about what I learned from those. Additionally, Mr. Brandon Ames, our project advisor on the ranch side, had us write up some Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for different things we do to care for the mares. I had to write one about caring for the surrounding environment, and mostly discussed spraying weeds (which can be poisonous if ingested by horses) and disposing trash. Dr. Barcelo helped me with this by explaining how to work with the SOP format. The SOP is still on very shaky legs (like Lil's filly), but I'll make sure to share some bits of it when it's more fully formed and edited.  


My next post will likely have a lot of cool information about the production process and include some pictures of the lab work (including a picture of the amnion, if you're up for that), so keep on visiting! Thank you!

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