A Week in the Life of a Molecular Plant Pathologist Everyone warned me that a Ph.D. in molecular biology would involve countless frustrations, and that I should not expect to get a "Result" until at least the final year. Undeterred, I began the task two-and-a-half years ago, determined to pursue the challenge to the bitter (sweet) end. Not only did I choose molecular biology as the trendy but fiddly tool for my investigations, but the object of the study was to be the enigmatic, obligate biotrophic fungal pathogen of wheat; yellow rust. A sucker for punishment, or what? Typically, the week starts off at a moderate pace, tying up the ends of last week's experiments and deciding where the hell to go from here. Apart from always being busy, and the seemingly endless PCRs, there is no such thing as a "typical" week. Each is unique in the variety of successes, failures, and complications which spring up. Planning experiments usually starts after coffee on Monday, after I have developed an AFLP auto-rad which invariably would be better suited for sunglasses than thesis fodder. Coffee time (11 a.m.) in the Plant Science Section is important to catch up with the goings-on over the weekend, but I find it best to avoid the inevitable football conversation by checking that there is nothing worth watching on telly tonight. Back in the lab, I make up some media to autoclave, and attempt to solve the problems of an exam-frenzied undergraduate who picks this moment to come looking for Matt. Matt is my supervisor, who has that extraordinary power possessed by all PhD supervisors by which he knows exactly when his help is needed so that he can vanish, only to reappear once the panic is over. Later, after a lunchtimePostgrad Committee meeting (I have the dubious honour of being Plant Science Rep), I pour some plates, and then go down to the glasshouses to treat my wheat seedlings, collect spores (not always forthcoming), and attempt to cheer up the glasshouse staff (likewise). Then I run a gel. Last week I started early on Tuesday so as to plate out my cDNA library for secondary library screening. I was just about to take my bugs down to the culture room when Cristiana, an Italian student of notable dress sense, bounced into the lab wearing her Superwoman top and announced that, after her holiday and exams, she was now ready to repeat her PCR. I showed her where to find the Taq, and how to programme the Robocycler before I started to set up my cultures. After lunch I sat in the lab listening to the radio, purposefully pipetting PCR samples, and checking the incubator occasionally to see if there were plaques appearing on my library plates. This happened eventually at 7.30 p.m. Wednesday is usually Seminar Day, but last week it was Postgrad Symposium Day, and this meant me. I was strangely calm in the morning and I ran a gel with last night's PCR reactions. There were bands in the lanes I had hoped for, but I will need to test more isolates. Then I made plaque lifts from the cDNA library plates - one of my favourite tasks, especially in the summer because it's a good excuse to work in the cold room. I ate my sandwiches, read through my notes for the umpteenth time, and began to get nervous. The symposium started at 2 p.m. and despite the chairman's failed attempt to pronounce "Puccinia striiformis", I started off confi dently: once I had described the life-cycle, pathotype nomenclature and control methods I was over the tricky bit, and it was plain sailing into the molecular stuff and my "Results". Afterwards, everyone seemed quite impressed and commented that I've actually got lots of "Results" already. Hmm, but are they enough? The pace of activity increases on Thursday, when I fret that there are not enough days left this week. I do a plasmid prep on the cells which I resurrected from the 'fridge the previous day, to see whether I managed to clone anything last week. I will run them on a gel after I've done a restriction digest. If Cristiana is "Superwoman", then I must be "Gel Woman". Thursday is the day the radioisotope comes, so today it's probe- making for the library. Matt knows how much I hate making radioactive probes, so he comes to lend moral and practical support. After lunch I can set up the hybridisation, but first it's time for a crazy game of badminton (a quick change into my freebie AFLP tee-shirt and I am Gel Woman!) - the aim: to totally de-stress. Friday morning is fraught with activity. I wash the filters and monitor them before I put the film down. They are quite "hot", so could this be the "Result" I need? Matt takes this opportunity to come into the lab and show me a paper that he has found about a PCR test which may be useful. It's all really exciting but I am too busy to be excited today: there is washing up to be done, plants to be inoculated, my lab book to write up, things to order and gels to run. Finally, before I leave for the weekend, I write a list to remind myself what will need sorting out on Monday morning. Now, down to the pub . . . Katherine A Steele
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