December 11, Fluorescent Mushrooms and DoE

Today was split working with Courtney and Sarah.  Courtney took me to the old lab because we were going to look at hyphae, the cells that make up fungi, and the microscopes were located in the old building.  The lab was more than half the size of the old one!

From my reading I learned there are three types of hyphae cells: generative, skeletal, and binding.  Courtney stained a variety of fungi samples which we used fluorescent microscopy to view.  Beneath are some pictures of what we saw.  

Fungi grown in a liquid agar culture; the tendrils are hyphae.  I believe this one is skeletal hyphae.

Close up of the previous picture.

 

Hyphae without fluorescent light.

Hyphae from mold.

Hyphae from mold, the round circles you see clustered at the edges are spores!

You can also see the mold spores closer up here.  The round, circular blobs that cover the surface are the spores.

This is an image of a clump cell, a means for transporting between hyphae.  This image was taken on an RPI microscope.

 These images don't compare to seeing the real thing.
After spending a good deal of time looking at these samples, I met with Sarah to discuss my first DoE, Design of Experiment.  My first experiment is going to be helping with Sarah's research with the coffee grinds previously mentioned.  Over the break, I will be writing up my DoE, and when I return we will begin work.  I am going to be looking at the mushroom's reaction to light during its growth.  It's exciting to be applying my lab report writing skills to a real-life situation.

December 4th, Busy Day of Mushrooms

On December 4th, I began the day by learning to make substrate with Sarah.  We mixed a variety of nutrients with the organic material which we then sterilized in pressure cookers.
Then I proceeded to mix and pack substrate and mycelium into plastic square containers for the fungi to grow in.  It was messy business, especially when I transferred a liquid agar culture.
Sarah then proceeded to show me examples of contamination.  Some were very obvious while others not so much.  We actually walked by two people, working with some contaminated mushroom and it was not pleasant to smell.  
Since we finished early, Sarah gave me more perspective of her work.  She told me about a project where she was trying to make a replacement for floral foam which contains many harmful substances.  Then she gave me a mushroom set part of an informal experiment, with the coffee grinds mentioned in earlier posts, for me to grow.  The pictures beneath are of the pack she gave to me.  Hopefully the mushrooms will successfully grow because then they can be harvested and eaten.
Next time, I get to begin working on my DoE (Design of Experiment).

November 27

No meeting due to confusion in ride schedule.