I think we may have a winner

On Monday I completed an extraction with the new method I devised and ran a gel with it as well as the results from the previous Sigma Aldrich extraction. My new extraction did not seem to produce any results, but the Sigma extraction again showed a nice heavy band as seen below.

The wells from left to right: 1 - the new extraction method, 2 - the Sigma extraction, 3 + 4 - empty, 5 - ladder, 6 - empty, 7+8 - samples Josh asked me to run (Staphylococcus aureus - I don't know the extraction method). 

It certainly is nice to see a big heavy band of genomic DNA. I had intended to conduct a PCR this week using the Sigma extraction but my plans changed... Tuesday I was unable to be in the lab as normal due to a honey bee swarm taking up residence in my house! This required me to bee there (nice pun?) Tuesday. I was made aware that the rough draft of our research paper for this semesters projects is due Thursday (today). For some unknown reason I was under the impression that I had another week. So, I spent a fair amount of time yesterday in the lab working on the draft, and more than a few hours working on it late last night. There is a downside to working late into the night - sometimes mistakes are made, sometimes they are big ones, sometimes you evidently don't save the work you are doing... I am not all the way back to square one, but I lost a lot of work. 

I decided to clear my head and get into typing mode by posting this edition of my blog. Now it's time to get back on the paper. 

and awaaaaaay we go...