Well into the second week of the new project looking at mycoplasma contamination. We are hoping to create a defined protocol for testing for mycoplasma contamination in any cell line. Mycoplasma are bacteria without a cell wall so antibiotics cannot be used to destroy them as antibiotics work by degrading the cell wall. We tested 3 different cell lines and at two different concentrations to see if it was possible and more efficient to do using small concentrations. The tests worked fine and the cells were found to have no contamination, and it was possible to test at the smaller concentration, but there were a few extra steps we had to perform which made it slightly more time consuming.

I also had a meeting with Paul Cutler who is head of the mass spectrometry group, it was another good networking opportunity and he gave me some sound advice and also some information which I can use in my university project next year

My parents came to visit me this weekend as it was my birthday on Friday, it was really nice to see some familiar faces and nice to eat in expensive restaurants for a few days! I showed them the sights and sounds of Basel and we also took a trip to Luzern which is absolutely beautiful, a small(ish) town in the middle of the country set in the mountains and with a huge lake, we took a trip up one of the mountains and got a panoramic view of the whole area, this truly is a beautiful country.

The interns arranged more volleyball and football games during the week and the weather has been really nice so on Thursday we had a bbq by the river and played some football it was really nice and there was a really good atmosphere everybody here is very friendly and the perfect way to relax after a hard day in the office.