Marked "safe" from the data summary today




If I had to encapsulate the entire module in one phrase, it would be "so close, yet so far away." Why, you ask? Let's first start off with the creation of a figure and caption for the gel electrophoresis.

There I was, sitting at my desk, cranking out the picture of my gel, thinking "Oh, this shouldn't take more than 20 minutes tops." An hour passes by, with a less than average title and a caption that is either too descriptive or not descriptive enough.

Next was the schematic. I feverishly search Biorender looking for the perfect picture to represent the small molecule microarray. I end up using a picture of 96 well plate because its close enough.

We then had to write a Methods section. My partner and I go back and forth asking each other questions in which we both don't know the answer to. Is it ok to have two parentheses right next to each other? Is including this volume necessary? A couple hours pass by and voilà! A methods full of uncertainty.

Finally, we have the DSF assay. I had a good feeling that we would get satisfactory results. Maybe we had the magic touch, and ended up picking a ligand that would revolutionize the scientific field. *sees FKBP12+ligands has the same melting temperature as DMSO alone* Nevermind.



Basically, in almost every assignment, I never really felt like I was "done," and instead always felt like I was close enough. I could never get to the point where I felt like it was spotless. I guess in a sense, this encapsulates most of science. Does a researcher ever feel like their work is perfect and there's nothing more to be done? I feel like I could write 100 drafts of the data summary and still feel like I could do something better despite working on it for hours. Scientific writing is a slippery slope, and it's gonna take some hard work and immense concentration to successfully make it through module 2 and complete the research article.



- Sarah Ishamuddin

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