My First Experiment

Flashbacks of times in the research laboratory back in NUS and memories came flooding back when I was washing the glassware yesterday, watching over the rotary evaporator this morning and spotting TLC plates earlier... That was so many years ago and those were the days... My first experiment, my first distillation, my first column chromatography, and not forgetting my first broken flask…

One thing is for sure, Now I truly appreciate the environment, facilities and resources we had back then. Chemicals, glassware, solvents, laboratory supplies, etc, they are readily available. Well, the supervisor will sometimes nag and pass some comments if we spend a little too much that month, but it was never an issue. It is a totally different story over here.

I had a lot of difficulty getting started. Chemicals was one factor, the other major factor is that glassware is very limited and many items considered “daily necessities” to us are not available. I had to re-learn the way of doing things, right down to the most basic ones like filtration. I felt like an undergraduate stepping into a research laboratory for the very first time…

Setting up an experiment is thus a challenge. I had to improvise using what is available. After much efforts and of course with a lot of help from BR, I finally started my first experiment today! :)


PS

The institute had the honour to host the visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister today. It was a grand sight. Bus loads of policemen and security guards were deployed around the campus. It’s a pity I did not manage to catch a glimpse of the PM…