Fast & Furious

The last two months zoomed by, fast and furious, as I shuffled between OC and MBU, carrying out experiments from milligrams in one lab to micrograms scale in the other.

Experiments after experiments, workups after workups, columns after columns. The cycle gets repeated every other day in OC: set up new experiment, quench and workup, purification, isolation and characterization of product.

Unsuccessful reactions and repeated attempts. Exploration of other synthetic pathways, alternative approaches and strategies. Three different projects running at the same time. When one gets held up, we shift gear immediately and work on the other ones.

Other than what I learnt in science classes during my primary school education, I come from an almost zero biology background. My one and only formal course in biology was BP101 on fundamental plant biology in the university, which I scored a ‘C’ grade.

Once again, I had to start from ground zero in MBU. Instead of round bottomed flasks, experiments were done in micro centrifuge tubes. Instead of glass syringes and stainless steel needles, micro pipettes and micro tips of different size ranges were used. Where we always take extra care and precaution to keep moisture out of the experiment environment, aqueous solutions are used predominantly as the reaction medium here.

A little more confusing were the calculations which were done in terms of concentration instead of stoichiometric equivalents. Then there are the different reagents, buffers and stock solutions to prepare, dilutions and more dilutions. Mass spectrometry, UV absorption tests, HPLC and gel electrophoresis are but just some of the many techniques that were used for monitoring reaction progress which I had to master quickly.

Gel electrophoresis is something totally new to me. It took me one whole day to cast the gel for my first gel electrophoresis experiment. Now I do it in about 1.5 hours. The first few gels broke into a few pieces when I tried to take them off the casting plates. Now I can make them slide easily into the container where staining and de-staining of the gel will be carried out next.

Re-training for the various instruments had to be done as the systems and software were different from what I had used before. New methods had to be developed for the HPLC analyses. Absorption wavelengths had to be determined for the compounds synthesized. Coupling studies to be carried out.

There is still more to be done.

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I have not been able to find any inspirations for writing. Despite the myriad thoughts bouncing around in my mind, keeping me awake many of the nights, they would evaporate like water dropping onto a sizzling pan the moment I try to capture them. Each time I open the word file, we stared at one another blankly …

Disparity

A leisurely walk on a Sunday afternoon through Matikere painted yet another shade of this vibrant city.

Dusty unpaved roads, littered with cow dung and trash. Low concrete walls of contrasting colours, wooden doors that peeped into small dark spaces. Pots cooking over makeshift fire stoves, burnt smell of wood filled the air. Little children play on the streets, barefooted, pushing a used car tyre around with a stick. The older ones, slightly over seven years old, washed, cooked or worked. The folks gave puzzled and curious looks at this stranger walking through the lanes of their neighbourhood.

Families, some as big as 7, lived behind those wooden doors. In their little enclosure, a tiny 4-walled space no bigger than the bathrooms belonging to some of the houses in the neighbouring estate, they carry out their daily activities.

On the other side of the road, it’s a totally different picture. Big multi-storey houses, marble floors and roof terraces. Solar panels, UPS and wireless internet connection. Security guards on sentry outside the house 24 hours, personal drivers and maids, and whose folks fly first class.

Distinct is the disparity between the rich and poor.