Frog Development Lab

Breaks, to me, are a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's a much needed change of pace from my hectic school schedule. A chance for me to go home, relax on the couch, catch up with friends and family, and in general do a whole lot of nothing. On the other hand, it seems the weeks before breaks are the most stressful of the year. That being said, I decided that for my first post I would share with you one of the several reasons for the previous two weeks of sleep deprivation.

One of the classes I'm taking this year is developmental biology, a 3000 level lab class. The class is a challenge for sure, but at the same time I have to say that it is one of the most interesting classes that I've ever taken. Three weeks ago in lab (Thursday afternoons) we took freshly fertilized frog eggs and separated them into three groups. We incubated one group at room temperature (22 degrees Celsius), one at 26 degrees Celsius, and one at 28 degrees Celsius. Then over the next three days we came into the lab at planned intervals (3-4 hours to start and then about 8 hours once development slowed) and observed what stage the eggs were at. For you alert readers yes, that means we had to come into lab over the weekend, I was in the lab staring through a microscope at three or four in the morning more than once during my weekend.

Luckily for you, I took pictures of the eggs/embryos at their various stages of development so you can all get an idea of what it is that biology majors do here at Elmira. The pictures are in order from egg to a very early tadpole. All of the pictures were taken using a regular digital camera held up to a dissecting microscope. The magnification for every picture is somewhere around 10 times.




Well, I am officially home from break and it is now time for me to relax. Expect more posts soon! If you have any questions just let me know, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

On a completely unrelated note, let's go Phillies! First game of the NLCS tomorrow, and I finally have time to watch.