Animal Resource Center Field Trip Recap

Dear Random Person,

On Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 12:51pm I arrived at a location with many flags hanged on a corridor. The various flags pertain to various countries that I do not recall the name of. This location is more properly known as FXB Lobby located on 651 Huntington Avenue. On this day we were going to visit the Animal Resource Center.

At the Animal Resource Center we went on a tour lead by _____________. On this tour we learned about what the workers at the Animal Resource Center do with their animals, what the animal resource center is used for, what materials and resources the Animal center has, and what procedures must be taken to enter the facility. The main animals that we looked at were mice and rats. The rats were separated by their sex, mating and those that were being experimented on.

Before we enter the facility we had to undergo an interesting routine that every visitor that is entering the Animal Resource Center. From the FXB lobby we went down stairs and then ________ opened the door using her access card into the Animal Resource Center. After we all entered into the cramped space, she made sure the door behind her was tightly shut. The Animal Resource Center has air tight lock doors. Once inside the small room, she told us to put on these funky looking jump suits. I personally taught it looked very dumb, but hey those are the rules into getting to the Animal Resource Center. Plus, I later learned from __________ that the reason all visitors must wear this weird looking jump suit is to help protect the animals in the center against any outside infectious disease or life form that can be harmful to the animals inside the center. In addition, ________ told us that they ran out of jump suits in our size so we had to wear the X-Large suits. Seriously, they were design for very tall and big people because I felt like I was wearing my two bed sheets. The color of these jump suits were dark navy blue, and we also had to wear a head cap and what I thought look like the same head cap but for my feet. Once we looked like we were ready for Halloween we were allowed to enter the next room. "Gasp"...to our surprise there was something else we had to accomplish before seeing the furry little creatures. We had to take a shower. I honestly taught in my head, seriously? Am I going to need to take my clothes off? I really don't want to do that. Luckily, ___________ then mentions that we have to take an "air shower". I was glad to hear that, yet questionable about what exactly that was? Every individual had to step into a chamber individually so he and she can take the air shower. Once both doors of the chamber were locked, air began to blow at your face and all around you, while wearing the funny looking costume. It's like a Jacuzzi without the water. It had the same type of air sockets to blow air towards you.

Finally, we are inside the furry creature’s lair. So exciting! That's until you take a good sniff of the room and your face turns to an angry pit bull's face. Actually I forgot to mention, that smell was notable since you enter the small little room where we put on the jump suits. Ok, so now that we were inside. The first thing I saw many yellow and dirty looking cages. We were escorted by __________ into the mice room. There we saw a huge collection of mice. Each cage had a certain owner and special trait. Each card had a different colored card that stood for something about the mice or rats in the cage. Any cards with three letter symbol STAMPED on the card meant that the mice or rat was going to be let to rest because he or she was not needed for the study anymore.

Rats are smarter than mice and dogs, according big cool guy name ____________. He showed us the rat room, they were place on stands just like the mice, and each rat was in a cage. Most of these cages had two or more mice or rats. The rats were big and ALBINO. They use albino rats for studies, because I think he mention that they live longer. However, I do remember that he said albino rats tend to obtain cancer tumors more than non albino rats. So scientists study these cancer tumors using different drugs on the rats. I learned from the cool guy named __________ that the rats that are more excited and come close to you to smell you are the rats that have not experienced many injections or experimentation. However, the rats that are just sitting away from you and don't move around too much are the rats who get poked around a lot.

Rats and mice are used for experimentation because they are not expensive to keep alive, and they reproduce very rapidly. I forgot the exact number but it takes about every 18 or 24 days I think he said, for mother rats or mice to give birth again. The mother rat or mouse can get pregnant while giving birth.

The experiment that the workers at the Animal Resource Center do with the rats is figuring out what diseases the rats carry and what can be used to cure the diseases. This is useful for humans. The sad part is when the rats have to die.

We were also demonstrated there MORG room? Well I think it was a morg room for mice and rats? It was the room where they do surgery on the rats and mice. They place anesthesia on the rat or mouse and use a microscope to do the surgery more carefully and accurately because you are handling such a small delicate creature.

_________ also mention to us some biological genotype references to how they place the rats and mice into certain cages and how they experimentation on them. However, I'm sorry because I haven't taken Biology since freshman year and don't recall much about what she was saying, but it sounded cool.

Danaisha: The trip was ok but not really something that I was interested in because I am not a big fan of rats and mice; they are DISGUSTING little creatures. Another cool part was wear the funny looking scrubs and we had to take an air bath that was really cool.

Roger: I found the trip to be interesting. Personally I find everything new interesting. However, there are things I liked and disliked about the trip. I like how I learned many facts about what the Animal Resource Center does and what it is used for. Yet, I find it cruel and sad how they are scientist out there that experiment on defenseless living creatures, such as mice and rats. I'm sure they would not like to be poked around and giving injections just to know how a certain drug will work. Don't get me wrong, I like learning new things and I like science. However, if it results in bringing the death to a living thing I find that corrupt and wrong. Knowledge is great, but greed for knowledge is destruction.

Sincerely,
Roger and Danaisha

Reflection

Hello, the two longitudinal studies that I have been assisting on for the past 3 weeks are ACCESS (Asthma Coalition for Community and Social Stress) and GUTS (Growing Up Today Study). I find my lab work to be something very new and unique because it is something I have not done before. Learning about a study that goes way back to the year 2000 and actually being research assisting in such an interesting study is wonderful.

I have found the fact about cortisol hormones being a person's saliva sample being used to understand the stress levels of an individual to be very interesting. (Yes, I have said it multiple times, but it's still cool). I found entering data onto a data base to be interesting when you look at the questionnaires and the answers they had respond or the comments they left.

I found that both field trips to Children's Hospital and the Animal Resource Center to be very interesting, because I learned new facts and careers and job possibilities that I never knew about. I didn't know what a pathology was before the field trip at Children's Hospital and I didn't know that rats are very smart, even smarter than dogs before the field trip at the Animal Resource Center.

I learn that there many possibilities at any college, you just have to be engaged and willing to work at it. Also that a lot of them like pancakes.

My Workspace- Roger

Hello, my name is Roger D. Cruz. This summer I am participating in the Harvard Research Apprenticeship Program also known as RAP. I work in the Channing Laboratory on the west side of the Landmark building. My work enviroment is very friendly and quiet. My workspace is an office setting that consist of a cubical with a computer and other useful supplies at each cubical. At the channing lab Xiomara, my lab partner, and I work on completing data entry. Meaning, we enter the data collect through the bioimpedence analysis questionaires onto the PAM database for the ACCESS study. We have also been alphabetizing labels for the cortisol collecting kit for the GUTS study.

Entry 1- Roger D. Cruz

What's your name?

-Roger D. Cruz

What do you like to do in your free time?

-I like to play soccer, run outside, listen to music, play the violin, read, walk, and just hang out.

Describe what you're doing at RAP and how you feel about it.

-In the RAP program my co-worker Xiomara and I, are assisting in the ACCESS and GUTS study being done in our lab. ACCESS stands for Asthma Coalition for Community, Environmental, and Social Stress. GUTS stands for Growing Up Today Study. We have done data entry for questionnaires relating to to both studies. This data would be later used for analysis.

Tell me a little about yourself. What kind of music do you like? What's your favorite color? What's your sign? What clothes do you like to wear?

I like Spanish, R&B, Rock, Hip Hop, and Instrumental Classical music.

What's something cool or interesting you learned this week that you didn't know before?

That cortisol a hormone that is present in one's saliva due to stress.

What's your dream job?

That's a difficult question. I personally like chemistry, physics, and biology. I like to help people, as well as travel. I would like a job where I am in a science field helping people and also seeing new places.

Final (very important) question: Pancakes? Waffles? French toast??

All of the above (preferably french toast).