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My Workday – Between Shaking Flasks and Petri Dishes

Kirsten Sachse im Labor
Kirsten Sachse im Labor
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Photo : Kevin Ryl
Kirsten Sachse im Labor.
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Photo : Kevin Ryl
Kirsten Sachse im Labor.
Photo : Kevin Ryl
Für einen Versuch am nächsten Tag gilt es, neue Zellen vorzubereiten: Dazu werden sie aus der Zellkulturflasche abgeklopft, mit einer Pipette vom Boden gelöst und in einen Inkubationsschüttler überführt.
Photo : Kevin Ryl
Sobald die Amöben zusammengeklumpt sind, werden sie mit einer Saugpipette geerntet, in eine Küvette gegeben und mit einem Stromimpuls zu einer großen Zelle fusioniert.

“I love my amebae because they are more like us than you might think,” says Kirsten Sachse. Amebae are social unicellular organisms with a diameter of around ten micrometers. They can move forward by reshaping their cell bodies. Just like us, they need contact with their conspecifics for good development, and nothing works without food. They live in wetlands such as the forest floor. Kirsten Sachse is a laboratory assistant in Prof. Carsten Beta’s Biological Physics working group. She prepares experiments with the unicellular organisms in the lab. It’s all about the question of whether a fused cell made up of many amebae can move like an independent living being.

6:30 am

The amebae have already grown in culture flasks overnight. Sachse prepares them for the laser-scanning microscope (LSM), washes them out of the flasks, and puts them into a nutrient-free solution “for starving.”

7:00 am

In the laboratory, Sachse is supervising an experiment by a bachelor’s student   in physics who wants to investigate what role the ameba’s shape plays in its locomotion. “I support bachelor’s and master’s students as well as doctoral students and postdocs in Prof. Beta’s working group with their experiments,“ she says.

8:00 am

The LSM is switched on, and the corresponding computer is booted so that the individual components of the measuring device can be identified and the laser has time to warm up. During this time, laboratory work such as sterilizing and inserting pipette tips is carried out.

10:00 am

Call to the Department for Construction and Facility Management – there is negative pressure in the laboratory, making it very difficult to open the door. The colleague takes care of it immediately because you have to be able to leave the lab quickly in case of danger. Then a coffee with a lot of milk froth. “It’s worth taking your time for this,” Sachse says. After that, she takes care of orders in the office, which mainly involves procuring the new cell microscope.

10:30 am

New cells need to be prepared for an experiment on the following day: To do this, they are tapped from the culture flask, separated from the bottom using a pipette, and transferred to an incubator shaker. At a constant temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, the cells are mixed with a nutrient solution and an antibiotic and “shaken” for a whole night. “During this process, only genetically modified cells grow, which later glow under laser excitation,” the lab assistant explains. “The antibiotic ensures that the genetically modified cells are further cultivated while the non-genetically modified cells die.”

11:00 am

The famished cells from the first work step are now clumped together to form spores. They do this under adverse environmental conditions. It is a survival mechanism that the amebae use to react to a lack of nutrients or extreme temperatures. As soon as the amebae are clumped together, they are harvested with a suction pipette, placed in a cuvette, and fused into a large cell with a current pulse.

11:30 am

Sachse begins to measure at the LSM. The laser light excites the genetically modified structures in the fused cells so that their movements can be observed. The observations can later be used to create theoretical models of cell movements.

1:30 pm

During her lunch break, Sachse enjoys a light meal, for example, a protein shake or muesli. Then she has to tidy up some things or do some routine jobs in the laboratory, including pouring agar plates into Petri dishes. On the gelatine made from algae, spores can grow, and bacteria can be cultivated well.

3:00 pm

Then it is usually time to call it a day. However, Kirsten Sachse is a volunteer on the General Staff Council and has been a confidant at the Golm campus since 2012, so she sometimes works longer hours. “Participating in the inclusion café for employees with impairments or chronic conditions is a matter that is near to my heart.”

 

This text (in german language) was published in the university magazine Portal - Zwei 2024 „Europa“ (PDF).

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