Sending Samples and Preparing for the Experiments

Sending Samples and Preparing for the Experiments

Hello class! Today our dissecting group started dissecting Soapberry bugs and Boxelder bugs to send into the genome center later today. The rest of the class was split into groups to prepare for ways to measure and gather the data we needed (our experimental procedure). The main topics that were discussed in class today were 1) rearing soapberry bugs 2) experimentation on soapberry bugs and 3) Materials needed for the future.  

Schedule for this class:

Time

Activity

9:00

Meet at Briggs Hall classroom

9:10

Break into small groups to find potential ideas for experimentation

9: 30

Regroup and share ideas

9:45

Vote and discuss ideas for further research

10:00

Dissectors start to dissect

10:05

The rest of the class breaks into groups to prepare for experimentation

12:25

Clean

12:35

Set class agenda for 5/1

Dissecting Group 

The dissecting group got the gut samples from the soapberry bugs and boxelder bugs collected during the last class period. This team did a great job extracting 5 soapberry guts and 5 boxelder bug guts. The results from these sent samples will be back around week 8 into the quarter but let's hope they get here sooner! 





Experimentation Groups

The class (except the dissectors) broke into three main groups. The experimentation group was one of the three main groups. However, the experimentation group had two main focuses which were on sensory function/sensitivity in soapberry bugs (color, vibrations, boldness) and soapberry reaction to antibiotic treatments. Many great ideas came up and can be made into reality with a little bit more structure and planning. We also went over the needed chemicals for the antibiotics and a possible synthetic diet. As of right now, we as a class have discussed trying to test for soapberry bug boldness, survival rate, and preference by using antibiotics and behavioral tests. We are open to other ideas however we plan to solidify our procedure to make logical steps to start our experiments by the end of next week. 



(I did not get a picture of the other group but they were important to the process as well)





Soapberry Bug Rearing Group

This group was tasked with coming up with a way to raise soapberry bugs so we could have a stable supply of soapberry bugs under certain conditions (fed 2 types of food and a synthetic diet). We did a great job by taking the initiative and identifying the needed resources to have replicability in our experiments. After it was known what we needed for these future populations, this group was sent to get 50 containers for separate populations of soapberry bugs under certain conditions. This is to ensure we have enough diversity for the various experiments we would like to conduct. 




(I am so bad at taking photos and I'm so sorry) :(



Homework:

- R4 homework due Friday, May 3rd

- Bring to class if you have them:

  • spray bottle
  • some sugar (regular table sugar)
  • some paint (a few colors and a color similar to the red of the soapberry bugs)
  • bottle caps
  • collect more soapberry bugs before the next class if you have the chance
  • Anything else you might think would be useful for the experimentation phase
  • (anything relating to other mentioned topics not discussed above)

Schedule for next class:


Time

Activity

9:00

Meet at Briggs Hall classroom

9:10

Debrief and discuss prior information from the last class

9: 20

Class discussion about how to carry out our experiments (lay out some sort of flowchart or steps)

10:20

Once the procedure order is decided, then we can refine the chosen experiments in small groups (start collecting all specific literature used for citations)
12:20Class talk to see what we have come up with (possibly starting setup or experiments)

12:30

Wrap up/set next agenda

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