Individual Blog Assignment #2

One of the big challenges my group encounter would be the pipetting process, because the protein samples have to be loaded in an angled form. Our group also encountered a problem with the protein bands in the first gel: they were really big and smeared. For this reason, we ran another gel and found a greater issue when we cracked open the cassette gel plate. The top part of the gel was missing. Not long after, we came to realize that due to an aggressive rinse of the gel plate through DI water, the gel was pierced and drained down into the sink. This gave us an opportunity to run a third gel and the results were satisfying.

In the error analysis section of the discussion, I would like to discuss the extraction of the proteins. The size of each sample can really affect the results of the gel. Based on the first gel our group ran, the samples were too diverse in size, causing some protein bands to be thick and smeared. In the second and third gel we measured our sample to be around the same range of weight and the gel results were much more improved. Errors can in turn be beneficial because running multiple gels helps us get better data to compare/contrast and produce more accurate results.