Week 5
Well, there seems to be a recurring theme present when it comes to my genius hour. Procrastinating is definitely my weakness. I knew we were going to be in Bozeman this week, so what did I plan to do? Not my blog! So, here I am writing it between competitions.
This week I learned about the actual flushing of the embryos. This takes place seven days after the donor cow comes into heat. For ease of understandimg I'm going to simplify things a little. A catheter is inserted just past the opening of the cervix and into the uterus. The end of the catheter outside of the cow has a Y-connector so that there can be both an inflow and outflow. Normal saline solution is added to the uterus and is agitated rectally to stir up the embryos. The fluid is then emptied from the uterus, and the embryos are filtered out. This process is repeated five to ten times to ensure all the embryos have been collected. About one liter of fluid is needed for this process. After they are filtered out, the embryos need to be inspected. This will be what I do next week. I still haven't managed to make it out to Fort Keogh yet, but I hope to soon!
I tried to put a picture up to give a visual but I can't seem to figure it out. I will try again when I have my computer.
This week I learned about the actual flushing of the embryos. This takes place seven days after the donor cow comes into heat. For ease of understandimg I'm going to simplify things a little. A catheter is inserted just past the opening of the cervix and into the uterus. The end of the catheter outside of the cow has a Y-connector so that there can be both an inflow and outflow. Normal saline solution is added to the uterus and is agitated rectally to stir up the embryos. The fluid is then emptied from the uterus, and the embryos are filtered out. This process is repeated five to ten times to ensure all the embryos have been collected. About one liter of fluid is needed for this process. After they are filtered out, the embryos need to be inspected. This will be what I do next week. I still haven't managed to make it out to Fort Keogh yet, but I hope to soon!
I tried to put a picture up to give a visual but I can't seem to figure it out. I will try again when I have my computer.
Sounds like you are learning quite a bit! It sounds like you are really enjoying your research project. I completely understand the whole procrastination problem, I do the same thing. Hopefully, though, we can get back on track and finish our projects on time!
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