Starting Honours through Flinders University

This week I went down to Adelaide to work out the final details of my honours project.  It was raining as my supervisor picked me up from the front of the Marion Holiday Park where I was staying.  I had to run to her car but even so was soaked in the 10 metre dash.  It was a big contrast from the hot and sunny conditions that I had left behind in Alice Springs.  I wasn't complaining.  It certainly made a nice change.  My first day was just sorting things out at the uni.  Getting my ID card, paying some fees, buying some text books, learning how to use the library and database systems.  It was a full day and I met many people in a blur.

For the first few days I was working on my project looking at possible goals and objectives.  The last few days was the on campus intensive study period for my microbiology and communicable diseases course.

The Flinders University Campus (taken on the Saturday when it was sunny again).  The building I was in was the grey one on the far left of the photo.

The view from the office window on a wet and windy morning.  It was a great view and I was happy to sit and look at it everyday.

The Post Grad Office.  My desk was the one behind the blow up Dalek.

While there I also had a go at the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test for matching the DNA.  This was my first time and it was certainly interesting and somewhat confusing.  You do the test first by extracting the DNA from your sample (we were using poo from a sheep, duck, chicken and dog).  You do this by putting in several different chemicals and separating it using filters and a centrifuge.  Once you've extracted the DNA you put in some buffers and other chemicals that help to grow lots of DNA strands in an amazing and mind-boggling way.  The DNA is then matched up with that of the bacteria that I'm looking at, Campylobacter and says whether it is present in the sample.  Unfortunately my samples were all contaminated, including the negative control, which wasn't good.  That means that I didn't get any useable results.  Still, it was my first time giving it ago.  I've been since given some tips of adjusting my aseptic technique to hopefully remove any contamination in the future.

At the end of the week I'd worked out the major details of my project.  The main objective will be to look to see whether Campylobacter can be found in lizard poo.  There hasn't been much study done on this with the study that has been done been based on American lizards, salmonella and E. coli.  I will also be doing a risk assessment to see, if it is present, how that might cause illness and whether or not it is a big risk.  My hypothesis is that it is there and isn't really a big risk.  it should be interesting to find out.