The Lab

The phrase refers to the occurrence of two full moons in a month as opposed to the usual one full moon per month. The probability of me or my fellow lab mates writing an article is as rare as a blue moon. After having spent almost eight months in the lab, I am still learning the tricks of the trade. In these past eight months, we had our fun moments. We played secret santa ( including pranks) and exchanged gifts, made our first poster, presented it in the Annual talks, celebrated Raj’s birthday, had a cook out at Raj’s place, and of course, lab outings, so many of them. Few things have changed though, our lab equipment had finally arrived, and we have sorted out through the numerous carton boxes to a point where unwrapping gifts seemed boring. The best part of this was we got our lab computers and cool Japanese stuff that put everything else to shame. And new members have joined the lab!! Our lab’s first short term intern joined us, from IISER Mohali and our first post doc too!! (from the same place, co-incidentally) Welcome guys!!

Music does a lot of things to us, makes us think of our loved ones, rekindle memories of childhood, dance our way into the night, or simply send us into a deep slumber. Though, our inability to process it might undermine my previous statement. How do we actually process it? Ears!! Yes, but what constitutes an ear? The outer visible structure? We have been taught so , but no. Ear is much more complex than what common people like us think it to be. It has three separate sections, the outer ear,the part which we see, the middle ear, the part which parents frightened us about when we tried to poke sticks into it, and finally, the inner ear, a snail shaped part. All three parts have to work together in order for us to truly appreciate the beauty of sound as it comes in rippling waves. So, the inner ear, is what my new lab is all about. And I am excited to be a part of this new lab, and can’t wait to start my work here. Today, we had a lab meeting about the kinds of work that our lab would be undertaking in the near future, and the projects assigned to different members. Through out the lab meeting, Raj showed us images that had unveiled certain mysteries about the development of the inner ear. And at the end, he showed us a clipping of a hair cell (hair cell here implies= auditory cells in the inner ear that have hair like projections) grooving to the rhythm of music. It was done for a BBC programme in 1987, and you can have a look at it here: The dancing hair cell. And dear friends, trust me, it would make your day as it did mine!! Not going to bore you anymore, at least not for today.

Award winning photography from the lab (Judge's choice and Peoples' choice- NCBS) A dehydrated agar plate. Forgotten Agar plate : Nishant Idea : Me Photography : Raj