El Nido
The only way I can see doing this trip justice is by giving it its own section. El Nido hands down has been the most beautiful place I have visited. Crystal clear water surrounded by limestone cliffs full of bright green flora.
We left for the airport Thursday night at around midnight. Our flight was at 4 AM and we wanted to be early for our flight. After we arrived in Puerto Princesa, hopped in the van we rented and the driver sped off. What we thought would be 6 hours filled with sleep was anything but. We arrived 4 hours later, no sleep to mention, and all maybe just a little car sick. Despite the uncomfortable ride, we did arrive at our Hostel 2 hours earlier than expected. Getting to the hostel from the street was definitely interesting. You walk down a very steep flight of stairs, probably about 30 of them, to the beach, where you are supposed to walk across to get to the hostel( the beach was the only way to access it as there were other buildings behind it). The complication was that we came right as high tide so when we got to the bottom of the steps the only place to walk was water. Hey, it adds to the adventure. So, we stumble inside, check-in, put our things in the corner, and wait for our rooms to be ready. I immediately went to the water and went for about an hour-long swim. Once we moved everything into our rooms we went back upstairs and started socializing with the other guests. Within maybe 10 minutes we already made friends with people from all over the world. Singaporeans, British, Spanish, and of course the local Filipino staff who were amazing. Each night there was some type of contest where the winner would win a free breakfast. A group of us decided to go out in El Nido with some of our new friends which ended with us at a Billards bar with everyone having a great time. The next day was the boat tour which was easily a top 5 most surreal experience of my life. Just being on the boat and seeing the limestone cliffs towering over us was incredible. The boat tour consisted of 5 stops. The first and last were both similar where we played sand volleyball. Knowing me I finished the game with most of my body covered in sand. Another stop was snorkeling where we saw beautiful reefs and I even saw a sea anemone with a clownfish hiding inside. The other stop was lunch which didn’t consist of much other than eating on the boat. The stop I found to be the most incredible was the big lagoon. This was an area of water (fully transparent water might I add) which was surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. We kayaked in and the coolest part for me was the small cave we went into. The whole trip was full of stunning views that never got old. The rest of the trip really involved socializing with other people. I could on for days about the views we saw but the pictures are the only thing that comes close to doing El Nido justice.
Work
The lack of amplification still has not been solved. It was a week full of painstaking troubleshooting with little to no results. The only way I have been getting amplification is if I make each marker’s PCR mix separately which, while time-consuming, is better than no result. The strange thing is it does not seem to be a problem with my procedure because multiple others have used my markers and also did not get any results. The lack of results is happening to everyone in lab to some extent as well so it
All variables
DNA- We tested the DNA with the nanodrop and the concentration was good. The samples sometimes do amplify as well so the DNA is present.
Buffer- Tested multiple times with multiple different stocks and did not seem to change results
dNTPs- This was what I believed was the issue at the beginning but I have used so many different dNTPs without any correlation to when the product amplified or not
Taq- Unlikely. One of my lab mates tried my Taq and got results.
Procedure- Unlikely- No amplification regardless of the person running the test
Nanopure water- Unlikely- Never been a problem in the past and have used different stocks of the water
PCR machine- Unlikely- has worked for others
Loading Dye- I got excited because I thought this was the problem last week but sadly does not seem to have an effect.
Gel Electrophoresis- Unlikley- Has worked for everyone else
Pictures
