My Industrial Attachment: Science and More…..

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(Edited)

Hi there,
You might be wondering what this post is all about so allow me to brief you.

As you might all know by now, I am currently in the university reading a bachelor’s course in biochemistry and as part of our third year activities we have the industrial attachment where we are to go out there and work with organizations of our choices.
So we basically use half of our vacation for that.

Most of my mates started theirs right after school vacated but I was busy with other stuff so I had to begin mine in November.
I actually didn’t want to, but since it’s a six credit hour program I didn’t have a choice.

Today I want to take you with me to work so you can experience what happens at the other side and have some fun.

I am currently an intern at The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, University of Ghana.

source

At WACCBIP, our aim is to conduct cutting-edge research to guide the development of new approaches to disease diagnosis, prevention, & control. Having established a world-class scientific research environment with wide-ranging technology platforms, the Centre is now optimised to conduct high-quality research into an expanded range of infectious & non-communicable diseases.

This brief description was taken from source

I am working in the Microbiology laboratory and natural products laboratory. Here we mostly culture, examine and identify microorganisms including bacteria , fungi and yeast.

This brief description was taken from source


A DAY IN MY LIFE AS AN INTERN.

Today I was up by 5:00am cos that’s the time I always wake up.
I prayed and performed my house chores.

After , I had to prepare my little brother for school. He was running late because he told me they were to report very early cos they had exams. I prepared his breakfast and help him dress up and lil man was ready for school.

I took him to school and returned to prepare for work.
My dad usually drops me off at some point and I join a public transport to work.

This is the bus station where I board a bus to Legon campus.

The bus was empty when I got there so I had to wait for a few more people to join .

Since there was no one in the bus I decided to use this opportunity to finish dressing since my dad is always pressuring me so I’m unable to dress completely.

So first, I put on my earrings and lip gloss.

I’ve been feeling pains in my eyes these days so I decided to go back to my old friend.lol

In a few minutes time people started to join the bus and we set off.
It was a very short ride.

I took these pictures on our way. I liked the view.


In a few minutes we got to the bus stop where I had to alight.

I had to walk for about 10 minutes before I get to work.
There’s a shorter route but I usually take this route because I get to see the beautiful flowers and trees every morning.

This is actually my favourite!

I took these pictures right outside Akuafo Hall. They actually look a lot nicer than they appear. I couldn’t get more pictures because people were staring.😂
I’m sure they thought I was crazy.

From there I walk straight towards the balme library. There we have different flowers beautifying the place.

I take the turn towards the University of Ghana business school and there we have this. I don’t know what to call it so you tell me.

I use this street to the business school and take a left turn.

Ahead of the business school is WACCBIP . Now I begin to walk faster because I can see my supervisors car parked. I wasn’t late tho.

I make my way to the laboratory to commence with the days work.


AT WORK

First thing I do is greet those around and then proceed to clean the working area.

After cleaning I shake my algae. You might by wondering why I do that.

This is a project we’ve been working on for quite sometime. We are trying to find the algae present in waste , so in order for our algae to grow we place them by the window so they can receive enough sunlight and then shake them every morning for them to grow well.

Now, to the part I don’t think you’ll enjoy. Let’s go check on our plates for growth.

Nasty right? Yeah that’s what I also thought when I started working here some years ago. I’m used to them now cos that’s what we do here:)

These are fungi we are growing to check the presence of aflatoxins. Most of them are Aspergillus species. There’s growth in there but not as we are expecting so we would have to plate them again.

Then I check our slants for growth.
They’re also mostly aspergillus species.

After checking all these I proceed to prepare media to be used for the days work . You might be wondering what media is.

Microbiological media, or bacterial culture media, is a growth medium used to grow bacteria. In other words, it contains everything bacteria need to grow outside the body and under laboratory conditions.

This brief description was taken from source

After our media preparation I then pack them in a bowl with other stuff we need for our work to the sterilisation lab for sterilisation. Sterilisation is to kill all microorganisms present on the apparatus and our media to prevent contamination.

Sterilisation take about 3 hours or more so we have to wait for 3 hours for our stuff. The equipment used for sterilisation is the autoclave and there are different types.

source

What do we I within these 3 hours? Follow me let me show you.


While waiting for the sterilization to be done, I check the optical density of some algae we keep in the shaker to observe their growth over a period of time.

It was time for lunch by the time I was done. I couldn’t go for lunch because I had to enter some data from an outreach program we went on last week. It was a lot so I had to sacrifice cos I wasn’t really hungry.

At this point I was exhausted so I decided to take a break.
I had banana for lunch cos I was feeling lazy to go to the canteen.😂

It was still lunch time so I decided to take a few pictures.😊
My friends also joined me as we tried some new filters on Snapchat. It was actually funny.😂


This is actually a guy.😂

After all the pictures we got back to work.
The Sterilization process was over so I went for our stuff.

I was assigned to prepare some media so after preparing it I had to stir it for the particles to dissolve in distilled water using a stirrer.

It was almost time to close and I was very happy. I was exhausted already.

We inoculated some bacteria but I couldn’t get pictures of the process because we are not allowed to use phones in the lab and my supervisor was getting mad at me because I had been taking pictures all day.

After the whole process I washed the apparatus used and cleaned the working area.

I was later assigned to check some bacteria plates in the incubator for growth and also get an antibiotic from the laboratory technician.

It was already past 5 at this point so I had to prepare to go home since I was done for the day.

I said goodbye to everyone and left.

It was sunset and the sky looked nice so I took these shots. They’re not really nice but…..

I got home around 7:45pm because my work was very far from where I stay. I settled down and played 8ball with @depressedfuckup but he cheated. I know he will deny it but believe me:)

It was after 10:00pm so I decided to go to bed.
This is how stressful my weekdays are so if you’re wondering what’s taking most of my time, this is it!

Well that’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this piece.
With love. 🫶🏻



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21 comments
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Hahah, you said in the beginning something like let me explain to you briefly what this post is about ;) Well, I paraphrase, but the brief resulted in a great post!!!
You know @depressedfuckup?
Wow, waking up at 5 and preparing your brother for school, and that whole day full of work, well done! I also had a banana for a snack, between lessons and driving to other lessons 😂
Though I didn't have such funny moments as taking pictures on Snapchat hahahha

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Hey, Mip. She’s the one I’ve been talking about in my posts from months ago when I was in school:)

Hahah, you said in the beginning something like let me explain to you briefly what this post is about ;) Well, I paraphrase, but the brief resulted in a great post!!!

Yeah she said to give a brief explanation but went on to give a whole lecture.

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Hahah, you said in the beginning something like let me explain to you briefly what this post is about ;) Well, I paraphrase, but the brief resulted in a great post!!!

I didn’t mean to write a lot but well, what can I say.

You know @depressedfuckup?

Yes I do!

Wow, waking up at 5 and preparing your brother for school, and that whole day full of work, well done!

It’s stressful but it has to be done you know.

I also had a banana for a snack, between lessons and driving to other lessons 😂

Then we are lunch twins now.😂

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A great post about your day but it's a pity you didn't source some of your content. I'm going to assume this is a newbie mistake. Don't make a habit of this otherwise you can forget about any more support on Hive in future. @depressedfuckup should have to you about the consequences of plagiarising on Hive

https://www.nelsonlabs.com/gibraltar-archives/microbiological-media-a-basic-overview/

https://www.waccbip.org/

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Yes, it was a newbie mistake. I mostly check her posts before she makes them because she’s new and still learning. I’m taking her through lessons on how to source and use markdowns right now. I couldn’t check her post today because I was occupied on my job earlier today invigilating an exam when she made the post. I’ve contacted her and shown her how to source it now. This won’t happen again. It’s sad she had to learn the hard way, but the notice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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She's at university, not kindergarten. Why do you need to check her post and babysit her? I'm sure she was taught not to plagiarise at university and how to source properly for her homework. If you don't cheat at university, why do it on Hive?

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I understand. Being a newbie is no excuse for her mistake. But I assure you that this have never happened before, and never will again. I’m embarrassed it even did this time and I take responsibility. Thank you for understanding.

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Thank you very much for the correction.
I’m still learning to source and do other stuff around here but I’ve rectified the mistake with the help of @depressedfuckup.

I really appreciate.

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(Edited)

I took these pictures right outside Akuafo Hall. They actually look a lot nicer than they appear.

Lol I’m not sure whether the green flowers with white edges are actually flowers or just some sort of weeds. Whatever they are, they’re nice. I like how they have this white traces along the edge if their leaves. The white edges contrast the green color and give the edges a nice definition.

When I saw the Banana, I thought it was another medium you were using for your culture lol.

Biochemist, you started with talking about your day and decided to go full Biochemist on us. Just gave a brief lecture on culturing media.

And the 8 ball game, please tell the truth. There’s no cheat code in 8 ball so everyone knows already I won fair. Besides, we played 2 different games and I won both so idk.

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Flower girl 😅. When will you stop taking pictures of flowers? They do look great though.👏

Ahead of the business school is WACCBIP . Now I begin to walk faster because I can see my supervisors car parked. I wasn’t late tho.

I don’t think you’re telling us the truth here. You’re always late.😂

Looks like you’re always busy at your work. You do a lot and it seems fun. Is it?

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Flower girl 😅. When will you stop taking pictures of flowers? They do look great though.👏

Flower boy.😅
I don’t think I’ll stop doing that.
Thank you.

I don’t think you’re telling us the truth here. You’re always late.😂

I’m telling the truth. Do you work with me?😂🥳

Looks like you’re always busy at your work. You do a lot and it seems fun. Is it?

It’s fun but very stressful.

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I’m telling the truth. Do you work with me?😂🥳

I just know.😂

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Hi @nhaji01. I see you had an issue with sourcing. I also see you added the link to the source, but for the sourcing to be complete, please add this > in front of each paragraph or sentence, that is taken from elsewhere. The text will look like this

The text will look like this

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Thank you very much @erikah. I have corrected it now.
I really appreciate the guidance.

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You're welcome. Message me if you need any help.

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I was so excited to read this post and I didn’t even understand anything 😂. Well except for the part that’s simple like getting ready to go out and all that😂.
The pictures though. They are so good!

But I guess this must be so exciting to actually do what you are learning. Some of us are just here watching learning names of cars😂.

I’m thinking of eating Gob3 for lunch and you ate a banana? How is it that you were not hungry after doing all that??

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I was so excited to read this post and I didn’t even understand anything 😂. Well except for the part that’s simple like getting ready to go out and all that😂.

I’m glad you understood something.😄

The pictures though. They are so good!

Thank you.

But I guess this must be so exciting to actually do what you are learning. Some of us are just here watching learning names of cars😂.

At least you’re learning something.😂😂

I’m thinking of eating Gob3 for lunch and you ate a banana? How is it that you were not hungry after doing all that??

Well, I don’t really eat a lot that’s why.

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