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Asked by tape442pan to Thomas on 9 Nov 2021.
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Thomas Nicol answered on 9 Nov 2021:
In reality I don’t spend much time looking at cells in great detail. When we need to look at the cells themselves we have powerful microscopes, many of which have screens so it isn’t any harder than looking at a computer screen. Most of the work I do involved looking at characteristics of the cells instead, so we are doing various reactions to study the protein and DNA we collect from those cells instead.
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Comments
Isabelle commented on :
I don’t look at cells under a microscope as part of my research. My research looks at discovering genetic associations for bad reactions to epilepsy medication. So I am looking at a computer all day.
Craig commented on :
I used to look at fruit fly eggs under the microscope and found that you get used to it, but like anything, if you do it for too long your eyes get tired and you need a break. It’s important to have everything set up just right to make life easier- a nice chair, not too bright a light and good music!
Stephenie commented on :
The main cells I look at under a microscope are labelled with fluorescence so they glow which is really interesting (it’s a technique called Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridisation). Thankfully the microscope has a powerful lens so I can look at one cell at a time without straining my eyes.
Frank commented on :
I don’t often look at cells as such, but I very much enjoy spending time using the microscope to look at our model – chicken embryos. There is so much to learn from observing, even after many years of researching them.
Frankie commented on :
Yes! As a scientist trainee in the NHS I did ‘rotations’ through a few different departments. I spent a few weeks looking at blood cells down the microscope in haematology and sperm cells in reproductive science. And of course in genetics we still look at chromosomes down the microscope sometimes. I found it quite tiring on the eyes, but it’s better if you make sure to take breaks and remember to blink! If I had a particularly microscope-heavy week I would see chromosomes when I closed my eyes at night.
Becky commented on :
Now that I work in a clinical setting, I mostly look at a computer all day. When I was doing my PhD, I did a lot of fluorescence microscopy in different cell types – including brain cells, which were very pretty to look at! It did involve long days of sitting in dark rooms taking images of these fluorescent cells, which could be very tiring on the eyes. It was rewarding to see the great images you’d come away with though.
Magdalena commented on :
There are days when I work at a microscope all day but these are quite rare. Also, most of the time we use microscopes that are connected to a computer so we mainly look at a computer screen rather than down the eyepieces. Luckily, a research lab job involves many different tasks and the days are quite varied.
Joaquin commented on :
I do many other things apart from using the microscope, so it is not all day. But I do not get tired – cells are beautiful and have great personality – it is like watching kitten videos all day 🙂