This week, we did more 2p imaging on the rest of mice we were using for our project. Most of them looked quite good - some still had some gliosis which obstructed the view somewhat, but, even in those cases, we still managed to get signal! In addition, this week we were also doing more surgeries for another project taking place in the lab. The surgeries were simpler than the ones we were doing for our project, since they did not include any window installations - just the headplates. We had a total of 30 mice to get through; some of them, unfortunately, ripped the headplates off, so I would have to redo them in case we got more mice to work with.
On the clinical side, this week I got to see a pump installation. To be entirely honest, the process was quite gruesome - I've never seen a surgery like this before, and the process seemed intimidating to say the least. It included opening up the incision in the spine area and threating the catheter along the ribs. For this surgery, since imaging was involved, we had to wear protective vests - it's striking just how heavy they are when worn for a prolonged period of time, and I genuinely cannot imagine performing a surgery while wearing one. It reminded me of a project I saw during my time as a TA for a BME design seminar this past spring, where the team was aiming to reduce the load on the shoulders and spine that comes from wearing similar vests. I get it now!
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