Owen+M

=Transmission Electron Microscopy= toc

Goals
My main goal was to learn about electron microscopy and learn how to operate an electron microscope. Another goal of this project was to find (and isolate if necessary) the five types of white blood cells photograph them using an electron microscope, research them and their functions, and, if possible, examine their behavior in reaction to pathogens and allergens (I ended up deciding against such an examination).

Discoveries
In my shadowing experience, I learned much about electron microscopy and its applications. I learned how to operate a transmission electron microscope, and I was able to apply this skill in the identification and photography of the five major types of white blood cells, along with other structures I encountered that I found interesting or striking. I learned how to develop photographs of these structures and towards the end of the experience I could go operate the microscope and go through most of the steps of developing with little assistance.

Challenges
I encountered few major challenges during my project, though some of the work developing pictures was difficult and at times tedious. I did run into some trouble towards the deadline in scheduling a time to print remaining negatives, but the issue was resolved.

Looking Back
If I were to start the experience again and had the ability to change something, what would come to mind would be to create more of a specific plan about what I was going to do and set clearer goals for what the project would look like in the end. At the start, I didn’t really know where I was going, and just looked at various pre-prepared samples until inspiration struck. I would have completed the project more efficiently had I done this. However, there were certainly benefits to the free structure that I enjoyed in looking at what I wanted with the microscope and just exploring the technology; I might have been more efficient with more structure, but I enjoyed the experience more without it, and if I did have the opportunity to do it over again, I'm not sure that I would want to change that.

Project Resources
Here are a few of the pictures I took using the electron microscope: