Written by Jasmeen Kaur

July 13, 2018

The past couple weeks in the lab were very busy, as we are wrapping up the research project. I have collected a lot of data by this point. All my experiments worked out really well. After I performed fermentation on the whey samples, microbes were isolated from them. I have extracted plant DNA before several times but this week I extracted bacterial DNA from the bacteria that was obtained from fermented whey. The process was not that different, so I did not have any trouble following the protocols. I performed PCR on the extracted DNA and finally checked it with gel electrophoresis. It showed successful results as shown in the image below. Once I verified all the bands with electrophoresis, the samples were sent to Macrogen which is a nucleic acid sequencing company. Finally, I used BLAST to identify the sequences. Results showed that the two major bacteria present in the whey samples after fermentation were Streptococcus thermophilus and Bacillus licheniformis.

Last week we decided to explore nearby mountainous town Covadonga which is famous for its cathedral and a holy cave. Every corner of this village is admirable. After spending some time in the cathedral and the cave, we decided to take a tour of the mountains Picos de Europa. Almost thousand meters above, steep and winding roads lead to two beautiful lakes Ercina and Enol. The temperature almost dropped by 30° F and it was very cloudy. The views from the highest point of these mountains were astonishing. We spent some time admiring the scenery and taking pictures. There were so many cows grazing at the mountains. The cow bells were constantly making enchanting noise and it sounded like music. The mountains, clouds, cold wind, cows and their bells all created a very captivating scenery that left us in an awe. This will definitely be the most beautiful place in Asturias we have ever visited.