Week Three: MALDI is finally here

Oh hey guys, didn't see you there..

This week was quite a blast. But let's recap on what we did last week. Last week, I prepared three concentrations of asphalt concrete:

1.25 g of Asphalt Concrete + 10 mL of toluene

0.0125 g of AC + 10 mL of toluene

0.001025 g of AC + 80 mL of toluene

This week, we decided to compLETELY take out the third dilution because MALDI could not pick up the material, therefore, it can't process it. Fret not, we still got two more dilutions. As you may remember, we placed small parts of the solutions into vials that we took to the new building that has MALDI.

the new lab

These vials now contain a "matrix," which in this case is CHCA, α-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid, a powder mixed with toluene.

This matrix is used so that MALDI can analyze the substance, without which it cannot process the material, similar to what happened to the dilution– 0.001025 g AC. The different dilutions are mixed with CHCA matrix, sinapic acid, and 9-Nitroanthracene, and then placed on the plate. This is not described well so I let me illustrate it clearly.

Dilution 1 (1.25 g of AC + 10 mL of toluene) mixed with

1. CHCA

2. Sinapic acid

3. 9-Nitroanthracene

AND

Dilution 2 (0.0125 g of AC + 10 mL of toluene) mixed with

1. CHCA

2. Sinapic acid

3. 9-Nitroanthracene

Then, for the sake of precision and accuracy, each different solution was repeated twice, which occupy around 0.1µL in a small circle on the plate. 

A typical result of MALDI looks like this:

As you can see, there are several high peaks reaching high numbers, which signify the component mass. For asphalt concrete, the peaks should be within 200 and 400. 

Clearly, this was not the case.

As you probably can't tell through this terribly photographed picture, there are no peaks. There's nothing. So that's research for you. It was kind of a disappointing feeling, BUT this means we have a chance to restart and think about this in a different way. Next week, I will be going more in depth on the physics behind MALDI because frankly, I don't understand it and nothing will make sense until I do.

Photography was my hobby for this week. I explored the new and various types of photography such as nature, portraits, landscape, etc. I also had a lot of fun taking senior pictures!

Anyway, I really don't know if these blogs should have information unrelated to my research, but that's what's going on this week.

Signing off,

Seerat Jajj

Week Two: What Am I Doing?

Hello... we meet again!

I started off this week preparing the sample to test in MALDI TOF/TOF Analyzer. For those who don't know what MALDI is (which is practically everyone), I will go into detail what it is and why engineers use it.

This is what MALDI looks like:

MALDI TOF (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight) measures the distribution of analysts without disturbing the sample. Typically, this machine is used to visualize of the spatial distribution of proteins, peptides, lipids, and other small molecules. Inside the machine is placed a plate that contains the samples of asphalt or proteins or whatever is being tested.

The some dots on the plate contain around 0.05 mL of sample.

MALDI TOF, according to Google, has never been used to test asphalt composition so for me, this is both equally exciting and scary. But before we even get into the testing using MALDI, we had to prepare the samples in different concentrations (which Akshay calculated prior).

Procedure:

**WARNING: Please don't try this at home** (It smells... a lot)

1) Prepare three different concentrations of asphalt.

1.25 g of AC (asphalt concrete) + 10 mL of toluene

0.0125 g of AC + 10 mL of toluene

0.00125 g of AC + 100 mL of toluene

But since the lab had limited supply of toluene, we could only use 80 mL for 0.001025 g of AC, which is still an equal proportion to the original measurement. Except it's SO HARD to measure 0.001025 g. That is smaller than the size of a freckle. And then on top of that, asphalt is an extremely viscoelastic material, meaning it's sticky. 

In conclusion, it was so hard that I couldn't even do it.

To summarize, I put a speck of asphalt (sample 3) in a lot of toluene and I put a lot of asphalt into basically a drop of toluene (sample 1).

2) Mix the toluene and asphalt accordingly.

3) Place small amounts of each sample into three vials.

4) Using a controlled pipet, carefully place one small drop in a circle on the MALDI plate three times, which tests repetition. Do that for each different concentration.

5) Test sample in MALDI. (But programming MALDI is another 30 steps...)

IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR MALDI. But the day allotted for the testing was the day I had to go to my periodontist for a check up appointment. So... NEXT WEEK for sure.

Now, it's time to catch you up on what I've been doing for the other 90 hours this week. Well, I've finally decided to cover up the only blank wall left in my house with another painting. So thankfully, I finally have enough time to concentrate and finish this by the end of this month!

A deer.. Maybe an elk?

Until next week,

Seerat Jajj

P.S. Thank you for making me "Blog of the Week" last week! Just want to take this time to say thank you to all my fans. ;)

Week One: The Start to Something New

Good morning everyone!

In this beautiful week in Arizona, I broke free from my piles of books and started a new adventure at Arizona State University.

For those who still don't quite understand what exactly I'm researching, these posts over the next few weeks will hopefully clarify what I'm researching, where I am, and why I'm researching it. So let's get started with what I did this week.

After another 45 minute drive to ASU, I wondered why I picked civil engineering. To be completely honest, before I started this project in August, I had NO IDEA how relevant engineering was to our community. I was bound to the stereotypical image of engineers as the computer savvy person you call when your laptop crashes. Boy, was I wrong.

My on-site mentor, Akshay, began explaining what civil engineers do and their impact on our daily lives. Akshay Gundla is a graduate student at ASU researching the modeling of asphalt concrete before it is used to make the road we all travel on.

Here's a picture of the lab I'm working in:

In the first day, I learned what aggregates are used to make a sturdy road. Before, I thought the road was just rocks "glued" to together by concrete. I was essentially right, but I learned that it's lot more than just mixing some rocks. 

Because of the diverse weather situations, each state (or even each county) has different types of roads. Therefore, civil engineers must create different samples of asphalt concrete with varying amounts of saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes to compliment the conditions so the road stays steady without becoming brittle. A sample containing many solid aggregates looks similar to this:

Then, researchers have to test the sample in a Pressure Aging Vessel (PAV), which creates the hostile environment asphalt would endure in the span of three to seven years. Basically, it tests the durability of the sample.

Pressure Aging Vessel

(It kind of looks like what my mother uses to make South Indian food)

So this week, I learned how to create the sample of asphalt concrete and how to age the sample. After testing the validity of the sample, we then create new samples that will be used for MALDI! But let's save some of the fun for next week!

Anyway, some may ask, "Seerat, if you're only working three hours a day, what are you doing the rest of the time?" Well, I have finally started to do the one and only thing BASIS did not teach me: cooking. This week, I made oatmeal pancakes (which were ok, I don't recommend, just stick to chocolate chip pancakes), veggie and barbecue pizza (which were great, definitely recommend), and caramelized apple muffins (eh). 

So, this week I got a lot accomplished in the lab... and in life. Keep reading to see what I find out about MALDI (and life). 

Seerat Jajj