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. ;)