I have started my project now, cutting and staining lung tissue. This will then be used to work out the total surface area of the lung, the thickness of the airway and alveolar walls and the thickness of the smooth muscle which surrounds the airways. I am looking to see if there are any changes in the lungs following the COPD model when compared with a normal section of lung tissue. To work this out I have to use a grid which looks like an image of the sea with wavy lines across it. It took ages to work out the way to measure the basic tile, or square on the grid with a single section of wave in it, correctly. I am due to go on a course in France later this month which will teach me how to go about the analysis properly.

Work in my main lab has not started yet as we are waiting of a clamp to be fitted to a filter hood so that the RNA and DNA extractions can begin. I am also going to be going on a course here at Southampton University to learn the basics of Western blotting. This technique is used frequently to look at protein levels and I will be using it later on in this project.